The losses keep mounting for Minnesota.
Indiana has played a significant stretch of the season without starters Race Thompson and Xavier Johnson, but it could be worse.
The Golden Gophers will be down to just seven scholarship players when they face the Hoosiers on Wednesday evening (9 p.m. Eastern, BTN).
The team announced on Wednesday they’ll be without junior forward Dawson Garcia and freshman forward Pharrel Payne. At 6-foot-11 and 6-foot-9, they are the Gophers’ two tallest main rotation players.
Garcia, a player IU recruited out of high school, is Minnesota’s leading scorer (14.9 points per game) and rebounder (6.3 rebounds per game). He suffered a right foot injury late in the second half of Sunday’s game at Michigan. Payne is sidelined indefinitely after going through concussion protocol following an incident in practice.
The Gophers were already missing freshman guard Braeden Carrington (6.2 ppg), who is out three to four weeks because of a right leg stress reaction suffered last week.
Only seven scholarship players who played this season are available for Wednesday’s game against the Hoosiers.
With all of the attrition in the front court, 7-foot sophomore center Treyton Thompson appears likely to play a significant role on Wednesday evening. He has started seven times but is averaging just 9.3 minutes and 1.6 points per contest.
Two more forwards — 6-foot-8 Parker Fox and 6-foot-9 Isaiah Ihnen — are out for the year with knee injuries suffered over the summer.
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