Mike Mitchell Jr. scored 22 points, all in the first half, and Minnesota pulled away for a 90-68 win over Morgan State on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Dawson Garcia added 18 points and eight rebounds for Minnesota (8-5), which won its second game in a row. Parker Fox finished with 11 points.
Kameron Hobbs scored 25 points to lead Morgan State (6-10), which fell to 0-8 on the road. Will Thomas scored 13 points, Rob Lawson had 11 and Daniel Akitoby registered a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Minnesota shot 51.7 percent (31 of 60) overall and 44.8 percent (13 of 29) from 3-point range. Morgan State shot 40 percent (24 of 60) from the field and 36.4 percent (4 of 11) from beyond the arc.
The Golden Gophers finished with a 31-4 advantage in bench points.
Minnesota surged to a 55-37 lead at the half.
Mitchell scored 22 points in 15 minutes before the break by going 8-for-8 from the field. He drained his sixth 3-pointer to give the Golden Gophers a 53-32 advantage — tied for their largest lead of the first half — with 1:59 to go.
Minnesota increased its lead to as many as 27 points in the second half. Caleb Williams came off the bench to bury a 3-pointer and put the Golden Gophers on top 86-59 with four minutes to play.
Frank Mitchell helped Minnesota reach the 90-point mark with a layup with 1:27 to go. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting.
Hobbs finished the scoring with a layup in the final minute for Morgan State.
Morgan State kept it close during the first five minutes. Hobbs made a layup to pull the Bears within 12-11 with 15:32 remaining in the opening half.
Thomas made a pair of free throws less than four minutes later to cut Morgan State’s deficit to 23-17. That proved to be as close as the Bears would come for the rest of the way.
Minnesota went on a 9-0 run to pull ahead 32-17 with 9:23 to go in the half. Frank Mitchell capped the run with an offensive rebound and putback.