WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. – Ben Johnson was a Gophers assistant the last time the program won at Purdue during the 2016-17 season.

That victory was a big boost for getting the Gophers into the NCAA tournament after the Boilermakers went on to win the Big Ten regular-season title.

History repeating itself Thursday night would've been the biggest win for the Gophers in a decade.

No. 2 Purdue was on upset alert for most of the night, but the Gophers weren't able to hold off a late rally from the reigning Big Ten champion in a 84-76 loss at Mackey Arena.

The Gophers (15-9, 6-7 Big Ten) were riding high with a three-game win streak earlier this month, but they've dropped back-to-back road games after outplaying opponents for 20-plus minutes.

In Sunday's loss at Iowa, the Gophers built a 20-point lead before falling once leading scorer Dawson Garcia was injured. Garcia returned Thursday to lead his team with 24 points, but he fouled out with under 30 seconds left.

After trailing by 11 points Thursday, the Gophers used a 21-5 run to lead at halftime for the second straight game. A shocked crowd saw its Final Four contender trailing 43-35 at the break after Johnson's team went 9-for-16 from three-point range.

The Boilermakers (23-2, 12-2) were undefeated at 12-0 at home this season, but they struggled to answer with Zach Edey in foul trouble early. Edey finished with 16 of his 24 points in the second half, to go with 15 rebounds.

Mike Mitchell Jr. and Cam Christie combined for 23 points on eight three-pointers in the first half.

Pharrel Payne's layup made it 45-35 to open the second half, but the Gophers lost some momentum when Johnson was called for a technical foul arguing a no-call on an errant alley-oop play.

Christie's jumper gave his team a 54-48 lead at 15:29, but the Boilermakers used a 15-1 run to take control. Edey had three uncontested dunks during the rally. There was no way to match up physically with the 7-4, 300-pound All-American.

Throughout the game, the Gophers came off the bench with 6-11, 290-pound reserve Jack Wilson, but that was only a temporary solution. After Payne picked up his fourth foul, Purdue extended its lead to 63-55 midway through the second half.

The Gophers were scoreless for four minutes until Garcia scored five straight points to pull them two possessions. After missing most of the second half with an injury at Iowa, the 6-11 junior gave his team a chance down the stretch.

Garcia and Elijah Hawkins combined to hit four free throws during an 11-3 run to make it 73-71 with 4:16 to play. Purdue, though, pulled away again by 10 points before the waning seconds.

The best win Johnson had this season came Feb. 6 at home against Michigan State, but being able to compete with Purdue was an even better test of how far Minnesota's program has come.

The defending Big Ten champion Boilermakers entered Thursday with an eight-game win streak since falling on Jan. 9 at Nebraska. They also had a margin of victory of 16 points in the last five wins against the Gophers, including by a combined 41 points in two games last season.