GOPHERS FALL TO WILDCATS IN EVANSTON

A cold-shooting second half plagued the Minnesota men’s basketball team as the Gophers fell to Northwestern 74-65 Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.

Lawrence Westbrook paced the 17th-ranked Gophers with 18 points and eight rebounds. Damian Johnson and Al Nolen added 14 and 10 points, respectively, in defeat.

Craig Moore went 6-of-9 from three-point range and scored a game-high 22 points for the Wildcats. Kevin Coble added 20 points for Northwestern, which secured its first win of the Big Ten season.

The Gophers (16-2, 4-2 Big Ten), fresh off a thrilling overtime win at Wisconsin Thursday night, came out firing hitting 14 of their first 18 shot attempts and opened up a nine-point first-half lead (32-23 following a jumper by Johnson with 5:23 remaining in the first stanza).

Minnesota finished the first half shooting a red-hot 62.5 percent from the field and held a 34-31 halftime lead.
But the Gophers’ shooting touch quickly disappeared.

With Bill Caramody’s patented 1-3-1 zone defense giving Minnesota fits, the Gophers struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm in the second half.

After Westbrook hit a three to put the Maroon and Gold ahead 37-31 moments into the second stanza, the Gophers, who went just 10-of-29 from the field in the second half (34.5 percent) went without a basket for seven minutes.

Accordingly, Northwestern took advantage of Minnesota’s offensive woes.

With the Gophers shooting just 14 percent from the field midway through the second half, the Wildcats proceeded to break the game open in their favor by putting together a mammoth a 20-2 run to go ahead 51-39 with 9:24 remaining in regulation.

The Wildcats’ lead eventually ballooned to as many as 14 late and, unlike Thursday’s come from behind win in Madison, Minnesota which turned the ball over 10 times in the second half leading to 14 Northwestern points couldn't orchestrate a last minute run.

The Gophers return to action on Thursday night when they host 19th-ranked Purdue at Williams Arena.

Noteworthy:

Minnesota went just 5-of-11 from the free throw line, while Northwestern went 21-of-27 from the charity stripe.

The Gophers grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and out rebounded the Wildcats 31-29.

For the game, the Wildcats edged Minnesota in shooting percentage. Northwestern shot 47.8 percent from the field, while the Gophers finished shooting 47.2 percent from the floor.