MINNESOTA BEATS NORTHWESTERN TO OPEN THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT

THIS IS FROM THE MINNEAPOLIS START TRIBUNE

Gophers start, finish strong to win tourney opener. Minnesota lost a big first-half lead but held Northwestern scoreless for seven minutes and rallied to move into the Big Ten quarterfinals. Read the game report and expert analysis.

Star Tribune staff

After briefly losing the lead in the second half, Minnesota roared back with a 14-point run and defeated Northwestern 66-53 today to move into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten men's basketball tournament.
The Gophers will play No. 1-seeded Michigan State at 11 a.m. Friday.

Lawrence Westbrook led the Gophers with 14 points, all of them in the second half, and Devron Bostick added 11, all in the first half.

Kevin Coble scored 21 points for the Wildcats but was shut down in the second half, when he scored only two.
Trailing for most of the game, Northwestern rallied to take a 49-47 lead with 7:59 to play as the Gophers had trouble with Northwestern's defense and got out hustled for loose balls and rebounds. The Wildcats took the lead by outscoring Minnesota 19-5, including a 10-0 run, over a chunk of the second half.

Then, things changed dramatically. Ralph Sampson III moved the Gophers back ahead at 50-49 with a three-point play, which also marked the fourth foul by Coble.

Post game analysis from Star Tribune college basketball editor Dennis Brackin: You can put him on the bench at the start of games. You can cut his minutes. But, somehow, Lawrence Westbrook keeps showing up at the end. Westbrook, as he has often does, put the Gophers on his shoulders down the stretch today. And that victory might just earn the Gophers an NCAA at-large bid. The Gophers had a 50-49 lead with just over three minutes to play when Westbrook hit a jumper. A minute later he sank two free throws, pushing the lead to 54-49.

Westbrook, although returning to the starting lineup after two games, failed to score in limited minutes in the first half. He had 14 second-half points. We keep saying the Gophers don’t have a go-to scorer, but those numbers might make us re-think. And credit the Gophers perimeter defenders for smothering Northwestern’s Craig Moore. Moore had a horrendous shooting day, making only 2-of-14 three-pointers. Most of those shots were taken with a Gopher in his face. Had Moore had the kind of second half that Westbrook did, it would be the Wildcats advancing. But Westbrook once again saved his teammates.

Postgame analysis from startribune.com college basketball analyst Tricia Drury: Despite a poor first half and lots of turnovers, the Wildcats had a chance in this game, even taking the lead 49-47 with 7:47 left on a Michael Thompson circus layup, but the Cats didn’t score again for 7 minutes. The Gophers made mistakes and looked terrible on offense in the second half and really struggled against the 1-3-1 (no penetration, poor passing, bad shots) but when you can go on a 14-0 run in the final 8 minutes, you win. The Gophers defense is stifling at times. Westbrook’s ability to shoot FTs in the final minutes is a huge asset for this Gophers team, they are 10-2 when he leads in scoring and how can you stop him in the final minutes with the ball if he’s so deadly at the line? He makes his mistakes, but he can literally will a team to victory.


Trailing for most of the game, Northwestern rallied to take a 49-47 lead with 7:59 to play as the Gophers had trouble with Northwestern's defense and got out hustled for loose balls and rebounds. The Wildcats took the lead by outscoring Minnesota 19-5, including a 10-0 run, over a chunk of the second half.
A Westbrook bank shot moved the lead to 52-49.

Westbrook went to line after a Northwestern turnover on a back-door lay-up try and hit two free throws.

A two-handed slam by Sampson, off a pass by Damien Johnson, gave Minnesota a 56-49 lead and more free throws by the Gophers capped off their scoring.

Held scoreless in the first half, Johnson converted a three-point play to give Minnesota a 34-25 lead in the opening seconds of the second half.

Craig Moore answered with a three for Northwestern.

Threes by Lawrence Westbrook and Johnson moved Minnesota's advantage to 42-30.

Thompson, who picked up three fouls in the first half, hit a jumper for the Wildcats to give them a 42-32 lead before the television timeout with 15:07 left in the game.

A three by Wildcats defensive specialist Jeremy Nash made it 42-35, and the Gophers were having trouble at times handling Northwestern's 1-3-1 zone defense.

Devoe Joseph hit an off-balance lay-up for a 45-37 lead, but lost his man on a defensive switch and Luka Mirkovic made as lay-up to move Northwestern back within six at 45-39.

Westbrook hit a running, high-arcing layup for a 47-39 lead to end a possession where the Gophers worked the ball around the perimeter for almost the entire 35-second clock. The Wildcats went into the bonus situation with 10:10 remaining after Minnesota picked up its seventh four of the second half.

Another basket by Thompson, now playing with four fouls, brought the Wildcats within 47-43 and forced the Gophers into a time out.

Nash's steal after the time out and layup reduced the lead to two points.

Colton Iverson picked up his fourth foul and Thompson hit two free throws to tie the game at 47 and continuing a 17-5 run for the Wildcats. His layup high off the glass, to avoid being blocked, gave the Wildcats their brief lead.
First half highlights, analysis.

Minnesota went on an 16-point run to take a 22-8 lead over Northwestern midway through the first half in today's Big Ten tournament opener.The Gophers offense slowed for the rest of the half and the Gophers lead shrunk to 31-25 at halftime as Coble hit a three at the buzzer. He had scored Northwestern's first eight points as well.

Bostick led Minnesota with 11 points as all but four of the Gophers first-half points were scored by players who came off the bench.

Minnesota shot 43 percent from the field in the first half.

Halftime analysis from Dennis Brackin: Tubby Smith has talked about the importance of having a deep bench for postseason play. But this was ridiculous. Devron Bostick, who has barely played in recent weeks, came off the bench, to score seven points in the first 12 minutes, sparking Minnesota to a 22-8 lead. Colton Iverson, who sat out against Michigan in the final regular-season game with a shoulder injury, had four points, a steal and a block. With five minutes to play in the opening half, the Gophers’ bench had outscored the starters 21-4, and Minnesota had a 25-15 lead. That’s the kind of bench production that’s going to make Minnesota a threat in the postseason. The Gophers aren’t going to lose a game because they lost a star player on fouls, or to an injury. I’m betting that when the Gophers scrimmage, the second unit more than holds its own against the starters. By the way, the opening half did nothing to resolve who gets minutes in the back court. Al Nolen and Lawrence Westbrook were returned to the starting lineup after a two-game hiatus, but were non-factors compared to Bostick, Devoe Joseph and Blake Hoffarber. Westbook failed to score in limited minutes, and was pulled in the final minute after an off-balance shot. Westbrook looks like a player who is trying to figure out what his role is – a strange spot for a player who led the team in scoring during the season. The reserves might well define his role.

Haltime analysis fromTricia Drury: Great plan by Tubby Smith to just keeping throwing pressure and fresh bodies at a nervous and turnover prone 'Cats team. Northwestern averages 11 TOs a game, so it could prove nearly impossible overcome the 10 they committed in the first half. As a result, the Gophers got easy fast-break points. Because of the Gophers pressure defense and a possible case of nerves for NU, the Wildcats appeared to be well over matched here. But be careful of counting your chickens, Gophers fans. The Wildcats closed the lead to six. This NU team has put together a couple of second-half comebacks this season. If they calm those jitters, take care of the ball and start hitting the threes, watch out for the Wildcats. NU thrives in close games in the final minutes. Especially if the U starters don’t step up.

Nolen Jr., who slumped during the second half of the season and was reinserted into the starting lineup after being benched for the final games of the conference season, opened the scoring with a layup. He missed the free throw that would have given him a three-point play.

Coble's second three-pointer giving the Wildcats an 8-6 lead. Minnesota responded with baskets by Bostick (a three-pointer), Iverson (a hook shot off the glass) and another field goal by Bostick to take a 13-8 lead. Both of those players came off the bench for the Gophers.

Coble had 14 of the Wildcats' first 17 points while Minnesota's scoring was more balanced. With three minutes left in the first half, Bostick led the Gophers with 9; Blake Hoffarber, Iverson and Devoe Joseph had four apiece.
After a time out, Joseph drained a three-pointer from the corner and, after one of his three steals in the first half, Iverson went end-to-end for a two-handed dunk to up the lead to 18-8 and force Northwestern into another time out.

Hoffarber hit two free throws and Bostick scored on a dunk for a 22-8 lead before the Wildcats scored for the first time in more than five minutes when John Shurna hit a three.

After another Coble basketball, Hoffarber hit a lay-up and Joseph hit a free throw for a 25-13 Minnesota lead.

Thompson picked up his third foul with about 4:15 remaining and Travis Busch followed with a jumper for a 27-15 lead.

Senior Jamal Abu-Shamala, who had moved toward the end of the bench at times during the season, was also inserted into the starting lineup. He was one of 11 players who saw action for Minnesota today.