When Minnesota strutted into Welsh-Ryan Arena Wednesday night, the Golden Gophers towered over Northwestern like giants.
Minnesota had two 6-foot-7 players in its starting lineup and as many at 6-foot-10. In NU’s starting five, only a pair of players cracked the 6-foot-7 mark.
But instead of backing down to the oversized squad, the Wildcats took care of business the way they’ve been doing it all season – with scrappiness.
In a game that saw tempers flaring and bodies flailing, NU relied on physical play, as the Cats clawed their way to a 58-56 win over Minnesota.
“I thought they were more physical than we were,” Minnesota head coach Dan Monson said. “I thought they were the aggressor, and the aggressor usually wins. That’s what happened tonight.”
Despite being outrebounded 36-31, the Cats flexed their muscles by winning the battle on the offensive glass 17-12. This physical play led to an emotionally charged evening.
With a little more than two minutes remaining in the first half, the game became heated.
While diving for a loose ball, NU guard Collier Drayton and Minnesota forward Rick Rickert got tangled on the floor below the Cats’ basket. The replay showed that Rickert elbowed Drayton in the face. Both players had to be restrained by the officials and their teammates.
“My arm got pinned, his arm got pinned,” Rickert said. “I wanted to keep the ball, he wanted to keep the ball. You know how it is.”
At the end of the game, tempers were still flaring.
With 2:24 remaining and the Golden Gophers leading by four, Minnesota guards Kerwin Fleming and Kevin Burleson trapped NU forward Winston Blake at half court, forcing him to call a timeout. But Fleming took an extra swipe at the ball after the timeout was granted, which again quickly brought the officials in to separate the two.
“I don’t know why there were altercations,” Blake said. “We just try to brush it off.”
NU’s players kept a cool head and used quick hands to force 17 turnovers.
Although the Cats’ fiery defense included smacking some arms to get the ball loose, NU took a beating as well – most of it coming at the hands of the freshman Rickert.
He repeatedly swung his elbows to establish post position and snag easy layups. With 14:50 remaining in the game, Rickert’s drop-step on NU forward Vedran Vukusic not only gave Minnesota a seven-point lead, but it also left Vukusic tripping over his heels from Rickert’s flailing arms.
NU forward Tavaras Hardy said the hard-nosed competition was just part of the Cats’ game.
“We’re undersized in a lot of games,” Hardy said. “So in order to have our own identity, we have to scrap and get loose balls and be faster than that other team.”
NU got the last laugh with its hustle Wednesday.
After Blake stole the ball from Fleming with five seconds remaining in the game, Burleson chased the junior down and leaped over his back for a hard foul.
Unfazed, Blake calmly stepped to the line and hit two free throws to put the Cats ahead by three with four seconds remaining.
For NU coach Bill Carmody, the banging was just a sign of his team’s determination to win.
“It’s an emotional game,” Carmody said. “It’s not chess. I don’t think there was anything dirty going on. I just thought that both teams wanted to win.”
