Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody didn’t have much to say to his team at halftime of Wednesday night’s game against Minnesota. The Wildcats all knew what was going wrong.
“We missed so many open shots,” Carmody said. “It’s hard to believe.”
NU’s range didn’t get any better after the break as the Cats (16-11, 7-8 Big Ten) shot less than 30 percent for the second consecutive game, en route to a humbling 69-51 loss at Minnesota (16-10, 9-6).
With one regular-season game remaining, NU retained seventh place in the Big Ten, while Minnesota is still in a tie with Michigan State for fifth.
The Golden Gophers are out of the running for a regular-season league title, however, as Wisconsin clinched a share of the crown with a 74-54 win over Michigan on Wednesday night.
Similar to a 56-41 loss to Illinois on Saturday, NU shot poorly the entire evening. The Cats connected on just 20 percent of their first-half field-goal attempts and 28.3 percent for the game – even worse than their 28.6 percent output against the Fighting Illini.
The Cats were also just 4 of 25 from behind the arc. Swingman Jason Burke ended NU’s three-point-shooting drought – the Cats were 0-for-17 from long range against Illinois – by nailing a three-pointer midway through the first period.
NU was without forward Vedran Vukusic, who aggravated a shoulder injury in practice Tuesday.
Without Vukusic’s touch, the Cats missed easy shots in the first stanza but found themselves trailing by just eight at the intermission.
Minnesota took control of the game, however, with a 12-4 run to start the second half. Forward Travarus Bennett led the attack by hitting a jumper less than two minutes into the second period. Bennett then connected on 2 of 3 free throws after NU’s Winston Blake fouled him on a three-point attempt. He followed that up with a long-range shot to extend the Golden Gophers’ lead to 38-22 with 15:05 remaining.
The Cats made a run, but it wasn’t enough.
Young converted a three-point play off a layup and a free throw, and Blake and Burke both hit shots from behind the arc, cutting the Minnesota lead to 40-31 with 13:02 left. A few plays later, Young recorded a steal and went the other way for a layup, cutting the deficit to eight.
But Minnesota outscored the Cats 24-14 in the game’s final 11:22, led by Michael Bauer. The forward recorded a game-high 17 points, 14 coming after the break.
The Golden Gophers were significantly better on the offensive end in the second stanza, shooting 60 percent from the floor following the break and 50 percent for the game. But Minnesota also used tight defense to outlast the Cats.
Minnesota blocked 11 shots and forced the Cats out of their game plan, Carmody said, which was to penetrate and kick the ball out for open shots. Instead, NU forced difficult shots in the lane and missed many outside looks.
“We were hesitating a lot around the basket,” Carmody said. “We didn’t throw it out, and they blocked a lot of our shots and altered our shots with their size.”
Despite leading the Cats in scoring for the second straight game with 16 points, NU guard Jitim Young was just 6-for-20 from the floor. He was also the victim of several of the Minnesota blocks.
“Maybe it’s just our focus,” Young said of NU’s abysmal shooting. “I think we were probably thinking a bit too much offensively.”
Wednesday’s defeat marked the first time that the Cats have lost two games in a row since they started 0-3 in conference play. The current streak comes after NU’s first three-game conference winning streak since 1976.
The Cats are now looking to regain the confidence they had two weeks ago when they began the three-game spurt with a 58-56 win over the same Golden Gophers.
“We all have to look in the mirror and just stop here and say, ‘Am I satisfied with this or do I want more?'” Young said. “We just have to get that sense of urgency back.”
