MINNEAPOLIS — Northwestern coach Bill Carmody spent most of Saturday night isolated, perched on a wooden stool that sat on the sideline of Minnesota’s elevated court. His gaze remained straight ahead as he patted butt after butt of exiting Northwestern players who had failed to find answers to Minnesota’s full-court press.
The Wildcats’ offense stalled against Minnesota’s pressure defense. The Cats (8-8, 0-5 Big Ten) were forced to toss more skip passes than backdoor passes en route to a 74-57 loss Saturday in Williams Arena.
“They play that press well,” NU guard T.J. Parker said. “We had too many problems with it.”
The Cats’ starting guards combined to make eight turnovers, and even when they broke the press, the Gophers’ (10-6, 2-3) high-energy zone defense kept the Cats looking rushed and disjointed.
The shot clock never seemed to be in the Cats’ favor, as hurried shots consistently clanked off the rim just before the 35 seconds were up. In the first half, NU was held to 29 percent shooting and went 0-for-9 from beyond the arc.
“We just don’t have enough weapons,” Carmody said.
NU turned to center Aaron Jennings, who scored a team-high 16 points. But his efforts couldn’t sustain the team through its worst 3-point shooting night of the season.
“We went inside a lot tonight,” Parker said. “It wasn’t a bad thing because when we got shots outside, we weren’t making them.”
Jennings was the lone NU player to reach double figures in scoring. Four Gophers passed the mark.
Minnesota guard Maurice Hargrow led all scorers with 19 points.
Despite the Cats’ offensive woes, their gritty defense kept them close in the opening half. NU had eight steals and limited Minnesota to 21 field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes, keeping the deficit down to five at the break, 29-24.
Junior guard Jitim Young notched five steals and converted a pick-off at mid-court into a high-flying tomahawk slam for his only field goal of the game. Young finished with his worst offensive night of the Big Ten season, scoring just four points on 1 of 8 shooting before fouling out with three minutes remaining.
The Cats’ free-throw shooting and control of the glass during the first 20 minutes also helped offset their shortcomings from the field.
NU pulled down 11 offensive boards and out-rebounded the Minnesota 18-15 in the first half.
The Cats — who entered the game with a 68 percent mark from the foul line — hit all eight of their free-throw attempts before the break.
But coming out of halftime, the floodgates opened for the Gophers.
Within two minutes, the Gophers increased their lead to 10 and never looked back.
“That two minutes when they took a 10-point lead, that killed us,” Parker said.
And if that didn’t kill the Cats, what followed certainly did. The Gophers went on a three-minute, 12-0 run.
For the second-consecutive game, the Cats gave up 45 second-half points.
Minnesota out-rebounded NU 22-11 in the final 20 minutes, and collected 15 offensive boards on the night.
NU’s cold outside shooting continued into the second half, as the team didn’t hit its first 3-pointer until 33 minutes had passed when freshman Evan Seacat finally drained one on his first touch. Seacat went on to finish 3-for-6 from downtown and tallied nine points.
The guard accounted for all of NU’s outside production, as the team finished 3 of 19 from 3-point land.
“We just shot awful from the 3-point line,” senior Aaron Jennings said. “We had some good shots, but we just weren’t knocking them down.”
Senior Winston Blake continued his struggles, missing his only attempt, a 3-pointer. He dropped a ball out-of-bounds to earn him a permanent seat on the bench with 4:05 left in the first half. The forward clocked only five minutes — the second-lowest total of his career.
