Minnesotaearned its No. 7 ranking in the Big Ten tournament by stumblinginto the United Center on five-game losing streak. Ben Johnsondidn’t become the player everyone thought he’d be. Andthe Golden Gophers looked more like a Selsun Blue commercial than abasketball team.

Thatsaid, Northwestern’s win on Thursday was monumental. Not onlybecause the Wildcats hadn’t won a tournament game since theEsch era. Not only because they hadn’t won outside ofWelsh-Ryan Arena since November. Not only because they hadstruggled to hold onto a second half lead in recent weeks.

Fora moment, NU peeled off the labels. They were tough enough. Theywere deep enough. They finished well. They held on to thebasketball. They rebounded. And they played with passion andattitude.

“We’vebeen through a lot of adversity, we have like what, like four offive guys on the team now?” said a smiling Jason Burke.”We keep telling ourselves to keep pushing through it, keepworking hard, you can’t get tired.”

Minnesota’s sickening size advantage never materialized.Davor Duvancic held Gophers star Rick Rickert to 6 of 17 shooting.The Cats were the aggressors in the paint.

Last season, NU earned respect around the Big Ten and madeWelsh-Ryan a graveyard for some of the league’s best players.Tavaras Hardy and Collier Drayton transformed the program into apostseason contender.

But in the conference tournament, that team fell flat on theirfaces. They looked intimidated in a 72-51 thrashing by Michigan.When it really mattered, they weren’t even close.

On Thursday, the Wildcats shed the most distressing label, theone that has been stapled to their backs for years. That labelread: Crumbles in the clutch.

This time, Jitim Young became the go-to guy. Winston Blakescrapped for rebounds. T.J. Parker buried 3-pointers from NBArange. And the team played with an edge.

“Rickert said he was looking forward to the Illinoisgame,” Parker said. “He can look forward to our gamefirst because now he’s going home and we’re stillhere.”

One of the impressive things about the win was where ithappened. The United Center is not Assembly Hall or the BreslinCenter, but it’s not Welsh-Ryan either. In other words,it’s outside of NU’s comfort zone.

Throughout this season, Bill Carmody has stressed that goodteams win away from their home floor. But his squad failed to win aconference road game. The Cats were impressive for spurts againstPurdue, Illinois and Iowa, but could never put it all together.

They turned the corner on Thursday. It was a big win on a bigstage. For the seniors, it was their first tournament victory. Andthey understand how critical it is for the younger players.

“It’s big for the underclassmen because they can getexcited about coming back,” said senior Aaron Jennings.”They know how to win now, how to win in the nationalspotlight. And hopefully it can continue tomorrow, the next day, the next day and then also next year. It helps with recruiting, ithelps with everything.”

For freshman like Parker, this win proves that anything ispossible. And in March, that attitude is essential.

“You never know, I packed my luggage for four days,”Parker said. “I’ll be here for awhile.”

Adam Rittenberg is a Medill senior. He can be reached [email protected].