Bill Carmody and the Wildcats can cross out the goose egg that’s been hanging in their road-win column all season.
With a last-second game-winning shot from guard T.J. Parker, Northwestern (11-11, 4-6 Big Ten) picked up a comeback victory, 55-53, against Minnesota at Williams Arena on Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minn.
Parker’s jumper fell with 0.9 seconds left, and Minnesota’s inbounds pass on the next play was intercepted by forward Vedran Vukusic to seal the Cats’ win against the Golden Gophers (16-7, 6-4).
“It was just important to get a road win in a tough environment,” Carmody said. “I know we don’t win here too often.”
The win marked NU’s first on the road since a 40-39 win against Purdue on Feb. 11, 2004.
The Cats went on an 8-1 run to end the game, with Parker’s game-winner giving them their first lead since the 7:40 mark in the first half.
The bucket was the fourth time in the junior’s career that he’s hit a game-winning shot, the last coming in the team’s season opener against Portland on Nov. 19, 2004.
“When there’s a game-winning shot, I always want to take it,” Parker said. “I love those shots, and as soon as it left my hand, I knew it was in.
“I love being clutch.”
The victory was the ninth road win for NU under Carmody, who is in his fifth season as head coach.
Trailing 23-17 at halftime, Carmody said he challenged the team to respond and called for someone to step up.
That person was Parker, who finished with a season-high 19 points and a season-high six steals.
The Cats’ defense forced 23 Golden Gophers turnovers. Three NU players recorded three steals: senior Davor Duvancic, senior Michael Jenkins and junior Mohamed Hachad.
“Coach called us out (at halftime), and I’m glad he did because it kind of woke us up,” Parker said. “I think our defense was great in the second half, and I think it pretty much woke up everybody.”
Parker’s contribution on offense helped minimize Vukusic’s subpar performance.
Averaging 17 points per game, Vukusic could muster only nine points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 1 of 6 from downtown.
Vukusic said after the game that he was bothered by fatigue all day.
“I was really tired at the beginning of the game, and coach had to take me out five minutes into the game,” said Vukusic, who played 34 minutes. “I’ve never been that tired in my life. I don’t even know what’s going on because I didn’t do anything that I don’t usually do or eat before a game.”
The game seemed all but out of reach for NU with four minutes left and the score 50-40.
But Minnesota guard Vincent Grier, who finished with a career-high 32 points, was issued a technical foul for hanging on the rim with 4:03 left.
Vukusic hit the two freebies, which ignited a 15-3 run to close out the game for the Cats.
“You know those emotional swings after technicals? I didn’t really notice that,” Carmody said. “I felt we were really playing hard almost the entire second half, so I didn’t see there was any difference.”
Although NU started the game on an 11-2 run, Minnesota was able to right the ship at the 14:51 mark. From that point, the Gophers went on a 21-6 run to end the half.
From 13:02 until five seconds left in the first half, the Cats hit one of their patented road scoring draughts.
In those 13 minutes, NU missed 16 shots and scored only two points when swingman Tim Doyle converted two free throws with 3:40 left in the period.
Parker finally answered the Cats search for a field goal with seconds remaining before the halftime buzzer with a driving layup.
NU, which was playing without injured center Mike Thompson for the second straight game, was outrebounded 39-18 in the game.
Thompson severely sprained his right foot in practice Feb. 3 and is out indefinitely.
The Cats also were without guard Brandon Lee, who was suspended for the second time this season because of an unspecified violation of team rules, Carmody said.
Reach Zach Silka at [email protected].
