By Andrew SimonThe Daily Northwestern
MINNEAPOLIS – Northwestern is no longer winless in the Big Ten. After five straight losses to begin its conference schedule, NU (11-8, 1-5 Big Ten) picked up a 55-40 victory at Minnesota (7-12, 1-4) on Saturday.
The Wildcats shot 47.8 percent against the Golden Gophers, the first time they have topped 40 percent in a Big Ten contest this season. NU’s outside shooting was still spotty, but it ran its offense smoothly, creating a number of easy baskets.
The Cats outscored the Gophers 30-18 in the paint, generating several layups with backdoor cuts and sharp passing.
“We didn’t shoot that well, but we got ourselves enough layups and easy shots to offset the fact that we didn’t make a lot of our three-point attempts,” coach Bill Carmody said.
The offense received a boost from the return of leading scorer Kevin Coble, who missed the last two games with a sprained ankle. The freshman made his presence felt in 29 minutes off the bench with 13 points, second on the squad to center Vince Scott’s 15.
Scott jump started an 8-0 run that put the Cats in front 16-7 with a steal and a pair of free throws. Coble added two layups during that stretch, including one that resulted from a backdoor cut and a pass from senior Tim Doyle.
“It’s always important for us to get off to a fast start,” Coble said. “That sort of gets us in stride and helps us continue it throughout the game. You look at the games we’ve won, and we’ve usually come out with fast starts.”
Scott sparked another key NU spurt in the second half, after Minnesota knocked down 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cut its deficit to 10. With the Cats stuck in a scoring drought of nearly five minutes, Scott backed his defender down in the lane and hit a jump hook.
He followed that with a 3-pointer, and after Coble sunk a 3 of his own, NU was back ahead 46-28 with 8:49 remaining. Minnesota would never get closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
“It was our game from the beginning,” Scott said. “But any time you’re on someone else’s home court, there’s going to be a time when they make a run at you, and you have to be ready for it. And I thought we were. (The jump hook) was just a shot any other guy would take, but at least it went in for me.”
The Cats’ zone defense stifled the Gophers, holding them to 33.3-percent shooting, including 15.8 percent from 3-point range. Minnesota’s offense never got on track, as it struggled for the third game in a row without the services of injured center Spencer Tollackson. The Gophers had a scoring drought of at least six minutes in each half.
Lawrence McKenzie led Minnesota with 15 points but shot just 5 of 16.
“Usually we play well when we start out playing really good defense,” Scott said. “(Doyle) is doing really well at the top. (Freshman Jeff Ryan) has found a way to get steals, and (Coble) has too. So when that happens and we’re making shots too, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”
Despite Coble’s return, Ryan remained in the starting lineup and chipped in nine points, four rebounds and four steals. Doyle contributed six points and six assists, and sophomore Craig Moore had eight points and a team-leading five rebounds.
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