By Andrew SimonThe Daily Northwestern
It was not a typical Northwestern game. The Wildcats shot nearly 50 percent and outrebounded their opponent but fell short due to porous defense and an abundance of turnovers.
Those factors spelled the end of NU’s six-game winning streak against Minnesota. The Golden Gophers (9-13, 3-5) topped the Cats (11-10, 1-7), 62-55 Wednesday in Evanston.
The defeat stood in stark contrast to most of NU’s games and especially with the Cats’ 55-40 victory against the Gophers on Jan. 20 in Minneapolis. In that contest, NU stifled Minnesota’s offense, holding the Gophers to 33.3-percent shooting and 15.8-percent from 3-point range.
This time, Minnesota buried NU by shooting 47.9 percent and 53.8 percent in the second half. After the break, the Gophers hit eight of their 16 treys.
“If you really want to boil this down, we did change, we tried to spread the floor more, we told (our players) to move the ball more, but we made shots,” Minnesota coach Jim Molinari said. “When you make shots, your offense looks better.”
Sophomore Jamal Abu-Shamala bothered the Cats all game, taking advantage of several open looks by shooting 5 for 8 from long range and scoring 19 points. Junior Lawrence McKenzie scored all 11 of his points in the second half.
As a result of Minnesota’s hot shooting, the Gophers gashed the Cats for 39 points after the intermission. Twice this season, NU has allowed just 39 points in an entire game.
“Our defense is susceptible to 3-point shooters, and I think that’s why we struggled,” senior Tim Doyle said. “Penn State, who can’t beat anybody, plays like the Lakers against us because the 1-3-1 (zone defense) is susceptible to 3-point shooting teams.”
Despite their defensive woes, the Cats’ 15 turnovers might have been their biggest problem. In its previous two games, NU had turned it over 16 times total.
With a little more than five minutes left, a Kevin Coble turnover led to an Abu-Shamala layup that ignited an 11-4 Minnesota run that stretched its lead to nine.
“The telling stat of the game was the 15 turnovers,” Doyle said. “Usually, we average nine or 10, so five or six more possessions, two or three more hoops … That was the difference.”
Both squads struggled mightily for the first quarter of the contest before finding their rhythm offensively. The first four minutes were especially ugly, with the Cats and Gophers combining for two points on 1-for-6 shooting and five turnovers.
Minnesota pulled itself together and managed an 8-0 run to take a 12-6 lead midway through the half.
That’s when Doyle notched nine points in a span of about three minutes. Behind his play, NU sprinted ahead 20-17 after a 14-5 spurt.
But Abu-Shamala sunk a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in the half to provide the Gophers with a slim halftime lead. Jeff Ryan had an opportunity to grab the lead back for the Cats in the final seconds but missed his second and third layups of the half.
“It should have been a better shooting day (for us), because we missed those layups,” coach Bill Carmody said. “You don’t score, it puts more strain on your defense and becomes tougher and tougher.”
Both teams sprinted out to hot starts after the intermission. In the first ten minutes of the half, each team poured in 19 points and hit three 3-pointers. Although the Cats grabbed a 44-42 advantage on Craig Moore’s trey, it didn’t last long. The Golden Gophers began asserting themselves in the paint, powering an 8-2 run with three layups and a dunk and forcing an NU timeout.
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