On a day when Northwestern’s offense went cold, its defense could not reignite the Wildcats.
NU (12-7, 2-5 Big Ten) began the game 0-for-14 from the field and trailed Minnesota (15-5, 3-4) 11-0early in the first half. The Cats could not climb out of the deficit as their defense seemed unresponsive to the game around it. Coach Bill Carmody called out senior forward John Shurna for his lack of physicality on defense.
“In the first half, (Minnesota guard Rodney) Williams posted (Shurna) up a couple of times,” Carmody said. “It just seems like (Shurna) did not meet him with the physicality necessary to even bump him off the block or even get a foul here or there, just to let him know you’re there. It was much too soft of a defense.”
It was not just Williams that gutted the Cats, but rather the entire Golden Gophers’ starting lineup. Each of Minnesota’s five starters had double-digit points, paced by guard Joe Coleman’s 16 points. Minnesota also had 19 assists, moving the ball quickly around the defense to create its open looks.
After the man-to-man defense proved ineffective for the Cats, they switched over to the 1-3-1 zone. Although it had moderate success at the beginning by creating turnovers, the Golden Gophers found a way to attack it.
Minnesota had its way with the NU defense, shooting 58 percent from the field and 67.5 percent from inside the arc. The starting five shot 62.5 percent from the field and attempted only six three-pointers.
The Golden Gophers found their greatest success inside the paint against the Cats. Minnesota outscored NU 42-18 inside the lane and out-rebounded NU 40-28. The interior domination was very similar to NU’s Dec. 4 matchup with then-No. 8Baylor, in which the Bears outscored the Cats 46-12 inside the paint.
“They run the flex offense, so it’s about those back cuts and back screens,” senior center Davide Curletti said. “They were able to steal the ball a couple of times. We didn’t do a great job of recovering and helping to our man, whereas in the Wisconsin game we were overhelping a little bit. This time we tended to be closer to our man, and it hurt us in the end.”
Even when NU started to mount a comeback, the defense could not hold Minnesota off the scoreboard long enough. Junior guard Reggie Hearn hit a three-pointer to begin the second half to cut the deficit to 14 points, but seven minutes later the Minnesota lead was back up to 22 points.
“It’s always demoralizing when your offense isn’t able to carry you, and we’re used to that,” Curletti said. “We needed three or four defensive stops in order to make a run and try to get back into it, but we weren’t able to.”
The 30 made field goals by Minnesota tied a season-high for an NU opponent, matching then-No. 21 Creighton’s total in the Cats’ loss on Dec. 22. The 58 percent shooting is the second-highest percentage this season, surpassed only by the 60 percent shooting from Baylor.
Shurna said the frustration on offense did not affect the defense, but he said he understands defense is the key to winning in the Big Ten.
“It’s frustrating that we couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Shurna said. “You still need to go out there and play defense and try to prevent them from scoring. Defense is what’s going to win you games in the Big Ten, so we have to go out and do a better job at that.”
