Senior forward Nick Martinelli missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds remaining as Northwestern ended the regular season with a 67-66 road loss to Minnesota on Saturday night.
A Golden Gopher Senior Day crowd of 8,760 watched the Wildcats (13-18, 5-15 Big Ten) fall to a team that hadn’t lost a home game in a month.
Senior guard Langston Reynolds led the way for the Golden Gophers (15-16, 8-12), scoring 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting alongside four assists. For the ’Cats, Martinelli had 23 points and nine rebounds.
After the game, Golden Gopher coach Niko Medved credited Martinelli’s performance.
“I hope I never have to play against (him) again,” said Medved. “I mean, he is a load.”
Despite freshman guard Jake West returning after missing the loss to Purdue due to an ankle injury, junior center Arrinten Page was out due to illness. Sophomore guard Angelo Ciaravino also rejoined the starting lineup, replacing senior guard Justin Mullins.
An 11-2 Golden Gopher run to kick off the matchup forced coach Chris Collins to use a timeout within the first four minutes.
During the slow start, the ’Cats went 1-for-6 from the field, contrasted by the Gophers’ perfect 5-for-5 start. That lead extended to 18-2 before junior guard Jordan Clayton came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer from the wing to end the drought.
After the game, Collins took responsibility for the poor start.
“I need to do a better job of getting our guys ready to play out of the gate,” Collins said.
The ’Cats dominated the offensive glass in the first frame, hauling in six before Minnesota got one of their own. However, the Golden Gophers were too hot to handle, as they maintained a field goal percentage 65% into halftime.
Minnesota held a double-digit lead for most of the first half, ending the first 20 minutes with a 39-29 lead. At the break, Martinelli was the only ’Cat with double-digit points. Ciaravino and West were closest with five each.
Collins burned another timeout early in the second half after Reynolds scored nine points solo in the first three minutes to extend the Golden Gophers’ lead to 14. Around that time, though, West went on a strong run with three 3-pointers without a miss.
A 10-3 NU run into the under-4-minute media timeout cut the deficit to three. During that run, Martinelli broke his own program record for points in a season, ending the regular season with 682 in total.
The ’Cats took their first lead of the game with 94 seconds to go on a Clayton corner 3-pointer as the run grew to 16-5. A Reynolds layup with 11 seconds left put Minnesota up 67-66. That would be the final score as a last chance Martinelli triple rattled off the rim, and the ball ping-ponged around various players as time expired.
The loss ends the ’Cats’ hope of getting an extra day off, as they can no longer receive a one-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament and are locked in as the 15-seed. Their postseason action will begin Tuesday against the 18-seed Penn State.
“If you’re not excited about playing in the United Center on national TV, you should turn your jersey in,” Collins said.
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