Second Half Collapse Dooms Gophers Thursday
The University of Minnesota men's basketball team fell 67-59 to Northwestern Wednesday night in a stunning loss that all but assures the Gophers will be left out of the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Already 'on the bubble' to make it into the field of 68, Minnesota managed to blow a lead that was as big as 18 points to a Wildcats team that hadn't won in nearly two full calendar months.
Northwestern had lost 13 straight games dating back to a December 26th win over Ohio State before outscoring the Gophers 42-28 in the second half to take the upset victory.
The Gophers shot just 23-62 (37%) from the floor and were an abysmal 4-27 from three-point range. Minnesota was missing two key players in the loss in guards Gabe Kalscheur and forward Liam Robbins and only got a total of two points on seven shots from the three players coach Richard Pitino brought off the bench.
Senior guard Marcus Carr led the Gophers with 21 points and seven assists, while freshman Jamal Mashburn, Jr. added 13 points. Wildcats guard Boo Buie led all scorers with 25 points and forward Miller Kopp scored 15 in the win.
The Gophers have three games left during the regular season before embarking to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament. Minnesota will play at Nebraska on Saturday, at Penn State on Wednesday then will finish the schedule at home against Rutgers on March 6th.
Minnesota is 13-11 overall, 6-11 in the Big Ten and 0-8 on the road this season.
Saturday's game at Nebraska will tip-off at 6 p.m.
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