Coming off an excellent (by Wildcat standards) two-game stretch where they beat Texas Pan-American; and were within three at halftime before eventually losing against Indiana, the ‘Cats were hoping to win against an average Big Ten team with Minnesota Wednesday night.

It was not an auspicious start, as Minnesota pounded the ball inside early and often to 260-pound center Spencer Tollackson. According to the media guide, his Northwestern counterpart, Nikola Baran, was only outweighed by 25 pounds, but it looked like Steve Kerr trying to guard Shaq in the post in the first two minutes. Before anyone could blink, Baron had two fouls, Tollackson had five points, including three for three on free throws. Northwestern was down 8-2, Baran was replaced by Mike Capocci.

Another inevitable blowout seemed to be on hand once again.

Thankfully, Juice Thompson was in the building, and five quick points by the freshman later, I managed to hold down the vomit creeping up my throat.

Moving from man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone, the ‘Cats managed to slow down Tollackson and the Minnesota attack and keep the game close. Northwestern spent most of the first half with four guards and Coble playing, but for some reason Minnesota only punished them with the big man about half as often as they could.

Reserve guard Jeremy Nash who coach Carmody acknowledged after the game has been playing too good to keep off the floor recently played well again, and the ‘Cats big scorers did their part as well. Thompson continued to play as if he were 22 and not 18, Coble is getting better game by game, and Craig Moore continued sinking threes.

Statistically, Moore has been the ‘Cats most efficient scorer this season. His eFG% (1) is of 57.9% is 175th in the nation. That may not sound like much, but considering there are about 340 teams in D-1, with about 12 players per team, he is in the top 5% nationally shooting the rock.

With the ‘Cats big three doing their part offensively, and the team creating turnovers – Minnesota had 15 in the game – Northwestern didn’t look like one of the worst teams in the country. I nearly fell out of my chair when I looked up after ten minutes of action and the game wasn’t already technically over.

Following a Moore layup with 2:55 left in the half, the score was 34-31 Minnesota. Given how hard the ‘Cats have played this season, despite their weaknesses, they deserve at least one Big Ten victory, and it looked like this could be the night. They did beat the Gophers last year in Minneapolis, after all.

Coach Tubby Smith who has re-energized a team that went 9-21 last season, into a club that started 9-1 this year, was sitting there, wearing sneakers to support Coaches for Cancer, seemed to all of a sudden realize, “I’ve won a national title, and my team is struggling against Northwestern.”

Next thing you know, the Gophers went on a 14-2 tear, including 8 points by Jamal Abu-Shamala to close out the half.

Jamal picked up right where he left off to start the second, making another three to put the Gophers up by 17, 50-33. At that point, even the most-self deluding, craziest Northwestern fan of all knew the ‘Cats were toast.

The game ended 92-72. Northwestern did a lot of things right offensively, Coble, Thompson and Moore combined for 60 points, but they basically did nothing on the defensive end. The odds were against them from the start, and while they did play well for most of the first half, eventually the more talented team prevailed.

On Saturday the ‘Cats travel to East Lansing to face off again against number ten Michigan State. In his post-game comments, Carmody alluded to their struggles on the defensive end,

“We lost [Tim] Doyle and Vince Scott and how did our defense change so much? I don't understand it but I know we have to do something about it, whether it's go man-to-man or press and fall back into something because Minnesota knew what they were doing and they executed and a lot of teams have been doing that to us. Maybe we have to give them less time by picking it up a little bit so they have less time to attack us in the half court.”

I think a move to the full-court press, would be the optimal move for this squad. Carmody finally implemented it late in the second half and it led to two consecutive turnovers by the ‘Gophers, but by that point the game was already far out of reach. I think it is the best chance the ‘Cats have to disrupt their opponents offensive flow.

If they could at least slow down opponents and their big three play like they did Wednesday, Northwestern just might win a Big Ten game after all this winter.

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