Gophers Lose 55-53 in Turn Back the Clock Night

For a team that has defined this season with ball rotation, composure and casual confidence, the Gophers played “œturn back the clock” Wednesday night at The Barn in a stunning 55-53 loss to Northwestern. Instead of taking care of the ball and putting the Wildcats away at the end of the game, Minnesota reverted back to years past and blew a 10 point lead with just over 4 minutes remaining.

T.J. Parker capped off a dominating night with the game winning jump shot with under one second remaining, giving Northwestern an improbable come-from-behind win. Parker’s jumper capped off a 15-3 Wildcat run over the games final 4:10, and gave Parker a team-high 19 points (on 8/12 form the field) to go along with an impressive six steals.

Minnesota’s play was eerily similar to years past when it struggled to get the ball across half court, missed key free throws and relied too heavily on one offensive player. That player was Vincent Grier, who for the second consecutive game exploded for a career-high tying 32 points. But as Grier picked up where he left off in the win over Wisconsin, his teammates stood around the perimeter hoping he could save them as the shot clock expired. As is becoming standard practice for Grier, he did bail out his teammates, and on three separate occasions, drilled a jumper (two of them three-pointers) as the shot clock expired.

Grier got going early, but only after Northwestern stormed out to a quick 11-2 lead. While many fans and members of the media cautioned at a potential Gopher let-down, it appeared early in the game that prediction would come true. But the Gopher defense picked up its intensity and held the Wildcats without a field goal for almost 13 minutes, before Parker hit a lay-up with 10 seconds remaining in the first half.

The Gophers took 23-17 halftime lead as the Wildcats only outscored Grier by three points in the games first 20 minutes as he had 14 points, including two acrobatic lay-ups in transition.

The Gophers did a “œquick change” at halftime and at three different occasions, extended its lead to 10 points. The last 10 point lead came after a thunderous Grier dunk, which resulted in a technical foul call on him. The dunk put the Gophers up 50-40 with 4:10 remaining, but Vedran Vukusic hit both free throws and Vince Scott added a three-pointer, cutting the Gopher lead to 50-45 with 3:10 left in regulation.

The Vukusic and Scott duo proved big for the Wildcats again as they added back-to-back three pointers after Dan Coleman (2/4) and Aaron Robinson (1/2) struggled from the free throw line. Scott’s three-pointer tied the game 53-53 with under one minute remaining.

Coming out of a time-out, Brent Lawson failed to convert on a three-point attempt, which led to Parker’s game winning jumper with under one second remaining.

The Gophers struggled all evening and put themselves behind the eight-ball with an atrocious 23 turnovers, despite out-rebounding Northwestern 39-18. Grier again led the Gophers in scoring with his 32 and has now had 60 of the Gophers last 91 points dating back to the second half of the Badger game. Coleman added eight points and nine rebounds. The senior trio of Jeff Hagen, Robinson and Lawson struggled all night as they scored a combined eight points in 108 minutes of play. The trio also combined for 11 turnovers.

The loss is Minnesota’s third straight at the hands of Northwestern, but more significantly, it derails much of the momentum that the Gophers built after its recent road win over Michigan and upset win over nationally-ranked Wisconsin. The Gophers fall to 16-7 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

With talk of NCAA Tournament aspirations, the Gophers now face a tough two-game road trip at Indiana on Saturday and at Michigan State next Wednesday. Shaking off the Northwestern performance could become an increasingly difficult task as Hagen went down with another leg injury with 1:37 remaining and did not return to the game.

Suddenly “œ4 MORE WINS” seems like a tall task.