ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Gophers held a team meeting earlier this week to remind themselves they still had a long season left to prove critics wrong. Fans and outside observers basically are counting them out of Big Ten contention already minus impact players Reggie Lynch and Amir Coffey.
There will be a lot more doubters after their worst loss in two years.
In the second game down two starters and having to deal with the distraction of Lynch’s suspension in a case involving multiple alleged sexual assault incidents, Minnesota fell 83-60 Wednesday night against Northwestern at Allstate Arena.
The Gophers (13-5, 2-3) dropped to 0-2 without Lynch and Coffey, who is out indefinitely with a right shoulder injury. Poor play down the stretch resulted in a 75-71 loss Saturday against Indiana at home, but what followed was unexpected.
Even after his speech to them on Monday, Richard Pitino’s players showed up with little energy and effort two days later in a game that looked like a chance for them to bounce back.
After appearing midseason like a team far from the one that reached the program’s first NCAA tourney last season, the Wildcats (11-7, 2-3) responded by leading Minnesota by as much as 28 points in the second half after taking control 43-21 at halftime Wednesday.
Scottie Lindsey had 22 points and Bryant McIntosh broke a school record with 16 assists for Northwestern. Dupree McBrayer was the only double-figure scorer for Minnesota with 14 points.
Northwestern’s zone stifled the Gophers’ offensively while they shot just 22 percent (6-for-27) in the first half. The Gophers’ leading scorer and the Big Ten’s top rebounder, Jordan Murphy, was scoreless in the first half after getting into foul trouble.
Murphy’s double-double streak to start the season (tied Tim Duncan’s back in 1997) ended with a thud at 17 straight games. The junior forward was held to just eight points and two rebounds in 16 minutes after fouling out with 3:13 left.
All-Big Ten senior guard Nate Mason wasn’t much help in Murphy’s absence with just two points on 0-for-5 shooting from the field, four turnovers and three fouls in the first half. He fouled out with nine points on 2-for-10 shooting and four turnovers.
Davonte Fitzgerald’s emphatic dunk down the lane gave Minnesota a 9-8 advantage at 14:08 in the first half, but the Gophers never led again. They were outscored 25-8 in the next 13 minutes, which included a five-minute drought without a field goal.
Lindsey layup made it 52-24 three minutes into the second half for the Wildcats, who have won four of the last five meetings in the series.
Coffey and Lynch were two locals and talented newcomers last season who helped the Gophers pull off their biggest one-year improvement in school history going from 8-23 to 24-10.
It was a turnaround that helped Pitino go from the hot seat with his job status to Big Ten coach of the year and an one-year extension. This following season was supposed to be building on that momentum with the Gophers projected to make it back to the NCAA tournament and possibly compete for a Big Ten title.
But in less than a week, Minnesota’s season outlook and support from some fans for Pitino went from at an all-time high to lows only seen during that abysmal 2015-16 season.