With a head coach on the hot seat and a season potentially ending Wednesday night, the Minnesota men's basketball team played with a nothing-to-lose mentality.
That approach was good enough to give the Gophers the edge in the first half, but they had blown a big lead before losing recently against Northwestern.
History didn't repeat itself.
Richard Pitino could've possibly coached his last game with the Gophers, but they survived a second-half surge from the Wildcats in a 51-46 win to snap a seven-game slide Wednesday in the Big Ten tournament opening round in Indianapolis.
The 13th-seeded Gophers (14-14), who won the first game away from home this season, were outscored 15-3 to face a seven-point second-half deficit before ending the game on a 12-0 run.
It was time to put together a comeback or face an early exit — and they didn't want to lose.
Tre' Williams nailed a 3-pointer to get the rally started. Marcus Carr had another dreadful night shooting, but his six straight points gave the Gophers a 49-46 lead just under a minute left.
Carr's steal with 25 seconds remaining was another timely play. That followed with Brandon Johnson's one-of-two free throws to provide enough cushion for the victory.
Carr, who had six assists and six turnovers, scored eight of his 10 points in the final five minutes.
Picking up the scoring slack were Carr's backcourt mates Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Williams, who combined for 25 points. Williams led the team with 14 points.
The Wildcats (9-15), who ended the regular season with three straight wins, trailed 27-20 at halftime after shooting 26% from the field.
In their first meeting, the Gophers saw their halftime advantage slip away after being blitzed by Northwestern to start the second half in a 67-59 loss Feb. 25 at Williams Arena.
Pitino's players were the aggressor in the first half Wednesday. They were beating their opponent on the boards. They were playing intensely on defense. They were getting to the basket.
That changed in the second half. Minnesota's play got sloppy with too many careless turnovers. They were fouling on defense. The inconsistency that led to so many blown leads during a late-season collapse surfaced again.
After playing like the better team for most of the night, the Gophers suddenly looked like the squad that had finished 0-10 on the road in the regular season. Their last victory was Feb. 11 vs. Purdue at home.
Minnesota's 17th turnover of the game led to a reverse layup from Miller Kopp to cut Northwestern's deficit to four points with 11 minutes left in the second half. Pete Nance's 3-pointer two minutes later tied the game 38-38.
Kopp scored off his own missed shot to give Northwestern its first lead of the game with 7:02 to play.
The Gophers, who face Ohio State on Thursday in the second round, held the Wildcats to 31% shooting in the game and outrebounded them 41-39. Brandon Johnson and Eric Curry (22 rebounds combined) both finished with double figure rebounding efforts.
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The Star Tribune did not travel for this game. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews before and/or after the game.
