Northwestern Provides a Proper Cure for Ailing Gophers
February 22, 2009

After stumbling through the team’s previous five games (four of them losses), the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball team revived itself with a convincing 72-45 thrashing of the Northwestern Wildcats Sunday night at Williams Arena before an announced sellout crowd of 14,625 spectators.

In a way it was fitting that Northwestern played the victim Sunday night, for it was the Wildcats who stunned the once high-riding Gophers at Evanston on January 18. Minnesota was coming off an amazing comeback win over Wisconsin at Madison, but played poorly and lost to the Wildcats, 74-65. Until the Northwestern game, Minnesota had been beaten only once in the 2008-2009 season. (Coincidentally, the Gopher football team also suffered a downward drift after Minnesota was handed a defeat by Northwestern.)

Minnesota entered Williams Arena with a record of 19 wins and seven losses and was no longer a factor in the national rankings. Northwestern, meanwhile, had overcome a shaky start to their season to attain a 14-10 record. Among the Wildcat triumphs was a gaudy win over Michigan State at East Lansing, and, the previous Wednesday, a 72-69 victory over Ohio State.

Auspicious Northwestern wins on the basketball court are celebrated in Evanston simply because there have been so few of them. Perennial Big 10 doormats, the school’s archives boast a thin list of accomplishments including league championships in 1931 and 1933 and victories over Notre Dame and DePaul in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). Northwestern’s traditional position of 10th place in the Big Ten was altered when Penn State entered the league. Now, the Wildcats are usually relegated to 11th place.

Some other appalling items in Northwestern basketball history:

***Ten of 11 Big Ten teams have reached the Final Four. Northwestern has never had a team good enough to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

***From 1984 through 1992 (eight seasons), Northwestern recorded only 14 wins in conference play.

***Minnesota’s lifetime won-loss record versus Northwestern is 98-58. The Wildcats record against interstate rival Illinois is 34 wins and 126 losses.

***Officials list capacity of the Wildcats’ boutique gym (Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston) at 8,117. Most of the time, more than half the seats are empty.

***Northwestern’s current coach, Bill Carmody, has held the position since the start of the century. He has never coached the team to a winning season. At any other Big Ten institution, alumni pressure would have run him out of town. Not at Northwestern. (Northwestern alumni register vital signs only when the football team goes to the Rose Bowl.)

Prior to arrival in Evanston, Carmody was the successful coach at Princeton, a disciple of his mentor Pete Carill. Pete was known as “Back Door Pete” because the entire Princeton offense was built around back door cuts. Now “Back Door Bill” employs that system with the Wildcats.

After the Gopher loss, Carmody told reporters that the tone of the game was set early on. “Right from the beginning, Minnesota stuck it to us,” he lamented. “I didn’t think we were playing incredibly well. We didn’t shoot the ball that well.”

In the first minute of game action, Northwestern ran its patented back door play. “Craig Moore missed the layup,” Carmody recalled. “It was just a sign of things to come for us as we didn’t play the next 39 minutes well.”

Led by junior Lawrence Westbrook and reserve Devron Bostick, Minnesota grabbed a 25-13 lead and was never seriously threatened. The Gophers led 36-18 at the half. Westbrook hit four three-pointers and led Minnesota with a game-high 17 points. Bostick, who had a combined four points in nine games entering Sunday’s match-up, scored nine points – all in the first half – on his 21st Birthday. Four others – Colton Iverson, Travis Busch, Blake Hoffarber, and Paul Carter – added seven points each. Carter also led the team with eight rebounds in 26 minutes of competition.

No Wildcat scored in double figures. Jeremy Nash and John Shurna paced Northwestern with nine points apiece. Moore and Kevin Coble entered the game as the Wildcats top scorers. Moore only played 18 minutes and finished with three points. Coble had five points in 22 minutes of action.

The Gophers improve to 20-7 overall and 8-7 in Big Ten play – matching their overall and conference win totals from 2007-08. The Wildcats dropped to 14-11 overall and 5-9 in the Big Ten.

The Gophers led by as many 28 on their way to their 15th home win. Minnesota shot 47.8 percent in the first half (11-of-23) while holding the Wildcats to five made field goals (five-of-21 for 23.8 percent). For the game, the Gophers out-rebounded Northwestern by 36 to18.

With eight minutes remaining in the game, Minnesota’s lead was extended to 24 when Al Nolen found Iverson for a thundering dunk to put Minnesota in front 55-31. With 4:19 to go, Nolen connected on a three to give the Gophers a 27-point lead. Hoffarber put the icing on the cake by connecting from three-point land to give Minnesota its biggest lead of the night, a 28-point advantage, with just over a minute remaining.

Minnesota shot 55 percent in the second half and finished the game 22-of-43 (51.2 percent). The Wildcats shot 30.4 percent (14-of-46).

The jersey number (41) of former Minnesota All-American Meyer “Whitey Skoog” was retired during halftime ceremonies. (Skoog was mistakenly credited for “inventing” the jump shot.)

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