Northwestern Beats Gophers 55-54 as Walker Misses at the End
February 1, 2014

Maurice Walker missed a putback and time ran out on Minnesota as the Northwester Wildcats won their third straight road game with a 55-54 victory over the Gophers. In the locker room after the game, Walker had his jersey pulled over his head, and others were in tears. “It’s great when they care,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino.

Walker came off the bench in the first half and passed, rebounded, and scored to get the Gophers back in the game after falling behind by 10. His performance, producing six field goals, helped Minnesota stay close despite the cold shooting of marksman Malik Smith, who missed all seven of his three-point attempts.

However, Walker had problems with turnovers, and in the second half he had two passes go off his hands and through his legs. “Mo missed a couple, and it killed his confidence,” said Pitino.

Northwestern first-year coach Chris Collins, son of Doug Collins, had his first matchup against Pitino, who, as the son of Rick, has a similarly impressive coaching pedigree. Collins noted that the Wildcats caught a break with the absence of Andre Hollins, who has been out with an ankle injury suffered against Wisconsin 10 days ago. Collins called Hollins the best player on the Gophers.

Collins was pleased with the way Northwestern dealt with the Minnesota press, although the Gophers had nine steals in the game, and thought his team kept the tempo at their pace. “We did not want to get into a track meet with the game.”

Northwestern held a 32-29 lead at halftime, but Minnesota came out with the first six points. The game stayed close from there with neither team opening up more than a three-point lead. Drew Collins, the Wildcats’ leading scorer and rebounder, hit a three-pointer with 6:10 remaining for a 50-47 lead. The Wildcats didn’t score again for more than four minutes, and the Gophers, missing shots along the way, managed to catch up.

JerShon Cobb, who was 3-for-3 on three-pointers for Northwestern in the first half, broke the tie with a pair of free throws with 1:53 left. Smith responded with a jumper to make the score 52-52. As the shot clock ran down, Tre Demps hit a three-pointer with 55 seconds left to put the Wildcats up 55-52. DeAndre Mathieu raced back for a layup to pull the Gophers within a point.

Northwestern ran the clock down again before Demps launched an air ball out of bounds with 11.9 seconds left. Once again, Mathieu attacked in the lane, but the Wildcats had a wall of defenders, and Mathieu’s shot missed. Walker grabbed the rebound and appeared to be in position to score the winning basket, but his attempt bounced off the rim and to the floor with the final buzzer sounding as players scrambled for the ball.

Pitino said the plan was to “drive the ball to the basket, and we did, and if you miss, get the rebound, and we did.” Asked if he thought a foul should be called on Northwestern as Walker tried the putback, the coach tellingly said, “No comment.”

Pitino was clearly unhappy over the lack of a foul, but Collins noted that the officials had been consistent in limiting their whistles (only 27 fouls were called in the game).

The win brought Northwestern to 5-5 in conference play while the Gophers dropped to 4-5 in the Big Ten.

Gopher Holes: Drew Crawford’s dad, Danny, sat two rows behind the Northwestern bench and after the game congratulated his son, who led all players with 17 points. A National Basketball Association official, Danny Crawford had been the referee at the Timberwolves-Grizzlies game the night before and stayed in Minneapolis to watch his son.