The Minnesota Gopher basketball team was beaten by Northwestern 55-54 on Saturday afternoon at “The Barn.” The win for the Wildcats was their third straight Big Ten road victory. It’s the first time since 1960 that the Wildcats have won three straight conference road games.
It was also their fifth victory in their last seven games.
The game was pretty even throughout, but the Gophers couldn’t take advantage of an opportunity in the closing seconds and came up short.
Tre Demps drilled a big three to give the Wildcats a 55-52 lead with just under a minute left. Demps became the third Wildcat in double figures on the shot. Demps finished with 11.
The Gophers answered with a quick two with about :45 to go to cut the Wildcat lead to one. Demps then badly missed on a fade away jumper with :12 to play.
Minnesota had the ball and one final chance, DeAndre Mathieu missed on a layup attempt and despite grabbing the offensive rebound Mo Walker missed the put back.
Northwestern got out to a quick start. According to Star Tribune, the Wildcats got out to a 19-9 lead after connecting on five three-pointers in the first five minutes. Minnesota answered back with a 10-0 run, in the first half.
Walker scored 14 to lead the Gophers, but his miss in the closing seconds was just his second missed shot on the afternoon. Austin Hollins was the other Gopher double figures, he chipped in 13.
Drew Crawford scored 17 points, he led all scorers. JerShon Cobb added 15 for the Wildcats.
The Gophers (15-7; 4-5 Big Ten) have lost two straight. They play on Wednesday night at Purdue.
