In the final game of the regular season, Minnesota was unable to come away with a victory as they fell to Northwestern 75-62 on the road. The Gophers will now head into the Big Ten Tournament as they 14 seed, and face off against Penn State on Wednesday night. Here are three takeaways from the final regular season game for Minnesota.
First Half Deficit Too Much To Overcome
Minnesota just came out flat last night and allowed Northwestern to pull away early. They were down 26-46 at halftime, after holding Northwestern to just 60 points a few weeks earlier. So not only was it a slow start offensively for Minnesota, but they just couldn't find ways to get stops and fell behind 20 early. Despite outplaying NU in the second half, that type of deficit is too much for most teams in the country to overcome. Not working for good shots, allowing opposing players to get into the paint, and just not coming out with energy allowed Northwestern to pretty much win this game in the first ten minutes.
Lack Of Scoring Depth Hurts
In the first meeting with NU, different guys were stepping up to score the ball, as it seemed like everyone was getting involved. Last night it was a different story as Minnesota had to rely on just three double-figure scorers, while two starters combined for just 6 total points. Minnesota pretty much only played Sean Sutherlin off the bench last night, so when you have two starters score just six points each with no opportunity for bench players to step up, it's not going to bode well for you. Unless Jamison Battle or Payton Willis can go off for 30+ points again, Minnesota needs to get some more balanced scoring to stay in games.
Gophers' Bench Outscored By 29
We already knew that Minnesota doesn't play a deep bench, but the difference in bench production last night was crazy. Northwestern got 37 points off their bench, which was well over half of what Minnesota scored as a team last night, and was 29 points more than what Minnesota got from their bench (8 points all from Sean Sutherlin). This was the result of good ball movement and unselfish play for NU, something that Minnesota didn't have at all during the first half of the game. That ended up in nine different players scoring for NU while Minnesota got points from just six players.
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