Head coach Richard Pitino will live to coach Minnesota (14-14) for another day as the Gophers grinded out a 51-46 win over Northwestern Wednesday night in the opening round of Big Ten Tournament.

The basketball rims were tight for both teams in the opening two minutes of the contest, but Minnesota opened up an early 7-0 lead and took a 27-20 lead into halftime.

The Gophers struggled early in the second half with poor shooting and turnovers which allowed Northwestern to climb back in and take their first lead at 40-38 after a Miller Kopp layup with 7:02 remaining.

Kopp's layup came in the midst of an 11-1 run by the Wildcats that gave them their largest lead of the game at 46-39 with 4:15 remaining after a Robbie Beran three-pointer.

Northwestern would go scoreless the rest of the way as Minnesota went on a 12-0 run to end the game with Marcus Carr scoring seven of his ten points during that stretch.

Tre' Williams nailed a three-pointer to help kickstart the Gophers stretch run, he led the Gophers in scoring with 14 and five rebounds, including 4-of-7 from three-point range.

Jamal Mashburn, Jr. added 11 points while Brandon Johnson tallied five points and ten rebounds and Eric Curry led the Gophers in rebounding with 12.

Northwestern was led in scoring Miller Kopp with nine while Pete Nance added eight points and 11 rebounds.

The Wildcats end their season with a 9-15 record overall.

Minnesota advances to play No. 5 seed Ohio State at 1 p.m. CST on Thursday.