- Ky McKeon

I attended the Northwestern v. Minnesota game on Sunday. While the game was nothing to write home about and even boring at times, it was a positive experience. Seeing Minnesota center Daniel Oturu live was a treat in and of itself, as the 6’10” big man is one of the best talents in the country and likely heading to the NBA this offseason. The Gophers pounded the Cats all game in this one, emphatically showing the home crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena they were in a different class. Here the important (and some non-important) takeaways from the game.

The Arena

Welsh-Ryan Arena was renovated following the 2016-17 season, the season in which the Northwestern basketball program made its only NCAA Tournament appearance. Previously, the arena had its charms but was ultimately in poor shape. One side of the gym consisted entirely of bleachers, which offered zero leg room and uncertainty as to which seat you were supposed occupy. The other side was choppy, sections split by concrete walkways and walls. Needless to say, a renovation as sorely needed.

The new arena is awesome. It’s pristine, super nice, and has none of those stupid bleachers from the previous iteration. The gym is small – smallest in the Big Ten – but it’s intimate and appropriate for the crowd size the Wildcats attract. The student section is placed well behind both baskets, but it would be better if students actually showed up to the game. This leads me to my next point…

The Fans

Northwestern is not a basketball powerhouse and the 2019-20 season is certainly one that Wildcat fans will look to forget as soon as possible. However, the student showing in this game was weak, especially for a 2:00pm tip on a Sunday. I could count on two hands how many students were in the student section, which means there were barely more students in attendance than the USC game I went to this past November. The overall crowd was pretty good on the whole, though, and mostly filled with purple and white. Northwestern’s home court is at an inherent disadvantage playing in Chicago where numerous alumni from every Big Ten school reside. Hopefully Chris Collins can get the program turned around in the next couple years to encourage a bigger showing. Speaking of…

The Youth

Both Minnesota and Northwestern are young teams this season burgeoning with potential. The Cats’ nine-man rotation on Sunday featured seven underclassmen including 4-star forwards Pete Nance, Miller Kopp, Robbie Beran and Jared Jones, 3-star PG Boo Buie and 3-star forward Ryan Young. That is a hell of a recruiting group for the Northwestern basketball program. To boot, this team has a ton of chemistry, evident by how much fun they were having in warm-ups. Teams with chemistry are teams that win.

Buie was very impressive in the primary ball handling spot and should have a successful 4-year career as he looks to mold into the Bryant McIntosh role. Big man Ryan Young was the featured offensive player in Collins’s offense (for whatever reason) – though he struggled to score against Oturu (many do), I was impressed by his footwork and body control in the post. Nance has all the physical tools to be a Big Ten star down the road, he just needs to start asserting himself more on both ends.

On the Gopher side, Richard Pitino likely only loses senior Alihan Demir and Oturu next season, setting up a potential top 40 in 2020-21. The guard trio of Marcus Carr, Payton Willis, and Gabe Kalscheur will be one of the league’s best next season and top recruit Tre’ Williams could find success in a small-ball four role next year.

Post-Game Presser

Richard Pitino

Pitino was a class act in the post-game press conference, giving credit to Northwestern and complimenting Collins on his wealth of talent. As for his Gophers, Pitino addressed his team’s strong play in this game and tourney hopes by saying that the Big Ten is league where everybody at some point is pronounced dead during the season. Anecdotally, this is certainly true for Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan, and other teams this year. He also commented on Minnesota’s schedule, one that he says is #1 in the BPI. I’m not sure about BPI, but the NET does have the Gophers’ schedule as the 47th best in the land, certainly nothing to sneeze at. One final point Pitino made was on the topic of parody in the league, something he said was aided by players leaving early, whether via the NBA Draft or the transfer wire. While he didn’t place any blame on the NCAA for their potential new transfer rules, he did insinuate that the current state of college basketball made it difficult to build momentum at a program due to the constant changing of player personnel.

Chris Collins

Collins was clearly disappointed in is team’s play, going so far as to say they were out-classed. He pointed to a need to practice, as injuries, playing four games in ten days, and travel severely limited his team’s ability to get in the gym and get better. Collins admitted Northwestern’s pick-n-roll defense was extremely poor, a fact easily noticed by anyone in the gym, but ended the presser on a high note saying his team has the talent to be good down the road. If Collins keeps bringing in 3 and 4-star recruits to Evanston, the Cats will soon rise up the Big Ten rankings once again.

Game Takeaways

1.       The Size Disparity

Minnesota dwarfed Northwestern, despite the Cats having a relatively tall roster. The Gopher bigs had no issue pounding the ball inside and the Gopher guards were all stronger than the Cat perimeter. Minnesota outrebounded Northwestern 48-29, a stat that was all too obvious to the fans in the arena.

2.       The Dominance of Daniel Oturu

NBA scouts were in the building to see Oturu and boy did they see a show. Oturu was absolutely unstoppable all game long, knocking down threes, grabbing rebounds, scoring in the post, and shutting down the post on defense. The sophomore has put up 22 points on 8/11 shooting, grabbed 12 boards, and swatted 3 shots, all while not appearing to break a sweat. Many thought Minnesota would falter this season after program great Jordan Murphy graduated this summer, but I dare say Oturu is an even better player. If by some miracle Oturu decides to come back to the Gophers next year, this will be a top 15 team.

3.       Degree of Scoring Difficulty

Related to the Oturu point above, Minnesota’s offense appeared effortless against the Northwestern defense. Sure, it helps when you hit 14/30 from outside the arc, but a major reason those shots went in was due to Minnesota’s superior ball movement and penetration. The pick-n-roll was unguardable, as Marcus Carr was able to slice and dice his way through the paint and either take the ball to the rack, dump it to Oturu, or find a wide open sharpshooter behind the arc. Nearly every possession the Gophers found a clean look, which helped them put up a robust 1.22 PPP.

On the flipside, Northwestern’s offense was like pulling teeth. None of the guards save Pat Spencer could find driving lanes, and when they did they were immediately closed off by help defenders. Also, as alluded to above, Collins had way too much focus on pounding the ball inside to Ryan Young, apparently taking the school’s slogan “Pound the Rock” to literally. Young is a talented forward, but there were way too many possessions that consisted of him dribbling the ball and making a move on the block into the chest of Oturu while others stood helplessly on the perimeter. Young was 5/13 from the field in this game and three of those buckets came off wide-open layups in the first two or so minutes.

4.       The Lacrosse Player

Many know the story of lacrosse star Pat Spencer grad transferring to Northwestern this offseason to play one season of college basketball before (presumably) going pro in the sport in which he is better than just about anybody in the country. But few may realize just how good at basketball Spencer actually is. The first person I noticed in warm-ups before this game was Spencer due to his oh-my-god level of athleticism. At 6’3”, he was putting down high-difficulty dunks in the layup lines like it was nothing.

In the game itself, Spencer was one of the few Cats to actually find success driving the ball – at least in the first few minutes. He ended the game with six assists, showing off his impressive court vision and timely passing.

5.       The Chick-Fil-A Giveaway

The most dramatic part of the game occurred with less than four minutes to go. Northwestern had a promo going for the fans in which the good patrons of Welsh-Ryan Arena would receive a free Chick-Fil-A sandwich if Minnesota missed six free throws. Reserve Gopher big man Sam Freeman checked into the game with 3:00 to go and soon after barreled his way to the foul line. Freeman clanked the first shot off the rim, prompting the crowd to erupt with hope at a delicious Chick-Fil-A sandwich. But, Freeman, a good free throw shooter for his size, coolly knocked down the second, after which the Minnesota bench led by Carr gave the “shhh finger” to the small grouping of students cheering the loudest for a miss.

Not too much later, Freeman again went to the line for an opportunity to convert an and-1. Again the crowd screamed at the top of its lungs, and again Freeman knocked down the free throw. The Minnesota bench was hyped.

Just when all hope at a free sandwich seemed lost, Freeman again was fouled under the bucket and went to the line for two more free throw attempts. The 6’10” freshman cashed the first foul shot, much to the dismay of the purple and white faithful. But then… he missed the second. Pandemonium. Free Chick-Fil-A for everybody. Gophers win 83-57.