The thought won’t rally an apathetic fan base but the Gophers may have earned a National Invitation Tournament bid with their 75-68 win over Northwestern last night in Indianapolis.
Last Saturday morning Minnesota sources were talking about the need to win two games to make the NIT. That was just hours before Minnesota, losers of six consecutive games, defeated Nebraska in the Gophers’ final regular season game. And then early yesterday evening Minnesota, the No. 7 seed, defeated Northwestern, the No. 10 seed, in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament for both teams.
Minnesota’s two-game winning streak leaves the Gophers with a 19-13 overall season record. That could be enough to put the school back in the NIT for the first time since 2008.
Certainly a win tonight over Michigan will remove any doubt the Gophers would be invited to the tournament that is the oldest in college basketball, and holds its semifinals and championship game in New York’s hoops mecca, Madison Square Garden.
The NIT selection committee will have to decide if there are 32 teams more to its liking than Minnesota. Probably not, but either an invite or rejection won’t be met with much passion by Minnesota’s fan base.
The Gophers used to be popular with NIT administrators who liked the large crowds Minnesota drew for their NIT games. That’s history now. The NIT novelty wore off here long ago and the last NIT game (2008) in Minneapolis drew 3,882 fans.
Then there’s the problem of declining interest in the Gophers. Coach Tubby Smith has been under heavy criticism after finishing with a 6-12 Big Ten regular season record in each of the last two years. His five year Big Ten record is 39-52. Average home attendance this season was the lowest in five years.
But give Smith and his players credit for upsetting Northwestern last night, spoiling any chance the 18-13 Wildcats had of earning an NCAA invitation. In the overtime, Smith put a smaller lineup on the floor using four guards and forward Rodney Williams. The unit shutdown Northwestern’s offense as the Gophers outscored the Wildcats 14-7 in overtime.
Minnesota trailed 36-34 at halftime after building a 15-5 lead early in the game. Northwestern soon switched to a zone defense and half court trap that changed the game in the Wildcats’ favor despite 16 first half points by freshman point guard Andre Hollins.
It was Hollins who led the team in scoring with 25 points and showed promise of giving Minnesotathe leader it has been looking for all winter. He made five of 10 three point shots and played with poise in overtime.
The Gophers will need more of that tonight against a Michigan team that was 13-5 during the conference regular season and shared the league title with Michigan State and Ohio State. Game time is 5:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.