After tonight, there's no disputing the fact: the Gophers are in a slump.
And oh, it's a murky, sloppy swamp of a slump.
Three games, two very different versions of this Minnesota team displayed in each. At once they are aggressive, playing sound defense, pushing the tempo and excelling in transition. And the next minute, they're unraveled – turning over the ball in bundles, forcing shots, playing scared.
Unfortunately for Minnesota, tonight saw more of the latter in an ugly 55-48 loss to Northwestern. Against the Wildcats' 1-3-1 zone in the second half, the Gophers looked baffled, still unable to solve that defense in the slightest. Instead, with Northwestern taking away the Gophers' inside pass and relegating them to the perimeter, Minnesota started flinging up desperation threes near the end, effectively sealing their fate.
After the game, the pile up of poor play spanning across three games had clearly taken its toll. An angry Tubby Smith again took the podium, riding his players hard once more. Outside the locker room, the players were quiet and solemn.
And even as the game was still going, the players appeared to bicker between plays, clearly frustrated by their own performances.
"When you're losing, people point the finger, that's the way it starts," Smith said. "Instead of being it's my fault, other things you have to deal with, you look at the refs, you look at the coach, it's 'somebody's not doing something.' And that's what losers do."
Some other notes on tonight's game: