Sunday, Valentine’s Day in Evanston… a raucous crowd of 6,062 at Welsh-Ryan Arena came to witness a highly motivated Northwestern squad (17-8, 6-7 in the Big Ten) going up against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (14-10, 5-7). The Wildcats overcame a 13-point deficit and made 16 consecutive free throws after halftime to defeat Tubby Smith’s Golden Gophers 77-74 in overtime. 

 

NU junior point guard Michael “Juice” Thompson said “Our energy level and defense kept us in it. The crowd let us know it was not over, and (NU coach Bill) Carmody motivated me. We came up with loose balls and defensive rebounds.” Wildcat forward John Shurna added “people learned that we don’t quit, in the first half, not many of my shots were going in, but my teammates had faith in me. We get great leadership from Juice and Jeremy (Nash).” 

 

Minnesota tied the game at 57 with a three-pointer from Blake Hoffarber with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Shurna got things started for NU in overtime with an up-and-under move. The Golden Gophers went up 62-59 on another Hoffarber three-pointer with 3:43 left in OT, but the Cats reeled off nine unanswered points, tying the game on a trey from Thompson and taking the lead for good on layups by Nash and Drew Crawford. Two free throws by Luka Mirkovic made it 68-62 with 1:13 to go. Shurna led NU with 22 points. Crawford had 18 points and nine rebounds, Thompson added 14 points and seven assists and Mirkovic dropped in 11 points and pulled down 10 boards. 

 

 

 

Evan J. Thomas is a contributor for 312Sports.com for Notre Dame, Northwestern and Chicago Bulls. He is also a professional photographer, his work and blogs can be seen at www.myspace.com/evanjthomas also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.