If a five-game losing streak was wearing on Northwestern, it didn't show during the Wildcats' 82-58 victory over Minnesota Thursday night in Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Cats came out of the game and grabbed an 11-point lead, boosted by a pair of three-pointers from Aaron Falzon and one from Tre Demps. The Gophers eventually cut the deficit to 29-23 before Northwestern went on an eight-point run at the end of the half and opened the second half with six straight points to boost the lead to 42-23. That lead eventually expanded to 29 (77-48) as the Gophers spent the final four minutes chipping away at the foul line. Demps, who appears to have found his rhythm once again, led the way with 23 points and eight assists. Bryant McIntosh added 20 points and six rebounds, but had to wait until 13:10 of the second half to get his first assist, which tied the single-season school record of 157 held by Tim Doyle. He eventually wound up with three helpers and now sits all alone in the record book.
A very hoarse coach Chris Collins met with the media following the game. He often had to take sips of water just so people could hear him.
"We put a lot of work into this game. This was a very big game for us considering the aunt let we just went through in the last five games.
"Our guards (Demps and McIntosh) were great and got us off to a great start. The stretch at the end of the first half and then starting the second half was big. We hit our threes at the start of the game and we're a different team when we do that."
Re: Starting Dererk Pardon at center.
"He's the most energetic of our big men and I thought we needed his energy at the start of the game. It was better to have Alex (Olah) and Joey (van Zegeren) come off the bench.''
Re: Demps the McIntosh.
"When your two best players are playing well, it carries over to the rest of the players. They had 10 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with 43 points. They were fantastic and led us all night.''
Re: The five-game losing streak.
"Any time you go through a tough stretch like we did, it affects you. You start questioning how good you are. It becomes a matter of convincing them they are not the team that lost to four top 20 teams, but they are the team that won 15 games.''
For the record, Northwestern came into the game ranked 13th in the Big Ten in three-point percentage at .277. Against the Gophers, the Cats hit 12 of 27 beyond the arc (44.4 percent).
A very hoarse coach Chris Collins met with the media following the game. He often had to take sips of water just so people could hear him.
"We put a lot of work into this game. This was a very big game for us considering the aunt let we just went through in the last five games.
"Our guards (Demps and McIntosh) were great and got us off to a great start. The stretch at the end of the first half and then starting the second half was big. We hit our threes at the start of the game and we're a different team when we do that."
Re: Starting Dererk Pardon at center.
"He's the most energetic of our big men and I thought we needed his energy at the start of the game. It was better to have Alex (Olah) and Joey (van Zegeren) come off the bench.''
Re: Demps the McIntosh.
"When your two best players are playing well, it carries over to the rest of the players. They had 10 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with 43 points. They were fantastic and led us all night.''
Re: The five-game losing streak.
"Any time you go through a tough stretch like we did, it affects you. You start questioning how good you are. It becomes a matter of convincing them they are not the team that lost to four top 20 teams, but they are the team that won 15 games.''
For the record, Northwestern came into the game ranked 13th in the Big Ten in three-point percentage at .277. Against the Gophers, the Cats hit 12 of 27 beyond the arc (44.4 percent).
