Ben Johnson says Gophers are 'mentally stuck' after 75-63 loss to Northwestern
Ben Johnson says Gophers 'mentally stuck' after loss to Northwestern
Ben Johnson, Dawson Garcia and Femi Odukale spoke with reporters after the Gophers' men's basketball team lost to Northwestern 75-63 Tuesday night to fall to 6-11 in Big Ten play and 14-14 on the season. They're 16th in the Big Ten with 3 games left, and need to finish in the top-15 in the league to make the conference tournament.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team is not making life easy to be one of the 15 teams in the Big Ten Tournament.
The Gophers looked to be in a solid spot after comeback wins at USC and UCLA last week on the West Coast. Any momentum they generated has since been wiped away. Tuesday night, the Gophers fell to 14-14 overall and 6-11 in Big Ten play after a 75-63 loss to Northwestern Williams Arena. That’s after losing to Penn State, the last place team in the league, on Saturday.
"It’s just we’re stuck. That’s what we’ve got to fight through, we’ve got to fight through being stuck. We are just really mentally stuck right now," Gophers coach Ben Johnson said after the loss. "Can’t pinpoint what it is when we’re not on the road. We were a totally different team last week."
With three regular season games left, Minnesota is 16th in the Big Ten. The bottom three teams in the league at end of the season do not advance. If the Gophers are one of those three teams, Johnson’s head coaching seat will get hot.
How it happened
By the numbers:
The Wildcats jumped on the Gophers early with the first 10 points of the game. Minnesota responded and tied the game 21-21 before Northwestern led 36-31 at the break. The Wildcats started the second half on a 9-2 run and led by as many as 17.
Williams Arena is typically a tough environment for opponents, but attendance has dropped this season as the team has struggled. After Tuesday’s loss, the Gophers are just 10-8 on their home court this season, now having lost four straight. Their last win at Williams Arena was arguably Johnson's best with Minnesota, a 77-69 victory over then No. 15-ranked Oregon. But the Gophers are 3-5 since, including home losses to last place teams in Washington and Penn State.
Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with 26 points. Frank Mitchell added 10 off the bench. Nick Martinelli led the Wildcats with 29 points.
The Gophers shot just 5-of-19 from three-point range in the loss, including just 1-of-10 in the second half.
Johnson said he did everything he could to take his team mentally back to California. He did his pregame routine like they do on the road, set up the locker room as if they were the road team and did his pregame speech as if they were traveling. Garcia said they needed more urgency from the opening tip.
"Really just focusing on the fact that we have to win every single game. We can’t sugarcoat anything, we gotta know that we’ve got to win every single game like our lives depend on it. Just didn’t come out tonight with enough urgency," Garcia said.
What’s next
What's next:
The Gophers travel to Nebraska on Saturday before hosting rival Wisconsin next Wednesday to close out the home schedule. Minnesota closes out the regular season at Rutgers on March 9. Minnesota likely needs to win two of its last three to feel good about making the Big Ten Tournament.
If they don't, changes might be coming.