Minnesota vs. NU - Big Ten Tournament

Conseco Fieldhouse is mostly empty in anticipation of the first-round Big Ten tournament matchup between No. 6 Minnesota (18-12, 8-10 Big Ten) and Northwestern (8-21, 1-17). A preliminary purple shirt count puts the number of NU fans at the game somewhere between 25 and 27. No matter, the band is lively and Kevin Coble is on the Jumbotron slow-motion dunking to "Carmina Burana." Somewhere Garland Cooper is smiling.

Food for thought from Big Ten promo # 250: "It's 9.5-on-the-Richter big." The Big Ten, that is.

Minnesota has had no problem with the Wildcats in two earlier meetings this year, winning 82-63 and 92-72. Its 6-foot-9 duo of Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson is averaging 30 points and 15 rebounds per game against NU this year, proving there is a difference between real 6-9 and NU's "6-9."

Tubby Smith is so close I can almost touch him. Brent Musberger is giving us goo-goo eyes from across the court. That must mean it's game time.

Starting Lineups: Minnesota - F: 3 Kevin Payton; F: 13 Dan Coleman; C: 50 Spencer Tollackson; G: 20 Lawrence Westbrook; G: 1 Lawrence McKenzie

NU - F: 21 Ivan Peljusic; F: 44 Kevin Coble; G: 22 Michael Thompson; G: 20 Craig Moore; G: 23 Jeremy Nash

Nash is a surprise starter. Sterling Williams was listed on the pre-game depth chart. I like it.

Predictions - Matt: 81-66 Minnesota
David: 78-71 Minnesota

16:58 - Thompson fouls Tollackson hard and he goes limping off the court. Coble has been huge in the early going. NU 7-2.

14:14 - Tollackson is still in the locker room. If he misses significant time, it could be a huge detriment to the Gophers. Bill Carmody, sporting a slicked back hairdo and as yet a calm demeanor, is coaching with all his might right now, relying on Nash and employing a full-court press. Coble is here to play: He has seven points already. Oop, Tollackson's back. NU 12-6.

11:59 - Coble just hit a pretty little jumper off an inbounds pass. He looks like he's just about 37-points-against-Indiana vintage. NU 14-9, and Juice just drew an offensive foul. I keep trying to get Erin Andrews' eye, but she won't give me the time of day. C'est la vie...

7:52 - The Cats are keeping it up. Moore hit a 3 from right around Valparaiso as the shot clock expired. Coble stripped Tollackson down low. They're showing all the heart they have all season, but finally getting the results for it. NU 21-11.

3:33 - The hits keep coming. NU leads 31-18, and Nash is getting in on the scoring. Coble is still magnificent: He's put up 13. Now if you'll excuse me, the Flex Cam is calling, and I've got to flash those pecs. Then maybe Erin will notice me. Sigh.

3:12 - Tollackson has been playing sporadically. Guess the ankle is still bugging him. 32-18 NU.

25.1 - One criticism. The Gopher press has been working pretty well all game. Juice just had to burn a timeout to avoid a 10-second call. But hey, NU's living with it. NU 34-21.

18.4 - The Gopher press gets to Juice again, forcing a jump ball and a turnover because of the possession arrow. They'll have one more chance to cut into NU's lead.

Halftime - NU 34, Minnesota 21. Hoffarber got off a 3 on a pretty good look but could not connect. NU is doing everything right in the first half: shooting well (64.7 percent), taking care of the ball (seven turnovers) and keeping up on the boards (leading 11-7). The last (and only) Big Ten game in which NU carried a double-digit lead into halftime was against Michigan. The last (and only) time the Cats have won in the Big Ten this year.

Coble has 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. MVP? Honorable mention.

There are two magicians out on the floor, and they're changing outfits really quickly. That's entertainment!

18:16 - Tubby must have sacrificed a small child in the locker room over the break. Let's put it this way, 1:44 into the second half the stats are these: NU 0-3 from field, Minnesota 3-3. NU 0 rebounds, Minnesota 3. NU 0 points, Minnesota 7.

NU leads 34-28. That sense of security is gone.

13:23 - Minnesota was one possession away from tying the game. But a floater by Juice made it a four-point game and a steal by Coble on the other end calmed things down a little bit. Juice has carried NU this half, scoring all eight of its points. NU 42-39 (but Minnesota leads the half 18-8).

12:45 - Tollackson is done. He's on the bench in his warmups. They don't seem to be missing him right now.

12:29 - Westbrook hits a 3. Tied at 42. Westbrook has 11 in the second half. He is powering the comeback.

9:21 - Craig Moore is tired of this mess. After hitting a floater at the buzzer, Moore swished a wide open 3 to extend NU's lead to 47-42.

6:00 - It appears we've reached a standstill. Nobody has scored in 3:21. The score still stands at 47-42 NU. It's a mixture of bad looks and bad shots, not really good defense.

5:00 - McKenzie hits two free throws. First points in 4:21. NU 47-44.

4:11 - And the roof is caving in. Three straight turnovers for NU, which hasn't shot the ball in 2:00. A Coleman steal and dunk gives the Gophers their first lead since 2-0 at 48-47.

3:19 - NU re-takes the lead on two free throws by Moore, only to lose it again after a Hoffarber 3. Minnesota 51-49.

2:07 - Moore hits a 3 to put the Cats back on top 52-51. He and Juice are the only two players to score for NU in the half: Juice has 8 and Moore has 10. Jeremy Nash lost his shoe. Timeout.

39.0 - McKenzie missed a 3 that could have gone a long way to icing it, but Hoffarber got the rebound and found Westbrook who was fouled. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and McKenzie got the board, but he was tied up and NU got the ball. They held it for a really long time and Williams got trapped in the corner and had to throw it away. Coleman got it and Coble fouled him. 3.9 seconds to go and he's shooting a 1-and-1.

Hits one. 54-52 Minnesota. Hits two. 55-52 Minnesota. Time out Minnesota, NU has the last shot. For the season. Kind of.

0.0 - Moore misses a shot from halfcourt at the buzzer. Minnesota wins 55-52. A long, tiring season is over for NU.

Men's Basketball: NU vs. Wisconsin

Welcome to a packed house for Senior Day at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Packed that is with Badger fans, with little bits of Purple thrown in. NU will try for its second win of the season and first at home, while UW will try to improve its NCAA tournament resume after clinching a share of the Big Ten title with a win over Penn State last Wednesday.

The starting lineups were just announced and the cheers for the Badgers are about 2 to 1 compared to those for the Wildcats. Bo Ryan drew loud cheers, while Bill Carmody heard only a smattering of cheers that were mostly drowned-out by boos from the student section.

20:00 It looks like its Landry vs. Sterling Williams for the tip and Landry gets it back to Butch. But the Badgers quickly turn it over.

19:01 After passing the ball around the Badgers find Jason Bohannon in the corner for a 3 and the first basket of the game. NU 0, UW 3.

17:44 Bohannon missed a 3 and Coble couldn't hang onto the rebound, giving Butch an easy put-back.

17:15 Juice nails a 3 for the Cats' first basket. NU 3, UW 6.

15:38 Butch gets fouled after nice pass, but no basket. NU is passing well and getting chances but final execution has been poor. Peljusic missed an easy lay-up and rebounding is not going the Cats' way. The Badgers on the other hand are playing exactly the way they want to: uptempo and using Butch as the focal point to keep their perimeter guys open. They just need to work on their foul shooting. NU 5, UW 9.

12:52 Baran decides to drive and first nearly trips, almost loses the ball going up, gets it back and puts it in with the reverse under the basket. 

10:14 Wisconsin is on a 4-0 run after three poorly run NU possessions and the fans are getting angry at the refs for being a bit too pro-UW.

9:13 The UW fans are pulling the incredulous face too many times.

8:35 Coble and Peljusic force a turnover and IP gets it to Nash at the other end for the lay-up. NU 13, UW 15.

7:56 This game right now is an exhibition on how not to shoot the ball. Both teams are under 45% and there are too many dumb fouls called on both teams. Okrzesik just got called for a meaningless foul on Butch.

5:52 Krabbenhoft just got a basket after about three UW tries to put it back. NU really needs to learn how to rebound inside.

5:00 After the Butch dunk the red-clad crowd is on its feet cheering. There is more noise here than when the teams played in Madison in January.

3:47 Baran is playing very sporadically. He is either making hard shots or missing the easy ones. The rest of the team is following his lead, but on defense there is no solution yet to stop Butch and Landry inside. Butch has 7 rebounds and is outrebounding NU by himself.

1:35 Bohannon ended UW scoring drought with a lay-up. Nash is blocked at the other end by Landry and Butch and-one, but misses. Things do not look good for the Cats right now. NU 20 UW 27.

0:00 Bohannon drives along the baseline as the clock expires for the short banker off the glass to give Wisconsin a nine-point lead at the half.

Halftime: NU 20, UW 29.

NU went from 42% to 39% shooting in seven minutes while UW is now shooting 48% after its 8-0 run. Two areas the Cats need to work on in the second half is shooting and how to contain Brian Butch, who had 11 points and 8 rebounds in the first period. The Cats also need to figure out how to prevent the Badgers from turning this game into a blowout after the break like what happened in Madison.

Second Half

And we're back. Coble scores on NU's first possession, but so does Hughes on UW's first. The Cats have really stopped even attempting to rebound after any shot. Butch doesn't even have to try except to not let his teammates get in the way of his double-double.

17:41 Juice misses a running 3 and the Cats are really struggling to get shots. Coble was blocked and got his own rebound, but couldn't put it back.

16:52 Right after a Coble 3, Flowers throws the outlet pass to Krabbenhoft for the easy open lay-up.

16:06 Peljusic takes out Butch after Butch gets his double-double. Tempers are beginning to flare and the ref has to bring both teams together to make peace. How nice.

15:26 Butch is the reason NU is licking its wounds right now. After missing a 3 from Madison, the Badgers picked up his rebound, and found him underneath again after a gorgeous cut. Add the Nash foul and the potential for another 3-point play and you could have a 10-point Badgers lead. But NU still hasn't found any way to stop him. Unless of course, IP can get Butch to hit him after another hard foul...But I would still put my money on Marcus Landry to get into a fight after he almost picked one with Vince Scott last season.

13:37 NU is really in trouble now. The "Let's go Badgers" chants are drowning out the music during the Cats' timeout after Landry has scored 5 unanswered points and Juice was called for a foul on the Cats' inbounds pass. Down by 13 after a dumb foul should force Carmody to make some changes with his lineup. And that JUST happened as Capocci comes in.

NU 29, UW 42.

13:06 Landry hits a 3 and how has gone on his own 8-0 run against the Cats. Moore gets tripped and the though nothing is called, the ref makes up for it on the other end and gives the ball back to the Cats.

12:31 Flowers gets a thorough talking to from the official for something he did or said down at the other end of the court.

11:53 It looks like everything is going against the Cats. Flowers misses a foul shot and it is tipped back to his team by Butch and the ensuing shot by Jarmusz gets stuck in between the rim and backboard, giving the Badgers the ball again. But the Cats aren't helping their cause at the other end of the court. NU is shooting just 27% in the second half and has four turnovers to Wisconsin's one.

10:25 Coble catches the pass from Juice off the in-bounds pass to end NU's scoring drought, not that it matters as Flowers buries the trey at the other end to increase the Badger lead.

7:48 NU is trying to penetrate to the lane more. Moore and Juice both have drawn fouls on the Badgers in the past few possessions. For this being DM weekend, there is still a surprising number of Wildcat student fans here, though they are still heavily outnumbered by the students from UW. Moore at the line as play resumes after the media timeout and makes it.

NU 39, UW 54 (After the Butch basket right after)

3:44 A foul is called on Juice and as a media timeout is called, the Badger fans go nuts and start chanting "BIG TEN CHAMPS!" To combat the "Let's go Badgers" chants the "Sandstorm" has to be cranked to full volume inside the arena. 

2:30 As Butch and Krabbenhoft leave there is a thunderous ovation by the crowd and only a small one when NU senior Jason Okrzesik comes in, though on his first possession he assists Nash's fast break bucket.

1:18 After Juice gets called for an offensive foul running coast to coast, NU puts it TJ Jones and JM Melchior. Go Seniors. The fans are starting to leave the arena as the 11 point deficit is looking to be too much for the Cats in 1 minute.

43.4 NU 52, UW 63 and JO comes out to a standing ovation by the NU fans.

But the real party is for the Badgers who let TJ Jones get a technical and gets a statistic in his final game. The Badgers are Big Ten Champs and the Cats are the 11th seed in the tourney. Oh well. At least the seniors got to go out with playing time.

Final Score: Wisconsin 65, Northwestern 52.

The real story of this game was Brian Butch and his dominance of the middle. Butch finished the game with 20 points and 14 rebounds. By having to respect his game, the Cats gave Marcus Landry, Joe Krabbenhoft and Jason Bohannon all good looks to put NU away. But the Cats killed themselves with poor shooting and being unable to stop Butch and his rebounding might down low.

Men's Tennis: Short Q&A with Philip Kafka

After talking about why junior transfer Philip Kafka joined the team, the Daily asked him a few questions regarding the two sports that have influenced his life the most: baseball and tennis.

What do you like about baseball?

“Baseball is the quintessential team sport. That’s the way I look at it. Everything about it is just so classic, it’s so great. There’s nothing better than a sunny day on a baseball field. It’s so relaxing and at the same time, there are moments of intensity and competitiveness.”

Who’s your favorite tennis player?

“My favorite player is … Janko Tipsarevic. The reason why I like him is because, he’s always an underdog. He competes with every player, no matter whether their level is better than his or not, he goes out there thinking he’s going to win. And that’s kind of been my experience on the tennis team. I’m a little bit rusty, I hadn’t played in a while before I joined the team. When I step on the court … I step on the court with the mindset that I’m going to win. I kinda emulate Janko in this sense. I never want to throw the white flag.”

Who’s your favorite baseball player?

“I think that my favorite player is Pedro Martinez. I was a pitcher and he is a pitcher. And I’m not the biggest guy, and he’s not the biggest guy. But just like Janko, he’s such a competitive guy. He doesn’t care what you think about him, he doesn’t care what the fans care about him. All the wants to do is win. I really respect that about him.”

Men's Basketball: NU at Purdue

Welcome to the blogosphere! The year is 2013 and the Northwestern Wildcats, headed by coach Bill Carmody, are in Mackey Arena to take on the Boilermakers, with the dream of an undefeated season still alive.

Wait, no.

The Cats are 8-18, at the bottom of the Big Ten. Purdue is 22-6 and is the surprise team in the conference this year.

At least NU is coming off its first conference win. But if they’re going to have any chance today, the Cats have to make sure E’Twaun Moore doesn’t go off for 28 points against them again.

Starting Lineups:

NU – F: 44 Kevin Coble, F: 21 Ivan Peljusic, G: 20 Craig Moore, G: 32 Sterling Williams, G: 22 Michael Thompson

Purdue – F: 4 Robbie Hummel, F: 21 Namanja Calasan, F: 33 E’Twaun Moore, G: 5 Keaton Grant, G: 3 Chris Kramer

Let’s see if the Cats can turn one win into a streak.

15:13 - Craig Moore and Ivan Peljusic are picking up where they left off in the Michigan win. Moore and Peljusic have both hit 3s and the Cats and Boilermakers are tied 8-8. It's been a fairly uneventful five minutes: couple of turnovers, couple of fouls, couple of swishes. Pretty clean game so far. At least from what I can see around the two ginormous Big Ten Network cameras in front of me.

13:53 - It's officially official: Peljusic has ups. For the second game in a row, Peljusic threw down on someone, carving through the lane and one-hand jamming the ball down to give the Cats a 12-11 lead. Peljusic has seven points, and NU may have found itself that fourth offensive weapon.

11:33 - Jeremy Nash and Peljusic have hooked up twice for easy layups, one with only a second left on the shot clock. The latest one extended the Cats' lead to 14-11 before the TV timeout. NU is 6 of 8 (75 percent) from the field right now and are not making that many mistakes. The Cats have picked up four fouls, though, two for Thompson. Purdue could be in the one-and-one soon.

9:01 - Grant twisted his ankle and had to be taken out. 16-14 NU.

7:50 - At 9:30, Peljusic had matched Purdue point for point (11-11) and Carmody took him out for Nikola Baran, who promptly fouled Robbie Hummel in the midst of shooting a 3-pointer. I guess everyone has to rest sometime. The game's getting a little physical, with a premium on jersey pulling and Ren and Stimpy-esque slapping in the paint. Jason Okrzesik pretty much mugged Hummel going for a steal. He got called for the foul. 18-14 NU, and Purdue is one foul away from shooting one-and-ones for the rest of the half.

7:07 - Grant comes back in. Peljusic hits another layup. With the shot, the freshman ties his career high in points at 13, set in Tuesday's win over Michigan. 20-17 NU.

3:45 - The half is winding down and the game is tied 21-21. The last couple of trips have been turnovers and missed layups for both sides, culminating in Peljusic bowling over Kramer and picking up his 2nd foul and the team's 8th.

26.8 - The half just keeps getting uglier. Nobody's scoring. Even on free throws. Marcus Green hit a 3 to give Purdue the lead at 24-23. Purdue is 6 of 13 from 3-point range ... and 1 of 9 inside the arc.

0.0 - Baran got two chances in the final 27 seconds to salvage his first half. He had already missed a 3 and two free throws and picked up two fouls in five minutes. Then he airballed a 3. Coble saved the ball inbounds to Okrzesik who found Baran for another shot at the buzzer. This one was blocked by Kramer.

Long story short, Purdue goes into the locker room with a 24-23 lead. NU is obviously still in the game, but this is no testament to anyone on the Cats (with the possible exception of Peljusic). It looks like the Boilers are trying to give this one away. And NU is more than willing to take it. The Cats are notorious for their slow starts. Maybe the second half will pick up a little bit.

Second Half

15:39 - Purdue has found a little bit of breathing room. After Hummel missed a 3, Thompson backed into him and knocked him over: Thompson's third foul and the third time NU has fouled a Boilermaker in the middle of a 3-point attempt. Hummel made his trio of free throws to extend Purdue's lead to 34-29. But Williams is going to the line after driving hard and getting fouled by Moore, his third as well. Williams hits one to cut the lead to 34-30.

14:08 - NU has taken to not guarding Purdue when it shoots 3s. Not a good strategy. After Calasan hit a 3 from the left corner to put the Boilers up seven, Hummel hit another one from the same corner to extend the lead to 40-30. Timeout Cats. Purdue has hit nine 3s so far, and three shots from inside the arc.

12:40 - NU has just committed three fouls in three seconds. Didn't know that was possible. Scott Martin hits one free throw. 43-32 Boilers.

11:36 - After being invisible for the first 28 minutes of the game, Coble has hit two difficult jumpers. Purdue leads 43-34 and has the ball after Thompson fumbled it out of bounds. Carmody felt there should have been a foul (there was a lot of contact ...) and is whipping his Conan O'Brien-like coiffure at the refs to great effect.

7:36 - Whelp, looks like one isn't going to become two, barring a miracle. Purdue seems to be in firm control. I say this because Martin just pulled a rebound in the middle of three NU defenders and got fouled putting it back up. He's going to the line looking to extend that 50-35 lead his team has built. NU also hasn't made a field goal in almost five minutes. Tsk, tsk.

3:38 - And the beat goes on. Or should I say "beatdown?" Purdue is on an 18-1 run in the last 8:15 and has built up a 61-35 lead. Remember halftime? When it was a one-point game? Yikes. The Cats have not made a field goal during Purdue's run, a span of nine shots. Add in two missed free throws and you've got all the makings of a natural disaster.

3:18 - Coble breaks the drought with a layup at the 8:35 mark. 61-37 Boilers.

2:34 - The "B" team is in. Jean-Marc Melchior, Tonjua Jones, Marlon Day, Mike Capocci and Pat Houlihan. Same for Purdue. Two Coble free throws make it 61-39.

Final: Purdue 68, NU 43. Not much left to say.