EVANSTON, ILL. – Richard Pitino was in a familiar spot a year ago when his Gophers men's basketball team was experiencing a rough stretch in late February going into Northwestern.
Forget about NCAA tournament hopes. Pitino was trying to keep his players' focus away from the negative noise about their coach and the program.
The perception eventually changed about Pitino and the Gophers after they turned the season around following last year's victory in Evanston. They will try to follow that same path this time after 14 three-pointers — tied for the second most in program history — helped them end a three-game slide in an 83-57 victory Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"The season is not over," Pitino said. "It's been pronounced over for some reason, but it's not over. The beauty of our league is you've got great wins right in front of you, opportunities. And they're all challenging."
The Gophers (13-13, 7-9 Big Ten) were desperate to get their confidence back after humbling back-to-back home losses to Iowa and Indiana. That hurt their NCAA tournament chances and brought heavy criticism on Pitino.
They answered in a big way behind sophomore Daniel Oturu, who had 13 of his 22 points in the first half to help his team control the game from the opening tip.
"We just came in really aggressive," Oturu said. "We felt like we had to get back to our mentality staying aggressive even when we dropped these last few games. Felt like we came out strong and it helped us early in the game."
It wasn't just Oturu scoring in the post that opened up Minnesota's shooters. Marcus Carr was in attack mode off the dribble, finishing with 18 points. Gabe Kalscheur bounced back from a 1-for-11 performance against Indiana to equal Payton Willis' 14 points and four three-pointers. Carr, Kalscheur and Willis combined to make 11 threes.
Even when Minnesota played poorly and lost games earlier this season, it seemed Oturu was always a bright spot until recently. The 6-10 All-America candidate posted two of his worst Big Ten performances in back-to-back games, including just 11 points in Wednesday's 68-56 loss to Indiana.
Before the Gophers could get themselves back on track offensively, they had to get Oturu dominating again. That's just what happened against the Wildcats (6-20, 1-15), who were outrebounded 48-29.
Oturu, with 10 NBA scouts in attendance, established his presence inside immediately. He then stepped out to the three-point line to contribute to the long-range barrage.
Oturu nailed a career-high three three-pointers, and the first one came after Northwestern took its last lead near the 17-minute mark in the first half. Kalscheur followed with another from long distance.
After Oturu scored twice more in the paint, Carr drilled his first three, followed by Willis' second. Suddenly, the Gophers had sunk five threes in 10 minutes. They went 4-for-25 on threes Wednesday.
Minnesota ended the first half on a 7-0 run, holding the Wildcats scoreless for the last 2:42. Kalscheur's third three-pointer gave his team a 44-28 halftime lead.
The Gophers entered Sunday ranked last in the Big Ten in three-point shooting (27.6%), but they shot 14-for-30 from deep. They hadn't made that many in a Big Ten game since 2001.
"The perspective is to win the next stretch right here," Kalscheur said. "We have two at home and two away. They'll be big games for us."
Last season, Minnesota had lost six of seven games in February going into Evanston, but it won four of the next five to earn an NCAA tournament berth. This year, the Gophers dropped five of six games before getting a much-needed confidence boost Sunday. Can they keep it going?
"We get a top-10 team in the country in our building [Wednesday]," Pitino said of playing Maryland. "Our young guys have to be excited about that. I'm proud of them for tonight to get over that noise and play really, really well."
