Four things learned from the Gophers’ deflating men’s basketball loss to Northwestern

Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson’s helpless expression said it all in the second half of Tuesday’s 75-63 loss against Northwestern in a game with heavy Big Ten tournament qualifying implications.

How could his players go from being the surprise of the conference a week ago after upsetting UCLA and USC on the road to being outplayed at home by Penn State and Northwestern, which were at the bottom of the league?

Johnson had no answers for fixing the issues after the Gophers' fourth consecutive loss at home, including against last-place Washington on Feb. 1. He did point to not being mentally tough in those games.

“That’s the part I’m trying to help these guys with,” Johnson said. “There’s been glimpses. You don’t win some of the games we’ve won if it’s not there. But it’s getting them and dragging them to have that be constant every single game. That’s the challenge.”

The Gophers (14-14, 6-11 Big Ten) have a 4-4 record on the road this season, so maybe the solution is just traveling again to play Saturday at Nebraska.

Here are four things learned from the Northwestern loss:

How can the Gophers expect to be consistent in the Big Ten when having to come from behind in every game?

Northwestern jumped to a 10-0 lead Tuesday before some fans even settled into their seats at Williams Arena. The Wildcats also stretched a five-point halftime lead to 46-33 in the first few minutes of the second half.

Last Saturday, the Gophers were inept on offense with 13 missed shots in the first half and trailed by 14 points in the second half before losing 69-60 to Penn State at home.

The Gophers managed to erase deficits of 17 and 14 points in road wins at USC and UCLA earlier this month, but lately they’re getting burned by playing with the fire of big deficits.

Trailing by double figures in eight consecutive games after Tuesday night hasn’t been a winning formula for the Gophers, who have five losses in that span.

After back-to-back home losses against bottom-three Big Ten teams, the Gophers now are on the bubble to make the conference tournament.

Look no further than the Gophers' backcourt when wondering why there have been the highest of highs and lowest of lows this season.

The best win for the Gophers was Jan. 16 in overtime against Big Ten title contender Michigan. It was also the best game the backcourt played so far this year.

Lu’Cye Patterson and Mike Mitchell Jr. combined for 42 points and seven three-pointers that night to snap a six-game losing streak to start Big Ten play.

Winning at USC also would not have happened without Patterson’s team-high 25 points, to go along with Isaac Asuma’s 12 points off the bench. And Patterson and Mitchell combined for 25 points in the gutsy UCLA win, most notably after clutch buckets from Patterson late.

But on Tuesday, the Gophers' three starting guards, including Femi Odukale, were basically a no-show after combining for 14 points on 5-for-23 shooting, including 1-for-9 from three-point range.

Asuma and Odukale are the Gophers' best guards at handling contact and playing downhill, but they’re not involved a lot in the offense.

So that most often means Patterson and Mitchell have to score for the team to win. But the Gophers are 1-6 in Big Ten play when Patterson scores 10 points or fewer, including losses to Washington, Penn State and Northwestern at home.

Mitchell’s jumper is a game-changer when he’s hot (four key threes vs. UCLA), but he’s shooting 26.2% (17-for-65) in his past 10 games from long distance. He also can be one-dimensional offensively with only two free throws attempted in his past 13 games.

One of the more notable performances in L.A. was from Frank Mitchell as an inside presence for the Gophers.

His 15-point, 12-rebound effort against the Trojans made up for a rare poor shooting night for Dawson Garcia.

The 6-8, 260-pound Mitchell is the most physical player on the Gophers roster, but the junior isn’t always able to stay on the floor long enough to make an impact for the entire game.

He scored eight of his 10 points in the first half against Northwestern to take pressure off Garcia, who had 15 of his team-high 26 points in the second half.

But the frontcourt edge belonged to the Wildcats’ Nick Martinelli with 19 of his 29 points in the second half.

Foul trouble didn’t seem to be an issue for Frank Mitchell, but he played only five minutes in the second half. The Gophers just lacked the same toughness inside without him on the court.

The Gophers are led by one of the Big Ten’s top scorers with Garcia, but they have never been considered an offensive team. Johnson’s style of play is to slow down the pace and make the game have fewer possessions, but that backfires when opponents can score at will.

Defense and making timely offensive plays late in games have been the biggest factors in key wins this season. Take away getting stops, though, and the Gophers don’t even get a chance to win down the stretch.

In four consecutive home losses, the Gophers allowed Washington, Illinois, Penn State and Northwestern to shoot a combined 50.2% from the field and 45% from three-point range.

Minnesota’s field-goal defense is 13th in Big Ten games at 47%, but its three-point defense is 17th at 38.6%.

That’s far from the defensive identity the Gophers will need to find again to have any success in their last three regular-season games.