Vince Scott-sanity
Vince Scott's three-pointer with 44 seconds remaining tied it and T.J. Parker's jumper with 0.9 seconds won it as the Cats defeated Minnesota, 55-53.
Northwestern trailed by 10 with four minutes remaining, but made a valiant comeback with the help of a technical foul by Minnesota for hanging on the rim.
Parker scored 19 points to lead the way on 8-for-12 shooting. He also added six steals to key the win.
"It's good to see him play defense again," coach Bill Carmody told the AP.
Parker's scoring made up for subpar games by Mohammed Hachad and Vedran Vukusic. The pair combined to shoot a miserable 7-of-22 from the field and scored just nine points apiece.
Center Mike Thompson missed his second straight game with a sprained ankle. This begs the question of whether Northwestern is playing better without Thompson. The team is 4-5 without Thompson and 7-6 with the transfer from Duke. Still, two wins in a row without him and you start to wonder.
The victory not only hurts Minnesota's chances at the NCAAs, but gives NU a legitimate shot at the NIT. Northwestern is now 11-11 on the year (4-6 Big Ten). An NIT bid is within reach with winnable games against Iowa this Saturday and Texas Corpus-Christi next on the docket.
Notes: Freshman Brandon Lee is suspended for the second time this season for violating a team rule and didn't make the trip to Minnesota. The transfer watch is on for Lee, who showed promise early in the season, but has barely played since December.