Brooks Barnhizer and Boo Buie scored 23 points apiece and Northwestern rolled to a 90-66 victory over Minnesota on Saturday night to close out the Big Ten regular season.
Barnhizer made half of his 14 shots with three 3-pointers and all six of his free throws for the Wildcats (21-10, 12-8). He added six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Buie did his damage on 9-for-14 shooting with three 3-pointers, adding six assists. Ryan Langborg also sank three from beyond the arc, scoring 17 with six assists. Nick Martinelli scored 14 on 6-for-9 shooting.
Northwestern, which clinched at least a tie for third place with the win, finished with 23 assists and just one turnover.
Dawson Garcia scored 30 points on 13-for-19 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Golden Gophers (18-13, 9-11). Elijah Hawkins notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists.
Barnhizer had 14 points, Langborg scored 10 and Northwestern shot 70% in building a 53-41 advantage at halftime. The Wildcats made 21 of 30 shots, including 7 of 11 from 3-point range. Garcia had 16 points at the break and Hawkins scored 11 for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers shot 53.3% overall and made 6 of 10 from distance.
Braeden Carrington hit a 3-pointer to get Minnesota within 72-61 with 6:53 remaining but that was as close as the Gophers would get. Barnhizer answered with a 3-pointer, Buie scored in the paint and Langborg had two baskets in an 11-2 run that pushed the Wildcats’ lead to 83-63 with 3:26 to go.
Minnesota is currently ninth in the 14-team conference which concludes the regular season on Sunday.
