The Gophers had one last chance to earn their right to keep playing basketball on Wednesday's Big Ten Tournament first-round game against Northwestern, but the Wildcats looked like the team with more urgency, knocking Minnesota out 72-64. There is plenty to take away from another disappointing performance.

Dawson Garcia scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but 12th-seeded Minnesota dropped a 72-64 decision to 13th-seeded Northwestern in the opening

Minnesota scores 68.2 points per game, 1.1 fewer points than the 69.3 Northwestern gives up. Northwestern has shot at a 44.2% rate from the field this season, 0.2 percentage point