Ben Johnson has lamented a handful of games that got away from the Gophers men's basketball team this season.
"You look at the schedule and you just want to punch walls," the head coach said Monday. "Because there are a couple games were if this happens here or that happens there now you are looking at maybe eight or nine, maybe 10 conference wins."
The Gophers, which finished 7-13 in the Big Ten regular season, didn't have any small margin to sow more frustration Wednesday in first round of the conference tournament.
The 12th-seeded Gophers bowed out in a 72-64 loss to 13th-ranked Northwestern at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Wildcats, a two-point favorite over Minnesota, will play No. 5 Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon.
Gophers coach Ben Johnson has now gone one-and-done in three of the four Big Ten Tournaments since taking over in 2021-22. Barring an unlikely late bid to a lower-level postseason tournament, Minnesota's season will end at 15-17 overall.
Minnesota starting guards Mike Mitchell and Femi Odukale didn't score until nine minutes were left in the first half. Mitchell hasn't appeared to be full healthy amid a long slump but he got it going later with three late 3-pointers.
That pair of U guards combined for 15 points. Meanwhile, Northwestern guards Ty Berry and Jordan Clayton combined for 24 points.
Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with 22 points.
Northwestern ran Minnesota through a gauntlet of screens in their first match this season, with the Wildcats winning 75-63 at Williams Arena on Feb. 25.
Northwestern star Nick Martinelli was the leading scorer in the Big Ten this season (20.2) and scored 29 in the at The Barn last month. On Wednesday, he was hot in the first half with 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting and finished with 28.
The Wildcats were distancing themselves toward the end of the half, going up 32-23 with 1:22 remaining, but Minnesota went on a 6-0 run to make it 32-29 at the break. Lu'Cye Patterson had a steal and jumper in the lane during the spurt.
Northwestern went on a 12-3 run to begin the second half, opening up a 44-32 lead with 15:26 remaining. They were in control the rest of the game.