March 7, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Langston Reynolds (6) works around Northwestern Wildcats guard Angelo Ciaravino (44) during the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images Langston Reynolds scored with 11 seconds left, and Minnesota escaped with a 67-66 win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Conference regular-season finale Saturday night in Minneapolis.
Reynolds had 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting for the Golden Gophers (15-16, 8-12 Big Ten), who won “Senior Night” in front of their home crowd. Cade Tyson added 15 points and Isaac Asma had 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Nick Martinelli led the Wildcats (13-18, 5-15) with 23 points on 9-for-18 shooting. Jake West had 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting for Northwestern, which closed the Big Ten regular season with back-to-back losses after winning its previous three games in a row.
Minnesota shot 54.5% (24 of 44) from the field and 35.3% (6 of 17) from 3-point range. Northwestern shot 43.4% (24 of 53) overall and 34.8% (8 of 23) from beyond the arc.
The Golden Gophers outscored the Wildcats 34-24 in the paint.
Northwestern rallied after falling behind 61-53 with 5:29 left.
Martinelli hit a 3-pointer to cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 61-56 with 4:59 left. He hit a layup to make it 61-58 with 4 minutes left and made one of two free throw attempts to put Northwestern up 61-59 with 3:17 left.
Reynolds made a pair of free throws to increase Minnesota’s lead to 63-59 with 3:01 left.
Martinelli went on to lead the comeback attempt. He cut the deficit to 63-61 with a stepback jump shot, and Jordan Clayton hit a 3-pointer with 1:34 left to give Northwestern a 64-63 lead.
Angelo Ciaravino added two free throws to extend Northwestern’s lead to 66-63 with 34 seconds left.
Reynolds did everything else to help Minnesota win on its home court. He hit a dunk with 26 seconds left to put the Golden Gophers up 66-65, and after missing Martinelli’s free throw, he capped off the game with a right-handed layup on the next possession.
Northwestern is ranked 15th in the Big Ten tournament and faces No. 18 seed Penn State in the opening round Tuesday in Chicago. Minnesota is seeded 11 and is scheduled to play 14th-seeded Rutgers in the second round on Wednesday.
–Field level media
