ROSEMONT, Ill.-A short-handed Minnesota team turned out to be just what the doctor ordered for ailing Northwestern.

The Wildcats stopped a two-game losing streak and looked better than they have in weeks, drilling the Gophers 83-60 at Allstate Arena on Wednesday night behind a school-record 16 assists by Bryant McIntosh.

Coach Chris Collins and McIntosh said on Tuesday that the Wildcats would play with a sense of urgency in what many called a must-win game, and the team delivered. The Wildcats set the tone with an aggressive full-court zone defense, and the offense played its best game in weeks, shooting 50 percent from the floor.

Northwestern built a 22-point lead at the half and pushed it up to 28 early in the second. Minnesota could get no closer than 15 the rest of the game.

Scottie Lindsey led Northwestern with 22 points, while Aaron Falzon had 15, Dererk Pardon 13 and McIntosh 11. Pardon also had game-highs of 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Minnesota was led by Dupree McBrayer, who was the only Gopher in double figures with 14 points.

Here are our three pointers on the victory that raised Northwestern’s record to 11-7 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten:

McIntosh was "brilliant": McIntosh is already Northwestern’s all-time assists leader and he put his name in the record book for single-game assists tonight, too. The senior guard controlled the entire game on a string, hitting cutters with silky bounce passes through the lane or finding open shooters for kick-outs to the perimeter for one of the Wildcats 11 3-pointers on 24 attempts (45.8 percent). There’s probably no better barometer for offensive efficiency for the Wildcats than assists-to-baskets ratio, and the Wildcats finished with 21 helpers on their 28 field goals. “McIntosh was terrific,” said Collins after the game. “I thought McIntosh managed a brilliant game.”

The Cats found their offense: The Wildcats shot less than 40 percent in each of their last two losses and less than 30 percent in one of them, against Nebraska. Compared to that, they looked like the Golden State Warriors against Minnesota. The Wildcats hit 28 of their 56 shots from the floor and 45.8 percent (11 of 24) from beyond the arc. They spread the scoring around, too, as eight of the nine Wildcats who saw action got on the scoring sheet. Yes, Minnesota’s roster was depleted without Reggie Lynch and Amir Coffey, but the Wildcats’ domination was still eye-opening.

NU’s defense gave Minnesota fits: The Wildcats played a new full-court, pressure zone defense that took Minnesota out of its offense. The Gophers shot just 22.2 percent from the floor and committed eight turnovers in the first half as their offense looked stagnant, out-of-sync and unable to get anything going toward the rim against pressure and 2-3 zone looks. Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said that Wildcats’ zone caught his team by surprise. The Gophers improved in the second half but finished with just 30.9 percent shooting. What’s more, the Gophers’ big two of Nate Mason and Jordan Murphy were AWOL in the first half, scoring a combined two points. Mason finished with just 9 points and Murphy 8 as both players eventually fouled out down the stretch. One of the drawbacks of a zone defense is often rebounding, but Northwestern dominated that as well, pulling down 45 boards to just 26 for Minnesota.