What went missing nearly two months ago, after an exhilarating victory in Madison, was found at the last possible moment Wednesday night. Fittingly, Lawrence Westbrook was on both ends of the Gophers’ strange trip — the stunning disappearance and the equally startling reappearance. Westbrook, you’ll recall, dropped 29 in Wisconsin on Jan. 15, giving the Gophers a wild comeback victory that pushed their record to 16-1 and made people (including us) think big things were possible. He was decent over the next stretch, as the Gophers split four games. And then he went missing: A seven-game stretch in which he scored six points or fewer in five of them. That included four in a row (three of them losses) when he went a combined 6-for-30 from the field.

Westbrook was seemingly headed toward another one of those nights Wednesday, and the Gophers seemed determined to punch a ticket for the NIT they had been crafting since that first Wisconsin victory. And then, with less than two minutes left: a trademark Westbrook floater was true; another one rimmed around but managed to fall; a frenzied dribble drive, ending with a foul on former Benilde-St. Margaret’s standout Jordan Taylor, resulting in two clutch free throws. Suddenly, it was 47-46 Gophers. The Badgers went ice cold. Westbrook made four more free throws. The Gophers moved perhaps one win away from locking up an NCAA bid. You saw it. We won’t belabor it. But these things cannot be overstated:

1) If the Gophers are going to do anything going forward, they will need something resembling the Final Two Minutes version of Westbrook. He is not the world’s most complete player, but he is a scorer on a roster that lacks such a thing otherwise.

2) The high-low post thing is nice to have in the bag, and it worked at times Wednesday, but the offense could use an infusion of a few more sets that afford Westbrook, Al Nolen and co. to attack defenders and the basket off the dribble. Watching the half court offense is often painful. Think about this: Minnesota had scored 41 points in the first 38 minutes while turning the ball over only 10 times. That’s a lot of long shot clocks and a lot of tough shots.

Additionally: They are forgiven now. But in a game where points are at a premium, it would have been nice if EITHER Colton Iverson or Ralph Sampson III had not blown dunks during that 15-second stretch early in the first half. And, apologies to fellow hoops-loving patrons at Lyle’s last night who didn’t appreciate how that sequence led us to put together a rather loud three-word response: a [redacted] word ending in -ing, sandwiched between the name of the figure most Christians revere as the son of God.

And finally: We invested pretty heavily in that game emotionally, something we hadn’t done for a while with a sporting event. Know what: it felt good, even if the payoff was far from assured. Watching sports like that is a lot like love. You have to put yourself out there and risk being crushed in order to get the maximum return.

Fasola-link! Free throws.

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