My colleague, the always affable Patrick Reusse, called Wednesday’s first quarter the worst quarter or period of a sports event he has seen in 40 years of sportswriting. And remember, this guy has seen how many Gopher football games?

Eight days after coming from 19 points back to beat the Bulls in Chicago, the Wolves this time spotted them 20. They trailed 29-9 after that first quarter. That’s right: 29-9! Then they duplicated that feat by scoring nine points in the fourth quarter, too. The disparity in that closing quarter, though, was only 13-9.

Too bad the franchise chose Wednesday to televise a preseason game for the first time in its 20-year history. If you Tivo-ed this one, just clear the memory space out right away for something more valuable, like Iron Chef America or Landscapers Challenge.

“Better to get it out of the way now,” Randy Wittman said.

They couldn’t make a shot nearly all night and yet made a game of it by the fourth quarter, pulling within a point with just fewer than eight minutes left but never being able to take the lead.

Some of the unsightly details: Corey Brewer went 1-for-7 in nearly 22 minutes, rookie Kevin Love went 1-for-10 in 24 minutes. He missed every little shot imaginable around the basket and the one he made was a two-handed, can’t-miss-this-one dunk in the game’s final two minutes.

That’s his second consecutive rough outing, after fouling out in Bismarck on Sunday in only 11 minutes against Denver. Tonight, he just sat and stared from his locker stall, looking stunned. You almost wanted to go up, give him a hug and tell him there will be better days ahead.

In his column in Thursday morning’s newspaper, Patrick calls the eight-player trade that swapped O.J. Mayo for Love a “budding disaster.”

Near the end of the game, teammate Blake Ahearn swatted at Love as he came off the floor and shouted, “Don’t worry about it.”

Said Love: “I hate to lose and I hate to play bad. I’m lucky it wasn’t my season-opening game.”

The best thing about the night: Al Jefferson looked like he’s ready for next Wednesday’s opener against Sacramento at Target Center. He was his old, unstoppable self, with 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting and 11 rebounds. Rashad McCants matched his 19 points off the bench, but needed 17 shots to do it. Brian Cardinal saw his first action of the preseason, all 3 minutes, 38 seconds of it.

The Wolves play again Thursday night at Target Center, this one against Milwaukee. This one is on both TV (FSN) and radio (KFAN). Go ahead, Tivo it. You can always erase it.

Wittman said he expected to make some roster cuts on Thursday. He gave Chris Richard a good 18 minute look tonight and played Kevin Ollie 11:24 and Blake Ahearn 37 seconds. Those last two guys are competing for that third and final point-guard spot.

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