There is no other way to say it — this was a devastating loss.
Indiana started great on Tuesday evening, jumping out to a 23-13 lead with 10:36 left in the first half. That advantage grew to as much as 13 before the break before Northwestern started chipping away. The IU lead was nine at halftime, and kept shrinking. Northwestern was within four with 17:24 to go, and they took their first lead with 5:05 left. Indiana could never recover.
Let’s take a deeper look at how Indiana lost 72-68 in Bloomington with our latest edition of The Report Card.
The Hoosiers (17-11, 8-9) will host Michigan State on Sunday.
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OFFENSE (D)
The overall shooting splits look respectable, but things swung wildly in this game. Indiana made 15 of 20 shots to start the contest, 8 of 30 the rest of the way. The Hoosiers had a second half stretch where they missed 11 straight shots from the field and went more than 10 minutes without making a field goal. That of course allowed Northwestern to gradually chip away at the lead.
Northwestern had some early defensive lapses, losing IU shooters repeatedly. Once they sorted that out and went to more of a perimeter focused, switching defense, IU struggled.
“I thought in the first half we did a much better job of creating advantages, getting those kick-out threes, corner threes because they were having to try to catch up a little bit,” IU coach Darian DeVries said. “I thought in the second half we got a little stagnant with some things. There wasn’t a lot of movement. We weren’t able to create advantages as much as I thought we did in the first half.”
The answer seemed to be paint touches off the bounce. And Tayton Conerway was effective, making 6 of 6 shots and dishing out four assists. But he only played nine second half minutes.
For the game IU scored 1.11 points per possession, but that is heavily influenced by the first half. The live stats say IU scored 1.5 per possession in the first half, .84 in the second. The Hoosiers made just 2 of their final 17 attempts from three.
As has been the case for most of Big Ten play, IU was a non-factor on the offensive glass, grabbing just five second-chance opportunities. Northwestern had allowed a 39.3% or higher offensive rebounding rate in six straight games. IU posted just a 17.9% rate.
DEFENSE (C)
Indiana could not stop Big Ten leading scorer Nick Martinelli in the second half. He scored 21 points after the break on 9 of 12 shooting.
“That’s a tough matchup for us,” DeVries said. “Whether to switch, not to switch, double team, not double team. He just puts you in some really hard spots with our size.”
IU held Martinelli in check in the first half. With IU’s big men matched up on him, he had just seven points on nine shots. But Northwestern countered by keeping Arrington Page on the floor, meaning the Hoosiers had to guard Page with a big man. If ever there was a game to try playing Sam Alexis and Reid Bailey together, this was it.
Indiana also struggled to keep a poor rebounding team off the offensive glass. NU had 11 offensive rebounds and 12 second chance points. Northwestern’s 37.9% offensive rebounding rate was their third-highest this season against a high major opponent.
Northwestern scored 1.18 points per possession. Unlike IU, their rate went up the second half.
SEE ALSO:
- A pair of missed calls eliminates Indiana’s chance to luck into win it gave away
- After second-half collapse against Northwestern, IU men’s basketball has to ‘look in the mirror’
- Watch: IU basketball’s Darian and Tucker DeVries, Lamar Wilkerson discuss loss to Northwestern
- IU basketball: Indiana 68 Northwestern 72 — Three keys, highlights, final stats
THE PLAYERS (*starters)
*Tucker DeVries (D+) DeVries struggled to make an impact on the glass. He had just two rebounds in 37 minutes. After a good start he missed his last four shots of the game, and didn’t make a shot from the field in the final 10 minutes. DeVries also struggled at times in his matchup with Martinelli.
*Lamar Wilkerson (D+) Wilkerson’s night epitomized Indiana’s night. He scored 14 points in the first 8:23 of the game, and didn’t make another shot from the field the rest of the way. Northwestern made him score from inside the arc, and he couldn’t, making just 1 of 6 twos. Wilkerson did contribute on the glass with five rebounds.
*Sam Alexis (B+) Alexis was effective when on the floor and probably should have played more than 26 minutes. He made 6 of 7 shots and added three assists. Like everyone he needed to be more effective on the boards.
*Conor Enright (D) Enright was not on his game. He airballed his only shot and had three turnovers in 25 minutes. He facilitated the offense well in the first half when the offense was humming. But he had just one of his five assists in the second half.
*Nick Dorn (D) Dorn seemed to be shooting his way out of his slump with two first half threes. But he missed his last four attempts and didn’t score in the final 25 minutes of the game. Dorn seemed to struggle against Northwestern cuts to the rim, and against Martinelli. He didn’t rebound at a high rate.
Tayton Conerway (B+) Conerway was effective and should have seen the floor more. Of course that’s easy to say outside the heat of the moment. But it’s difficult to ignore his plus-15 in just 19 minutes of action, or his 6 of 6 night from the field, and three assists to one turnover.
Jasai Miles (C) Miles hit a three in the first half and has been shooting better of late. But he didn’t get a lot of minutes in this one.
Reed Bailey (C) Bailey had a couple assists but otherwise didn’t make a meaningful impact in the game.
Trent Sisley saw limited action.
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Aleksa Ristic and Andrej Acimovic did not play — coaches decision.
Jason Drake and Josh Harris were out with injuries.
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