Indiana men’s basketball had a chance at a revenge game over Northwestern tonight at the United Center, as well as a very real path to the NCAA Tournament entering the game.
As was the case the first time against Northwestern, Indiana squandered that opportunity.
Darian DeVries went with a new starting lineup tonight, opting for both bigs, Sam Alexis and Reed Bailey, to start alongside one another for the first time all season. After being out-rebounded badly in the first matchup, it’s a move that
made sense on paper, but didn’t pan out as planned on the court.
Early on, Indiana was able to get its normal spacing and ball movement on offense, despite having both centers out there. Sam Alexis was getting easy buckets in the paint, Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries were knocking down threes, and even Conor Enright got in on the action with a made 3-pointer.
On the defensive end, things weren’t going as well. Indiana grabbed 11 defensive rebounds in the first half, but five of those were from DeVries and two were from Wilkerson. Bailey and Alexis had one each, simply not good enough for two Big Ten centers in a half of basketball.
There also weren’t enough defensive rebounds to be had for Indiana. Despite starting two bigs, the Hoosiers allowed 24 points in the paint in the first half, allowing Northwestern to shoot 55.2% from the field.
Behind the strength of the offense, Indiana was able to build a respectable nine point lead at one point, but a couple of substitutions caused Indiana to lose whatever semblance of a defensive game plan it had in the first half. Once again, Northwestern was able to claw its way back into the game, trailing by just one at halftime.
The second half was somehow worse, as Indiana didn’t even have its offense to keep things interesting. The Hoosiers went over five minutes in the second half without making a field goal, while continuing to be unable to stop Northwestern defensively.
Northwestern got out to its biggest lead of the night, 18 points, with just 6:59 left to play and everyone in the building knew the game was over then. The Hoosiers took the threes they needed to have a chance at a comeback, but it wasn’t enough as Indiana fell short once again against Northwestern.
Eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana now appears to be on the outside looking in as Selection Sunday approaches.
