Ideas on a 79-70 loss to the Wildcats:
That escalated rapidly.
After a primary half wherein they didn’t make a bucket within the ultimate 9:35, a stretch of 12 pictures, the Wildcats got here alive after halftime. Their offensive explosion determined this sport in a giant method.
Indiana defended nicely over the primary 20 minutes, not letting the dynamic duo of Nick Martinelli and Brooks Barnhizer dominate. The Hoosiers walled up, made them quit the ball and had others shoot as a substitute. It labored, as Ty Berry was the one different Wildcat to make a basket moreover Martinelli and Barnhizer. The remainder of the group mixed to shoot 0-of-12. Jalen Leach went 0-of-4 from deep. The Wildcats mustered a measly .76 factors per possession.
However as Martinelli took it proper to Oumar Ballo’s chest for a rating out of halftime, Northwestern had a very totally different vitality. Indiana began shedding shooters on protection and the Wildcats made them pay from deep over and over. Leach flipped the script over the ultimate 20 minutes, going 3-of-3 from 3-point vary within the second half. Berry, who appears to be discovering his capturing stroke once more as convention play kicks into excessive gear, went 4-of-7. Martinelli and Barnhizer every hit one. By the point the mud settled on the second half, the Wildcats had made 9-of-14 from deep, 20-of-32 from the sector and scored 1.68 factors per possession, per the reside field rating.
Indiana hung in nicely sufficient to start out, even snagging the lead again in the course of the center of the half after surrendering its six-point halftime lead. However as we’ve seen too typically this season, the Hoosiers fully evaporated for the following stretch of play, in the end deciding the competition.
The Wildcats ripped off a 21-4 run after Indiana gained a 52-49 benefit on the 9:25 mark because of a Ballo alley-oop rating. And with it, Indiana’s three-point benefit was a 14-point deficit (70-56) with 3:12 to play. The Wildcats hit 5 of their 9 second-half 3-pointers throughout this run. Whereas Indiana did get it as shut as 4 with 44 seconds to play through a scoring barrage from Mackenize Mgbako (9 factors in 1:36 of sport clock), the Wildcats had been in a position to shut it out for a nine-point victory.
Malik Reneau returned to play after lacking the final 5 video games because of his knee harm. He by no means actually received into the move of issues and missed all six of his pictures in 11 minutes of motion. Mgbako lastly discovered his offense once more after trying down and out his final couple of video games. He did a pleasant job driving for scores within the first half to see pictures go in after which splashed in 3-of-5 from deep after the break. His 20 factors on 8-of-14 capturing led the way in which for the Hoosiers tonight.
Indiana additionally had a pleasant run within the second half with Trey Galloway because the ballhandler in pick-and-roll motion, making the Wildcats select between guarding a rolling Ballo or Luke Goode (14 factors, 4-of-5 from deep) on the weak facet.
However in shades of its loss at Nebraska earlier this season, an enormous run by its opponent on the finish of the sport was an excessive amount of to beat.
“We had our probabilities tonight,” Mike Woodson mentioned after the sport. “We didn’t defend within the second half like we did within the first half. That’s one thing I gotta repair.”
Woodson is now 0-5 in opposition to Northwestern. In keeping with tonight’s Large Ten Community broadcast, it’s the primary time Indiana has misplaced 5 straight to the Wildcats since 1913-15.
That’s 110 years in the past. That’s not a superb look.
(Picture credit score: IU Athletics)
Filed to: Northwestern Wildcats
