With just over 10 minutes remaining in the second half of Indiana men’s basketball’s contest against Northwestern, redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries scored a pull-up jumper to give the Hoosiers a comfortable 56-48 lead over the Wildcats.
However, that field goal would be the last Indiana would make for a while. In fact, it was nearly 10 minutes before Indiana scored another. With 31 seconds remaining on the clock, sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway drove to the basket to break the drought.
But it was too late. The Hoosiers had already given up their lead and were unable to fight back, falling 72-68 to Northwestern on Tuesday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
While any second-half collapse hurt the Hoosiers. This one was different. This was a must-win game for the Cream and Crimson, who are fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“This hurt our resume,” fifth-year senior guard Lamar Wilkerson said postgame.
Ahead of the matchup, Northwestern was ranked No. 79 in the NET Rankings. Since the Hoosiers hosted the Wildcats in Bloomington, the loss qualified as a Quadrant 3 defeat for Indiana. It’s a loss the Cream and Crimson could not afford to add to their resume.
While the Hoosiers were likely just inside the NCAA Tournament bubble ahead of the loss, they’re now on the outside looking in. Indiana is just 2-10 in Quadrant 1 games and desperately needs quality wins without giving up losses like they did Tuesday. The Hoosiers have work to do with just three games in the regular season and the Big Ten Tournament remaining.
“I feel like this was an opportunity for us that we really had to take advantage of, seeing how few opportunities we have, and to have one of our last ones go like that is tough one,” Tucker DeVries said.
The Hoosiers have just three more regular season games remaining. All three teams are ranked higher than Northwestern in the NET rankings. And while that means a loss wouldn’t hurt the resume as much, it shows that this was the Hoosiers’ most winnable remaining game.
A win over Northwestern wouldn’t have enhanced the resume by any means, but adding a Quadrant 3 loss was detrimental.
And what’s even more damaging is the way the Cream and Crimson lost the game. Indiana was in control for the first 30 minutes of the contest. Indiana led for 34 minutes and got up to as much as a 12-point lead.
Throughout the first half, Indiana put together a solid performance. It shot 63% from the field and was 8 of 16 from beyond the arc. The ball was moving and it was present in its offensive efficiency. The Hoosiers assisted on 14 of their 15 field goals.
Yet, in the second half, the offense stalled. Indiana only tallied eight field goals and went through a 10-minute drought without a field goal, which the Wildcats used to take over the game.
“And then offensively, just couldn't get anything going. We were 0 there for forever, and allowed them to stay in the game, stay in the game, stay in the game, and all of a sudden now you got to make some plays,” Indiana head coach Darian DeVries said. “We just weren't able to make the ones we needed to.”
While the loss significantly decreased the likelihood of getting an at large bid, Indiana isn’t completely out of the picture yet. And the players believe that.
“I mean, I think as a group this one hurts pretty bad,” Tucker DeVries said. “I think it's important for us to realize we still got three opportunities. This one hurts, but we're not out of the mix by any means. Our season is not defined by this game.”
The Hoosiers’ next opportunity will be a big one against No. 13 Michigan State at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday. Indiana will then face Minnesota on March 4 in Bloomington and lastly travel to Columbus, Ohio, to face Ohio State in the final regular season matchup of the season March 7.
It’ll provide more Quad win opportunities for the Hoosiers ahead of the Big Ten Tournament.
But still, if they don’t hear their name called during the Selection Show on March 15, it’ll be hard to not look back at how Indiana lost this detrimental game.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Kasey Watkins (@KaseyWatki8773 and kaslwatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
