Indiana men’s basketball could often chalk up a game against Northwestern as a win in its national championship-winning days.
Across former head coach Bob Knight’s 29-year tenure at the helm of the Hoosiers, the Cream and Crimson went 51-3 against the Wildcats — a bottom-feeder Big Ten team that never made the NCAA Tournament.
Since the turn of the century, however, Indiana is just 21-19 against Northwestern. The Hoosiers are 4-7 versus the Wildcats in the past eight seasons under former head coaches Archie Miller and Mike Woodson.
Indiana’s last victory over Northwestern came in February 2021, while its last home victory over the Wildcats occurred in January 2020. The Hoosiers have lost six of their last seven against the Wildcats.
Now, at 7 p.m. Tuesday inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, the two squads will meet for their lone scheduled matchup this season. Here’s what to know about the contest:
Who are the Wildcats?
Northwestern (11-16, 3-13 Big Ten) enters Tuesday tied with Oregon for 16th in the conference standings. The Wildcats, led by 13th-year head coach Chris Collins, are coming off a four-point victory over Maryland on Feb. 18.
Nick Martinelli leads the Big Ten in scoring with 22.3 points per game and corrals 6.2 rebounds per game. The senior forward, who led the conference in scoring last season, shoots 50.1% from the field and 43.5% from beyond the arc.
Junior forward Arrinten Page and junior guard Jayden Reid are the two other Wildcats’ double-figure scorers at 10.4 points and 10.1 points, respectively. The former adds 4.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, while the latter leads the team with 4.9 assists per game.
Northwestern’s two other conference victories came at home against Penn State and at USC, which Indiana lost to by six.
March Madness berth in the balance
Indiana men’s basketball enters Tuesday coming off back-to-back 20-plus-point losses to No. 10 Illinois and No. 8 Purdue. The Hoosiers were largely uncompetitive in both road contests and are hanging around the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The Cream and Crimson now begin a three-game homestand against Northwestern, No. 15 Michigan State on Sunday and Minnesota on March 4. They’ll then finish the regular season on the road against Ohio State on March 8.
Although the Hoosiers could make the March Madness field with a 3-1 record, victories in all four contests would almost certainly secure a berth. Indiana head coach Darian DeVries said the only thing that matters is Indiana’s next opponent.
“We got to go beat Northwestern,” DeVries said Feb. 20. “And that's a Northwestern team that's put up a good fight every single night. So, we got to go home, and we got to take advantage of being at home now. And that's our main priority.”
Redshirt senior forward Tucker DeVries said that while blowout losses are “obviously pretty difficult,” the Hoosiers must understand what they’re playing for through the final four games.
Past results don’t matter, he said. Instead, Indiana can learn from them and get ready for what he described as “massive” games.
Dorn’s difficulties
Nick Dorn was on a heater across a four-game stretch in late January in which Indiana went 3-1. The junior guard scored 20.3 points per game and drilled 46.5% of his 3-point attempts.
Dorn has fallen flat since.
Across the Hoosiers’ last five games — just two wins and three losses — Dorn has scored just 18 total points. The Charlotte native has made just four of his 28 shots from beyond the arc in the five-game stretch.
“He's had a little bit of a shooting slump, but it's, ‘keep shooting,’” Darian DeVries said Feb. 19. “The numbers are going to average themselves out here at any moment. I mean, Nick’s a really good shooter.”
Conerway’s comeback
Although Indiana suffered its worst loss to Purdue since 1969 on Friday, Tayton Conerway’s performance was a bright spot. The sixth-year senior guard scored 12 points — the first time he’s scored in double-figures since Jan. 17, when he suffered an ankle injury.
“I thought he came in, gave us some good minutes tonight,” Darian DeVries said Feb. 20. “I thought he did a good job of getting downhill, getting some paint touches, getting to the rim. Certainly gives us a little burst there that I thought he did a good job of taking advantage of.”
If Conerway’s showing was a sign of what’s to come, he could be a valuable presence for the Hoosiers as March approaches.
The game
Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The Big Ten Network will televise the contest with play-by-play announcer Connor Onion and analyst Jordan Taylor on the call.
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.
