Indiana basketball lost its third in a row to conference opponent Northwestern.
Indiana basketball lost their third game in a row to the Wildcats on Tuesday night in Assembly Hall. What started out as a close, back-and-forth game eventually turned into Northwestern domination.
Going into the game, the story to watch was the fact that the two leading scorers in the Big Ten would be going head-to-head. The number one being Northwestern’s Nick Martinelli and number two being Indiana’s Lamar Wilkerson. Martinelli is currently averaging 22.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists. Wilkerson is averaging 21 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. The performances from these two did not disappoint on Tuesday night and made for a game that came down to the final minutes.
While the game started out back and forth between the two teams, Indiana was able to quickly pull away and go into the second half with a score of 42-33. In a press conference after the game, Indiana head coach Darian DeVries explained that his team was playing fairly well in the first half and had opportunities to score the ball.
“I thought that we had a good little stretch going. We got the lead built up to eleven there in the first half. I thought we had some opportunities there to really press that thing open, and you know a lot of times it’s come down to second chance opportunities, things like that to get a put-back and maybe a couple of empty possessions in there too,” DeVries said.
Once the second half began, Northwestern was able to cut it closer and gain control of the game. This was largely thanks to Martinelli, who finished the game with 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists for the Wildcats. After a quiet first half, he scored 21 of his points in the second.
The game remained close until the end, although the Hoosiers began to play less coordinated and organized than they did in the first half. Wilkerson finished with 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, but it would not be enough for a Hoosier win. This is a reflection of a couple of issues that have been trending for Indiana in recent games. One of them is the fact that there are not many other players who can back up Wilkerson offensively. The second leading scorer for the Hoosiers was Sam Alexis, who had 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Another factor is that they have begun to be consistently out-rebounded by their opponents. On Tuesday night, Indiana had 23 rebounds to Northwestern’s 34. In a postgame press conference, Wilkerson expressed his frustration with how the game had gone for the Hoosiers and how there is lots of improvement to be had all around.
“As a group of seniors, man, we gotta be better. Me personally, I have to, you know, be better at leading this team, stepping up, just you know. We could have made some plays down the stretch that could have helped us,” Wilkerson said.
This loss brings the Indiana basketball team to a 17-11 overall record and 8-9 in conference play. They will look to get back in the win column when they face No. 13 Michigan State on Sunday. From there, they only have two more regular season games to prove if they deserve a spot in the tournament come Selection Sunday. Those games are against Minnesota in Bloomington and then Ohio State on the road. After suffering three losses in a row, each of these games carries a lot of weight for Indiana.