INDIANAPOLIS — The first words out of Jordan Hulls’ mouth talked about rebounding.

Standing outside his team’s locker room after a season-ending 73-58 loss to Northwestern, the question was posed to Indiana’s young guard: What did you learn from this season?

“We can be a great rebounding team,” Hulls said. “We came together, we have lots to improve upon, but I feel like we got a lot better as the season went on.”

Down the stretch run last year, during that record-setting losing streak and through the mounting blowouts, it began to feel as though the Hoosiers had maxed out their potential for that season. Overmatched and undermanned every night, Indiana reached a point where players were physically and, perhaps, mentally worn down to such a degree that both the means and the end of each game became thoroughly predictable.

This season looked that way too, for awhile. After a strong December and January, marked by wins over the likes of Pittsburgh, Michigan and Minnesota, the Hoosiers disappeared, losing 11 in a row in mostly-forgettable fashion. Fans wanted to give up. Some of us in the media (me, mostly) wanted to let go. Even players, at times, appeared as if their hearts and heads just couldn’t align well enough to give another win-worthy effort.

The Senior Day win over Northwestern disproved that. And Thursday’s loss, deceptively large, sort of said the same.

I was in this building a year ago when, against a talented-but-not-unstoppable Penn State squad, No. 11-seed Indiana basically rolled over. The Hoosiers just looked too tired, too worn down, too short of confidence to mount a significant challenge against any Big Ten opponent.

What positives could one take from such regular, predictable, heavy losing? I don’t think it’s fair to say that this time around.

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FINAL SCORE: Northwestern 73, Indiana 58 | Box Score

The ghost of Hoosier future.

Derek Elston (10 points, nine boards) and Christian Watford (nine points, six boards) playing close to the  double-double men they’re capable of being night in and night out. Verdell Jones and Jordan Hulls handling the perimeter. A strong start. Controlled, sensible decisions. Being in the driver’s seat for 32 minutes of this one. Using the same scheme — a zone that forced outside shots — against Northwestern twice in the same week, and it working. Respectable shooting from the field (43.5 percent) and (sort of) from three (33.3 percent).

The ghost of Hoosier past.

The scoring droughts. A few of ‘em, but none more costly than the 9:29 without a field goal late in the second half — a stretch of time that essentially lost this team the game.

The turnovers. When the wheels fell of midway through the second half, Northwestern’s 1-3-1 zone forced the Hoosiers into plenty of them, and of course, there were a number of the unforced variety as well. In total, IU had 19. (13 of which came in the second half.)

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This one stings a bit, because IU had this game. The car was on cruise control. But they fell asleep at the wheel and veered off the road — never to recover.

It would have been nice to rack up an 11th win, nice to have a chance at a 12th win against Purdue in the next round of the tourney. But alas, what’s doomed the Hoosiers all season — their inability to take care of the ball and put the ball in the basket — doomed them again today.

Going to cut this one short instead of rambling on like usual. We’ll have plenty of end-of-the-year content starting next week for y’all, which should be fun.

Thanks for sticking with us this season, and don’t fret. Better days are ahead.

FINAL SCORE: Indiana 88, Northwestern 80, OT | Box Score

This win did not come easy. When it seemed like the Hoosiers had it locked up in regulation, when if felt like this 11-game losing streak was finally — finally! — going to be over, a couple costly turnovers by Verdell Jones let Northwestern stick around in regulation.

And in OT, there was still that “IU-has-the-lead-but-is-it-enough” feeling up until Tjian and Fink came in to close it out.

But yes: it was a win. An impressive win. A sign that the future — for as bleak as it’s looked the last several weeks — is bright.

Let us count the ways:

1) Great call by coach Tom Crean to start Derek Elston and insert Verdell Jones at the point to start this game. Time and time again Elston proved his worth. He had a terrific dunk to ignite the crowd and nice tip-in for two early, and finished the game with 17 points — a career-high — and eight boards. He just brings an element to the court IU hasn’t had all season; Elston is a high-energy player with a big body that can score in a variety of ways and finish around the hole.

This kid can be a double-double machine for years to come.

And without Jeremiah Rivers at the point to start this game, IU didn’t turn the ball over until the 10:25 mark of the first half. That turnover was committed by, of course, Rivers.

But because the Hoosiers started out so well this afternoon, it gave them the confidence to realize they were not only in the game, but that they could win it. The first ten minutes of bullet-proof play were of the utmost importance.

Now, when the Wildcats went into that half-court trap in the second half, IU did have some turnover problems — espeically down the stretch — which let the Wildcats hang around. But including the OT period, the Hoosiers had 17 turnovers. Clearly, that’s still not too good. But they’ve had more in only 40 minutes of play this season, not 45.

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FINAL SCORE: 74-55 | Box score

Kicking it old school tonight.

THE GOOD

1) Derek Elston. Not sure if Elston got more run tonight because he limited his defensive mistakes tonight, or because well, he just deserves it. (Because I think he does.) But he pumped in 13 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes before fouling out, on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. He offers a nice, controlled, smooth, inside, outside dynamic on offense, and for a team full of guys that turn the ball over time and again, Elston turned the ball over just twice tonight.

He needs to play this much every night. He’s a guy that, if he defects and transfers this offseason, it would be a shame. The freshman has a shot at developing into a solid player in the years to come.

2) Motion and creation. At times tonight, this IU squad looked like the competent version from earlier in the season against lesser foes: Jeremiah Rivers was penetrating and it opened up more opportunities on offense. When this team dribbles and holds, holds, holds the ball around the peremiter, they’re unimaginative. When Rivers and Verdell Jones drive and move the ball off the top of the key, there’s more there for IU, because defenses have to rotate and adjust.

One particular play that stands out in the first half: Rivers took the ball from the left wing, dribbled near the hole and passed it off to Bobby C. Bobby C. found Daniel Moore near the top of the key. Moore shot-faked, got his defender up in the air, and then had a nice open shot just in front of the three-point line. He missed. Bad.

Someday, this will be Maurice Creek getting such a shot.

IU also tried getting out on the break and transition at times tonight. It wasn’t always successful, but these were two dynamics this team had early on, and have the Tom Crean seal of approval all over them.

IU just simply doesn’t have the personnel or talent to execute in these schemes night in and night out yet.

3) Bawa played. And scored! Then Tijan poked him in the eye. Bad Tijan.

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Courtesy of the IU Athletics channel on YouTube:

Indiana coach Tom Crean, Maurice Creek and Derek Elston met with the media following Indiana’s 90-73 loss Saturday against Kentucky in Assembly Hall. Listen to their comments, as well as those of UK coach John Calipari, in the embedded media players below:

Tom Crean:

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Maurice Creek:

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Derek Elston:

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John Calipari:

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THE GOOD: KEEPING IT CLOSE, RESERVE PLAY.

Hmmm, where to begin. Let’s take some baby steps here. Save for the last few minutes where it all unraveled, Indiana hung right with Maryland, and during several stretches, outplayed and outworked the Terrapins –  a tournament team last season. A team that was ranked earlier this year. IU had a lead with 9:44 to go. It led for a good stretch in the first half. As much as we want expectations to be higher and wins to be a result, at this juncture in the season it’s progress.

The Puerto Rico incarnation of these Hoosiers likely doesn’t keep it this close for this long, or look as poised and as polished as IU did for stretches tonight.

About the only other thing I want to point out here is one key difference this year as opposed to last, and that’s IU actually having viable options off the bench. When Jeremiah Rivers went down with his injury early in the first half after that nifty layup– I worry his trashing style of play might lead to more scary moments like that later in the season — Jordan Hulls filled in without skipping a beat. He hit a three, and had a dazzling no-look pass to Christian Watford under the bucket. Watford scored, was fouled and hit the free throw. Having two capable point guards will be huge as the season progresses. Derek Elston also showed some spark off the bench, too. He didn’t have a good shooting night, but he had nine boards in 20 minutes. He continues to make the most out of his time on the court.

THE BAD: LOOOOONG SCORING DROUGHTS.

IU still seems to be figuring things out in the half court. When they got out in transition in the first half, they made some heady decisions. But when they were forced into half-court sets, there still seems to be a lot of indecision, and it’s clear this is still a facet of the their game that’s a work in progress. However, there was good ball movement in stretches.

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