The Minute After: Northwestern

Thoughts on a 79-70 loss to the Wildcats:

That escalated quickly.

After a first half in which they didn’t make a bucket in the final 9:35, a stretch of 12 shots, the Wildcats came alive after halftime. Their offensive explosion decided this game in a big way.

Indiana defended well over the first 20 minutes, not letting the dynamic duo of Nick Martinelli and Brooks Barnhizer dominate. The Hoosiers walled up, made them give up the ball and had others shoot instead. It worked, as Ty Berry was the only other Wildcat to make a basket besides Martinelli and Barnhizer. The rest of the team combined to shoot 0-of-12. Jalen Leach went 0-of-4 from deep. The Wildcats mustered a measly .76 points per possession.

But as Martinelli took it right to Oumar Ballo’s chest for a score out of halftime, Northwestern had a completely different energy. Indiana started losing shooters on defense and the Wildcats made them pay from deep over and over again. Leach flipped the script over the final 20 minutes, going 3-of-3 from 3-point range in the second half. Berry, who seems to be finding his shooting stroke again as conference play kicks into high gear, went 4-of-7. Martinelli and Barnhizer each hit one. By the time the dust settled on the second half, the Wildcats had made 9-of-14 from deep, 20-of-32 from the field and scored 1.68 points per possession, per the live box score.

Indiana hung in well enough to start, even snagging the lead back during the middle of the half after surrendering its six-point halftime lead. But as we’ve seen too often this season, the Hoosiers completely evaporated for the next stretch of play, ultimately deciding the contest.

The Wildcats ripped off a 21-4 run after Indiana gained a 52-49 advantage at the 9:25 mark thanks to a Ballo alley-oop score. And with it, Indiana’s three-point advantage turned into a 14-point deficit (70-56) with 3:12 to play. The Wildcats hit five of their nine second-half 3-pointers during this run. While Indiana did get it as close as four with 44 seconds to play via a scoring barrage from Mackenize Mgbako (nine points in 1:36 of game clock), the Wildcats were able to close it out for a nine-point victory.

Malik Reneau returned to play after missing the last five games due to his knee injury. He never really got into the flow of things and missed all six of his shots in 11 minutes of action. Mgbako finally found his offense again after looking down and out his last couple of games. He did a nice job driving for scores in the first half to see shots go in and then splashed in 3-of-5 from deep after the break. His 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting led the way for the Hoosiers tonight.

Indiana also had a nice run in the second half with Trey Galloway as the ballhandler in pick-and-roll action, making the Wildcats choose between guarding a rolling Ballo or Luke Goode (14 points, 4-of-5 from deep) on the weak side.

But in shades of its loss at Nebraska earlier this season, a huge run by its opponent at the end of the game was too much to overcome.

“We had our chances tonight,” Mike Woodson said after the game. “We didn’t defend in the second half like we did in the first half. That’s something I gotta fix.”

Woodson is now 0-5 against Northwestern. According to tonight’s Big Ten Network broadcast, it’s the first time Indiana has lost five straight to the Wildcats since 1913-15.

That’s 110 years ago. That’s not a good look.

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

Category: The Minute After

Filed to: Northwestern Wildcats