Five takeaways from IU basketball’s loss to Northwestern

Photos from IU basketball’s 72-68 loss to Northwestern at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

IU basketball lost its third straight game on Tuesday, falling 72-68 to Northwestern at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Here are five takeaways from the loss to the Wildcats:

Once again, Hoosiers fail to capitalize on double-digit lead

Tuesday’s loss was Indiana’s third this season in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and in two of those setbacks, the Hoosiers led by double figures.

On January 10 against Nebraska, Indiana led 51-35 with 16:54 to play before a second-half collapse saw the Cornhuskers leave Bloomington with an 83-77 victory.

And yesterday, the Hoosiers led 38-25 with 4:48 in the first half before being outscored 47-30 the rest of the contest.

In both instances, Indiana failed to put their opponent away when given the opportunity. Indiana also squandered double-figure leads in wins against Purdue, UCLA and Wisconsin, but narrowly escaped two of those games in overtime and made a few keys late to beat the Boilermakers.

“Just our overall consistency of sustaining 40 minutes has been an issue for us in multiple games,” Darian DeVries said postgame. “So certainly showed up again tonight.”

Northwestern won the battle on the boards

The Hoosiers and Wildcats entered Tuesday’s game ranked in the bottom seven of the conference in offensive and defensive rebounding percentage.

Northwestern was grabbing just 25.1 percent of its missed shots in conference play through its first 16 league games. But the Wildcats were the aggressor on the boards on Tuesday.

In its four-point comeback win, Northwestern grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and won the second-chance points battle 12-1.

Northwestern’s offensive rebounding percentage of 37.9 was its third-highest mark in a Big Ten game this season and its highest since January 14 against Illinois.

The Hoosiers, on the other hand, have generated next to nothing on the offensive glass for three straight games.

IU has scored a total of six second-chance points in the last three games. In total, it has been outscored 42-6 in second-chance points over its last 120 minutes of basketball.

Indiana falls flat offensively in the second half

After a strong opening 20 minutes in which it scored 42 points and 1.5 points per possession, the Hoosiers had one of their worst offensive performances this season in the second half against Northwestern.

Indiana shot just 8-for-26 from the field, which included a 2-for-12 mark on 3s (16.6 percent).

Only four players scored in the second half and Tayton Conerway, who scored a team-high nine points after halftime, played just nine minutes.

Conerway was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor in the second half. He was the only player on the IU roster to register a positive plus/minus at +4 in the second half.

While it’s easy to point to Lamar Wilkerson’s struggles in the second half – he was 0-for-9 from the field – the lack of a reliable supporting cast to step up and make a play continues to hurt IU.

Conor Enright, Nick Dorn, Jasai Miles and Reed Bailey played a combined 40 second-half minutes and did not contribute a point.

Indiana had no answer for Nick Martinelli

The Big Ten’s leading scorer, Nick Martinelli, had a tough first half on Tuesday.

Martinelli was just 3-for-9 from the field and scored seven points in 19 minutes.

But he was a different player in the second half, the most aggressive on the floor.

Martinelli kept exploiting Indiana’s switching defense, often finding himself guarded in the post by Enright. It was easy for the 6-foot-7 Martinelli to shoot over Enright or back him down into the post.

Once he got into a rhythm, Northwestern kept feeding him and Indiana never forced him into difficult looks or made him give up the ball.

Martinelli played all 20 second-half minutes and shot 9-for-12 from the field. He scored 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half as Northwestern won its third road game this season.

Defensive free fall continues for Indiana in Big Ten play

For the 13th straight game, Indiana surrendered more than a point per possession.

With just three regular-season games remaining, the Hoosiers now rank 60th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com.

In Big Ten play, Indiana is allowing 1.157 points per possession, which is 13th in the conference.

Northwestern’s 1.178 points per possession on Tuesday were its fourth-highest output in a Big Ten game this season.

“I thought it was really just us not being able to contain Martinelli was the biggest piece,” Darian DeVries said. “Not getting stops. There were some offensive rebounds in there as well, some big possessions where we didn’t come up with some of those loose balls.”

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