IU basketball’s NCAA tournament hopes take a major hit with loss to Northwestern

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

Throughout the first season of the Darian DeVries era, Indiana basketball has struggled to play a full 40 minutes. The Hoosiers have squandered five second-half leads of nine or more points in the last two months.

Two of those five games resulted in crucial losses for Indiana: A seven-point loss to No. 10 Nebraska in which Indiana led by 16 points and Tuesday’s 72-68 loss to Northwestern in which the Hoosiers held a nine-point lead at halftime. The latter may be the final blow to any hopes of Indiana’s first trip to March Madness since the 2022-23 season.

Indiana was surgically precise on offense in the first half, shooting 63 percent from the floor and assisting on 14 of its 15 made baskets as it entered the locker room with a 42-33 lead. Though the advantage reached 11 points, Indiana never built a large enough deficit to take Northwestern out of the game comfortably.

Nick Martinelli, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, erupted for 21 second-half points – one point off his season average – after being held to a modest seven points in the first half. As the Hoosiers’ rebounding effort once again lapsed and they went over nine minutes without a field goal, Northwestern inched closer to tying the game.

Then, with five minutes left, the Wildcats took a 60-59 lead on a Martinelli jumper, which began a string of nine straight points scored by Martinelli to keep Indiana from re-taking the lead in the final stages. As Indiana trailed by three with under five seconds left, Tucker DeVries appeared to be hit on the arm as he attempted a 3-pointer from the right wing, but no foul was called. Indiana’s players and coaches were irate as Northwestern sealed a stunning win at the free-throw line and left the Indiana players and fans alike in shock.

“Thought we had some opportunities there to press that thing open,” Darian DeVries said. “Our overall consistency of sustaining 40 minutes has been an issue for us in multiple games, so it certainly showed up again tonight.”

Northwestern entered Tuesday’s game with a Big Ten-worst -4.6 rebounding margin, but it cleaned up on the glass against Indiana. The Wildcats grabbed 34 rebounds to Indiana’s 23, snaring 11 offensive rebounds and scoring 12 second-chance points. As Martinelli heated up, season-long issues once again snakebit Indiana and the arduous scoring drought worsened.

“Us not being able to contain Martinelli was the biggest piece,” Darian DeVries said. “There were some offensive rebounds in there as well. Some big possessions where we didn’t come up with some of those loose balls.”

Lamar Wilkerson, whose career-best streak of six consecutive 20-point games was snapped after he went 0-for-9 from the floor in the second half on Tuesday, knows what this loss means for Indiana’s NCAA tournament chances.

“This hurt our resume,” Wilkerson said, staring blankly at the floor of the Assembly Hall press room. “It’s just a game we shouldn’t have lost. It’s one of those self-inflicted losses. Kudos to Northwestern, they played a good game, but there is no way in hell we should have lost this game.”

Tucker DeVries was similarly distraught when speaking to the media.

“I feel like I let this group down today,” Tucker DeVries said. “This was an opportunity for us that we really had to take advantage of, seeing how few opportunities we have, and to have one of our last ones go like that is tough.”

As one of the veterans on this team, Wilkerson knows better than to blame a bad call for his team’s woes.

“Ultimately, it shouldn’t have [come] down to the ref,” he said. “We shouldn’t have put the ref in the position to make that call. When we [were] up, we shouldn’t have [gotten] comfortable. We’ve just got to do better.”

The time is running out for Indiana to do better.

No. 13 Michigan State visits Assembly Hall on Sunday, and the Hoosiers almost certainly need an upset win to keep their tournament hopes alive. Then, they need to take care of Minnesota and Ohio State and likely win multiple conference tournament games to have a chance at March Madness.

Judging by the players’ body language and facial expressions, they know the odds are stacked against them.

See More: Media, Darian DeVries, Lamar Wilkerson, Northwestern Wildcats, Tucker DeVries