Another big moment and another big loss for the Indiana Hoosiers. After being selected as the last team by Bracketologist Joe Lunardi in his latest NCAA Tournament Bracketology, the Hoosiers just needed to get some solid wins under their belt, but losing 79-70 to a Northwestern team that was 2-5 in the Big Ten is the last thing they needed.
Clearly, Northwestern lives rent-free in head coach Mike Woodson's head because the fourth-year head coach still has yet to get a win over the Wildcats. Woodson is 0-5 against Northwestern coaching at Indiana and last night's game is just the pinnacle of the problems brewing at Indiana.
The Hoosiers were lucky that Northwestern also started the game with a lot of turnovers because, within the first two minutes, there were a total of six turnovers combined. Indiana played a good first half, though, going into halftime up 31-25 and shooting the ball well. However, in the second half, mistakes and poor defense were the downfall for the Hoosiers, on top of the poor shooting they have dealt with for a while now. It just seems like Indiana can't figure out how to play a full 40 minutes, adn Woodson can't figure it out either.
"I wish I knew, I’m still trying to figure it out," Woodson said in his postgame press conference. "We had a hell of a defensive half, and then we come out and give up 54 points, and we pile on the turnovers. I mean, it was just a bad combination, we just didn’t play well in the second half.”
Indiana just didn't have the answers in the second half after they gave up the lead. The Hoosiers had run, and the Wildcats had run, but Northwestern, when it mattered most, was able to lock it down and get the win. When the game was 54-52, Northwestern called a timeout, trying to stall Indiana's momentum, and it worked because the Wildcats then went on a 13-0 run, basically putting the game out of reach for Indiana.
The Hoosiers certainly didn't play good defense around the 3-point line as Northwestern shot 48.1% from the beyond the arc, going 13-for-27. The good thing is that at least Indiana found their three-point shot last night, going 9-for-20 from beyond the arc with both Luke Goode and actually Mackenzie Mgbako leading the way.
"Our communication from a defensive standpoint was lost the second half," Woodson said. "Our switches, we weren’t together on switches, where we were connected the first half, and they made us pay for it."
Goode was almost perfect last night, going 4-for-5 from the 3-point line, his only miss coming on a late shot trying the clawback when the game was basically already over. Mgbako finally came out of his shooting slump last night, going off for 20 points, sinking three 3-pointers and eight shots from the floor.
The Hoosiers got leading scorer Malik Reneau last night off the bench after missing three weeks with a knee injury. When Reneau came into the game for the first time, he had a brace on his right knee. He played just 11 minutes on the night, which was expected, but finished with just two points off of free throws, missing every shot he took from the floor.
“It’s gonna take a little while, man," Woodson said. "The guy hadn’t played in a number of games, and he only played about 10 minutes tonight and it showed, he’s not there yet. He hadn’t had a chance to really practice, so I knew I wasn’t going to play him very many minutes tonight."
The Hoosiers get a few days to regroup and will return to the court on Sunday as they take on a Maryland team that is getting better every day. Tipoff is set for Noon EST in Bloomington.