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Indiana fought hard but ultimately lost a 59-51 road battle to Northwestern with just seven active scholarship players.

News broke shortly before tipoff that Indiana would be shorthanded due to internal disciplinary reasons. Mike Woodson handed out suspensions to Tamar Bates, Xavier Johnson, Khristian Lander, Michael Durr, and Parker Stewart, leaving IU with just seven scholarship players. Trey Galloway replaced Xavier Johnson in the starting lineup while Anthony Leal replaced Parker Stewart.

Galloway took full advantage of his opportunity to start. He had nine of the team's first 14 points. That scoring sparked Indiana to an early lead, but the missing pieces in Indiana's roster became apparent quickly.

With only six players available who have played meaningful minutes this season, the Hoosiers had to be very careful not to foul on defense. On offense, Trey Galloway had to play every minute and initiate everything as the sole ball handler active for the game.

Even though they had to be careful on defense, Indiana made things difficult for Northwestern in the first half. The Wildcats hit just one of their 13 three-point attempts and shot just 30.6 percent overall. The Hoosiers scraped their way to a 30-26 lead at the end of the first half despite struggling to run much of their normal offense.

Northwestern pulled away in the first portion of the second half on a 13-0 run to go up 41-35. The Wildcats would maintain a lead the majority of the second half, but every time it seemed like they would put it away the Hoosiers fought back.

Indiana struggled to get any offense in the second half until they needed it most. Northwestern took a 53-45 lead with 4:50 remaining, but the Hoosiers responded by cutting the lead to four.

A pivotal moment came when Galloway - the only active player capable of running the point guard position - fouled out with 2:36 remaining. Leal took over at point guard but with their main playmaker gone the Hoosiers struggled to generate the points they needed to make up the deficit, ultimately falling short, 59-51.

Offensive rebounds were a big reason why Northwestern was able to pull this win out. They finished with 16 offensive boards, with many of them coming late in the game as Indiana became more fatigued. The five Indiana starters all played over 34 minutes in the game.

Boo Buie and Chase Audige were the two leading scorers for Northwestern. Buie finished with a team-high 18 and Audige added 12. Pete Nance, the team's leading scorer, really struggled, hitting going just 2-of-10 from the field.

Trayce Jackson-Davis played a solid game but played a level below what the team needed with nearly 40 percent of its scoring missing. He finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds but continued the streak of playing slightly below what he is capable of on a nightly basis. He shot just 4-of-13 from the field.

Galloway was phenomenal all game long before fouling. He was noticeably exhausted in the second half but still fought hard and finished with 13 points, five rebounds, and three assists, although he also had five turnovers. That tied his career-high in points.

It is hard to pull much of a moral from this performance for the Hoosiers in terms of on-court performance. The seven players who took the court fought hard but were missing crucial pieces of the team.

The main takeaway is moreso that Indiana had to play this game without five players including two starters. The reason for the disciplinary action is unknown and Woodson tends to keep matters like these in-house, so we may never know definitely what happened. The important thing is that this could have easily been a conference road victory that did not end up that way due to the self-induced absence of five players.

Whether the five suspendees sit more games remains to be seen, but the Hoosiers will need them back for a key road match against No. 17 Michigan State in Lansing.

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