With 18:33 remaining in the second half, Indiana clung to a 33-27 lead, meanwhile Northwestern was struggling mightily to make shots, at the time 9-for-29 from the field and just 4-for-15 from 3-point range.
Indiana was playing tremendous defense, swarming whoever had the ball, while also locking the Wildcats down in the painted area, resulting in the incredibly poor start to the game for NU.
After this though, the script was flipped, Indiana not defending nearly as well, resulting in Northwestern catching fire, ending the game 16-for-16 from the field and 9-for-12 from three.
This resulted in NU really dominating the action in the final 17-plus minutes of the ballgame, though a stretch late in the game was ultimately the difference.
"We had a hell of a defensive (first) half, and then we come out and we give up 54 points and we pile on the turnovers. I mean, it’s just a bad combination. We just didn’t play well the second half," Mike Woodson said, explaining that the first 20 minutes wasn't the issue, though the last 20 certainly were.
In the second period, Northwestern went on a 21-4 run between the 9:25 and 3:12 remaining mark, turning a 52-49 Indiana lead into a 70-56 Wildcat advantage that just about sealed the game for NU.
"Well again, I mean, I think at the timeout it was 54-52, and then they went on a deep run. We went to the bench and subbed a couple guys. We just didn’t answer the bell coming back out of that timeout, and they did. I mean, we just didn’t," Woodson said.
He also added "the same things that they ran the second, we didn’t guard well the second half, and they made us pay for it, especially from the 3-point area. They made 3-point shots all over the floor, and we never responded."
In that span Northwestern shot 8-for-11 from the field, though the 5-for-6 mark from deep was what made the most difference, Jalen Leach hitting three in a row to swing the momentum completely in the Wildcats' favor.
It wasn't just Leach though, as Brooks Barnhizer had 16, Ty Berry had 12 and Nick Martinelli had 11 in just the second half alone.
Berry, in particular, was tremendous late in the game, shooting 4-of-7 from three after halftime, really getting things going early in the half when his team was in need of a boost.
"When the ball is going in like that, it can become contagious" said Northwestern head coach Chris Collins, adding "we fed off of Ty's shooting and got hot there for awhile."
Northwestern's shot making certainly became contagious, but Indiana's defense also had something to do with it, as IU wasn't nearly as sound defensively as it was early on.
"I felt like the communication was a little bit lost toward the second half. We weren’t getting to our spots — they picked up the ball and spread it out, we were supposed to be with our man. I fell victim to that" Mackenzie Mgbako said, explaining what went wrong defensively when NU was heating up.
Mgbako also talked about what needed to change, saying that "just being able to stay locked in, stay focused for a full 40 minutes and not let the game get away from us" were the keys, but Indiana fell short in all of them.
Woodson shared similar thoughts, saying "our communication from a defensive standpoint was lost the second half. Our switches, we weren't together on switches where we were connected the first half. They made us pay for it. We can't go on routes like that where we don't do what got us the lead. I thought we played a beautiful first half based on how we played and holding this team to 25 points because they can score the ball and they showed that the second half."
The lack of commination, cohesiveness and IQ resulted in the Hoosiers just not being able to compete as the threes kept falling for Northwestern, something that this Indiana team hasn't been able to do themselves on offense.
This was certainly a testament to Northwestern's shot making ability, but it also showed that Indiana's defense simply wasn't what it was in the first half, something that took a game they had control on into a runaway Northwestern victory.
This resulted in another loss to NU, Woodson's fifth in as many games as head coach of IU, the Wildcats still being the only non-west coast Big Ten team he hasn't beaten.
Despite this, Woodson put a positive spin on this one, saying "I mean you can never get worried, there's too many games still left. We played a good game on the road and beat Ohio State and then come here and got an opportunity to win a game and we let it get away the second half. You have to give them credit, they played their butts of in the second half and we didn't."
The Hoosiers do have plenty more opportunities to pick up good wins, but Indiana simply can't defend the way it did in the second half against Northwestern.
If it wants to win Big Ten games going forward, the Hoosiers need to play a full 40 minutes, as it showed tonight against the Wildcats that their defending didn't last nearly that long.
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