Indiana faced a Northwestern team that had lost nine straight games and hadn't seen a win since December 26.
You wouldn't have thought that on Wednesday as the Wildcats led for 43:01 minutes, with IU seeing a lead for just 2:35.
After starting off 0-for-10 from the field, falling behind 21-7 and only scoring 12 points in 12 minutes to begin the game, IU used a 13-2 run to close the first half. It was a half in which the Hoosiers shot just 7-of-29, yet trailed by just three points.
Indiana failed to make much of a dent in the second half as Northwestern led by at least two possessions for the majority of that stretch. Then down nine with 6:22 left, IU looked for something to bring them back to life.
"We needed it more so I echoed it to the team. We needed it more. We needed this win," Al Durham said. "This one was very important for us since we weren't able to string two along. So I felt like this one we needed it. I kept telling them and echoing it to them that we needed it."
Indiana had just an 8 percent chance to win with 1:54 left in the game, down 54-47, according to ESPN's win probability.
“It was a game that you look back on, and you say, ‘I really don’t know how we figured out a way to get a win in this one,’” IU head coach Archie Miller said.
It was just the first of many improbabilities that the Hoosiers overturned for its 79-76 double overtime win on Wednesday.
