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Indiana traveled to Northwestern looking for its third straight road win but came up short, 59-51.

It was a shorthanded Hoosiers' team, however, one that was down two starters and five players overall due to a suspension that was announced shortly before the tip.

Xavier Johnson, Parker Stewart, Michael Durr, Khristian Lander and Tamar Bates all missed Tuesday's game.

The Hoosiers take on No. 17 Michigan State this weekend.

Here are the main takeaways from IU's loss to Northwestern.

Team lacks leadership: The fact that any player was suspended at this point in the season is inexcusable but that there were five players including Xavier Johnson - arguably the teams best player over the last month - and Parker Stewart, another starter and the best three point shooter on the team is mind numbing. In a golden opportunity to pick up another road win and go into Michigan State this weekend with some confidence, there are now so many questions about this team, who will be available and what the next two weeks will look like.

Trayce Jackson-Davis struggles again: Playing 40 minutes of a college basketball game, especially as a big man in the Big Ten is tough, but you need more out of your All-Big Ten and All-American forward, especially on a night like last night. Jackson-Davis was just 4-of-13 from the field and 5-of-9 from the free throw line. After halftime, he had just four points and was 1-of-5 from the field. That can't happen and that's now multiple games over the last month where Jackson-Davis has been ineffective.

Trey Galloway as a potential starter: We've talked about potentially replacing Miller Kopp or Parker Stewart in the starting lineup with Trey Galloway and last night proved that Galloway needs more minutes regardless. The second-year guard stepped into the point guard role and played 37 minutes, tying his career-high with 13 points. He showed toughness on both ends of the floor, played aggressively every possession and showed how valuable his is to the team. Once he went out with five fouls with 2:36 left in the game, IU found the bottom of the bucket just once coming in. The main question is; do you want to lose that firepower and energy from the bench?

Hoosiers still show fight: It wasn't pretty but Indiana's seven players who saw the court fought extremely hard and did just about everything they could to try and come away with a win. Despite giving up a 16-2 run midway through the second half, they would trim the lead to five with about three minutes left. They hung in the game for as long as they could without much punch and that's a testament to the fight and discipline they played with on the floor.

Struggles on the glass: Without fresh legs it's going to be tough to compete on the glass, but Indiana struggled almost from the opening tip. Northwestern out rebounded IU by 10 and had 16 offensive rebounds on the night -- and nine of those offensive rebounds came in the first half. Race Thompson struggled with just six boards, Trayce Jackson-Davis had 11 but just six defensive boards. Jordan Geronimo was in foul trouble most of the game which didn't help. Overall, those 16 offensive rebounds led to 14 second chance points for the Wildcats.

Big missed opportunity: Indiana was coming off of a blowout loss to No. 18 Illinois last weekend and came to Evanston looking for its third-straight road win. If IU could have pulled that off last night, it would make the daunting task of three straight ranked opponents a bit easier to handle. Now, without knowing how many of the suspended players will remain out, you go into East Lansing this weekend with more questions than answers. IU needs to avoid a three-game losing streak this weekend.

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