Indiana made only five shots in the second half and had another late collapse in a 74-61 loss to Northwestern on Wednesday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. The Hoosiers finish the season 18-14, with their postseason options up in the air.
CHICAGO — Darian DeVries’ first season as the head coach at Indiana looks to be over, and there's one defining theme that will be remembered from this 2025-26 group.
They simply were not a good second-half team. They blew a lot of big leads and had several games where they couldn't do much right in the final 20 minutes of games.
And the worst of those might have come in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday night at the United Center in Chicago. The Hoosiers, who entered the second half with a one-point lead, were completely embarrassed by Northwestern the rest of the way.
The Wildcats won 74-61 and led by as many as 19 points at one time. Indiana made only five field goals the entire half — they were 5-for-20 from the field — and were 1-for-7 from three-point range. They even missed six free throws and staggered to the finish line.
It was their sixth loss in seven games, including two to a Northwestern team that started Big Ten play with a 2-13 record. Indiana finished 18-14, and their chances of making the NCAA Tournament are almost nil now.
It was certainly not the way they wanted this season to end.
"There was a stretch in there, about three, four minutes in (to the second half), it felt like Northwestern's defense had really cranked it up a little bit, gotten really physical, started slowing our movement, and then we weren't able to get by people to get to the ball to go make a play,'' Indiana coach Darian DeVries said. "So you ended up with a lot of windshield wiper offense. That's been something that that's kind of hurt us a little bit, especially these last seven, eight games in the second halves, just not being able to find a secondary way to score. That has been a problem for us in a lot of these games.''
The Hoosiers got off to a good start. Senior forward Tucker DeVries in five quick points in the first four minutes and leading scorer Lamar Wilkerson had 10 first-half points. The Hoosiers' biggest lead was 10 points, at 25-15 with 9:24 left in the first half. But Northwestern went on a late 8-0 run and it was just 37-36 at the break.
Five minutes into the second half, Indiana still trailed by just one, 45-44. But nothing went right from there. Northwestern went on an 8-0 spurt, then added another 14-3 march to stretch their lead to 18 points. Indiana's offensive was bogged down completely.
Northwestern had a lot to do with that, of course.
"They're very difficult to defend. Their movement and cutting and off-ball weak-side action, it's very difficult,'' Northwestern coach Chris Collins said of Indiana. "It was fortunate for us we just played them, so our guys had a familiarity with some of the movement and some of the things.
"At halftime, we just talked about whatever team was going to buckle down and find a way to get stops in the second half would gain control of the game. We knew it was going to be an NCAA Tournament type of game. We talked to the guys, and we knew what Indiana was playing for. We knew what their sense of urgency was going to be. We told our guys, let's approach this like it's a first round NCAA game because that's the kind of urgency they're going to have. I thought the game had that kind of intensity and really proud we were able to get a win.''
Indiana never matched their intensity. In the final 35 minutes of the game, DeVries made just one free throw. He was 2-for-9 shooting and just 1-for-5 from three. He finished with just six points.
"We tried to switch all of his actions to take away the pick-and-pops because those pick-and-pops are deadly,'' Collins said. "Then when he gets it in isolation situations, you just try to play his tendencies and do the best you can without fouling and try to make him take tough shots.
"He missed some he normally makes, but I thought we did a good job of not letting him get loose.''
Wilkerson finished with a team-high 17 points, but was just 1-for-7 from deep. Clearly Indiana's two best players all year, if they were struggling, there was no one to pick them up.
Tayton Conerway had 14 points off the bench, but he was the only other Hoosier in double figures. Indiana coach Darian DeVries started bigs Sam Alexis and Reed Bailey for the first time all year, but that move backfired as well. Alexis had just six points and one rebound, and Bailey took just one shot — he missed it — and also had just one rebound. He did make six free throws.
Northwestern was playing small without 6-foot-11 forward Arrinten Page, and still got eight offensive rebounds. Indiana's rebounding edge was just 29-27.
No one else stepped up, either. No one else had more than six points. It was a tough way to end an odd season, with 13 new players on the roster after the coaching change. Despite all their flaws, they were 17-8 at one point, with impressive wins over Purdue, UCLA and Wisconsin.
And then it all fell apart.
It was beyond frustrating.
"I mean, it's about what you'd expect, especially with the amount of seniors we had,'' senior Tucker DeVries said when asked about his level of frustration. "We all came here wanting to lay the ground work for this program and the culture and really set the tone, but just down the stretch of the season, we weren't able to capitalize on some of the opportunities we had.
"It really sucks that none of us are really going to put this uniform on again for a regular season or this tournament. It is what it is, but it's really frustrating.''
The NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Sunday night, and Darian DeVries, when asked about playing in any other postseason tournaments, declined to commit to anything.
"We haven't really gotten that far yet,'' DeVries said about making any postseason decisions. "We'll have to talk to administration, coaches, and players and see where that's all at.''