When they desperately needed a win the most, the Indiana Hoosiers collapsed at home, squandering a large lead and losing to Northwestern 72-68. A controversial non-call hurt as well, and the Hoosiers are now in real trouble in chasing an NCAA Tournament bid.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Want a complete synopsis of Indiana's entire basketball season in a neatly packaged two-hour window? We got that Tuesday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall — and it was very painful to watch.
Again.
Indiana had a big lead at home against lowly Northwestern, and let it all slip away, something we've seen several times before. Indiana made shots like crazy early, then missed 11 shots in a row late. Throw in a horrific missed foul call on the final play of the game and it all added up to a 72-68 loss to a Northwestern team that's already lost 13 Big Ten games this year.
Indiana is now 17-11 overall and back under .500 in the Big Ten at 8-9 after their first Quad 3 loss of the season. The Hoosiers' fragile NCAA Tournament resume didn't have any bad losses on it before Tuesday, but it does now. Throw in the fact that there's only two quality wins — Purdue, Wisconsin — and they are very much on the wrong side of the bubble now with three regular season games to go.
It was that bad of a loss.
"I thought we had a good little stretch going,'' Indiana coach Darian DeVries said of the Hoosiers' first-half run. "We got the lead built up to 11 there in the first half. Thought we had some opportunities there to really press that thing open.
"A lot of times it's come down to second-chance opportunities, things like that. They get a put-back, maybe a couple empty possessions in there, too. Just our overall consistency of sustaining 40 minutes has been an issue for us in multiple games, and that certainly showed up again tonight.''
It sure did. Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana's top scorer, was red-hot early, hitting four three-pointers in the first seven-plus minutes. Indiana led by double-digits often, but then it all slipped away in the second half and the Wildcats (12-16, 4-13 in the Big Ten) came roaring back.
Nick Martinelli, the Big Ten's leadingt scorer ahead of Wilkerson, took command in the second half. He scored eight straight points to cut the lead to 44-41. Tucker DeVries scored on a layup at the 10:04 mark to give Indiana a 56-48 lead.
It would be the last shot they would make until Tayton Conerway scored on a drive with 31 seconds to go, cutting the Northwestern lead to 67-65. Conerway was clearly hit in the head on the drive, but no foul was called.
At the other end, Conerway tipped the ball away from Martinelli for a steal, and the Hoosiers had another shot. Wilkerson attacked the basket, but missed a contested layup. Sam Alexis tried to dunk the offensive rebound, but was fouled.
He could have tied the game, but missed the second free throw and the Wildcats rebounded. Sam West was fouled and made both free throws, making it 71-68 with eight seconds to go. Indiana inbounded, and DeVries was open from the right wing. he went up to hit a potential game-tying three-pointer, but was slapped across the left arm by Northwestern's Angelo Ciaravino.
No call was made, and the game ended after one more Northwestern free throw.
"He said he couldn't see it. I mean, that's his explanation,'' an emotional Tucker DeVries said of the officials during his postgame press conference. "That's all I can give you. I thought it was a foul. It's part of the game. That's all I'm going to give.
"I think as a group this one hurts pretty bad. I think it's important for us to realize we've still got three opportunities. This one hurts, but we're not out of the mix by any means. Our season is not defined by this game. Coming off a loss like this there is no better opportunity than hosting a really good Michigan State team. You know, we've got to come prepared for that one a lot better, a lot more hooked up, and take advantage of these opportunities. They're starting to get fewer.''
The replays were very clear that it was a foul. Add that with a brutal shooting stretch, and Indiana had to swallow a very hard defeat.
"Yeah, I mean, that was a tough loss,'' Darian DeVries said. "We have a big homestand here, and this was the first game of it. We're at that point in the year where games have become very meaningful and it was an opportunity. We certainly wanted to get started off on the front of the homestand with a good note.
"It didn't happen, but still, like I told them, we have to make sure that we put it away. We've got a big game on Sunday and we've got to come ready to go against a very good Michigan State team. We're going to have to really look in the mirror a little bit and get some things figured out before we play again on Sunday.''
Sunday's game with No. 13 Michigan State starts at 3:45 p.m. ET and will be nationally televised on CBS.