Tuesday was an absolute must-win game for the Hoosiers. Looking to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive, the Hoosiers had to beat the Wildcats before a big matchup against Michigan State on Sunday. Unfortunately for Indiana, they were unable to get the job done.
Indiana came out swinging from the opening tip on Tuesday. Led by senior guard Lamar Wilkerson, the Hoosiers quickly got out to an early lead. Wilkerson could not miss to start the game, scoring a team-high 14 first-half points. Behind Wilkerson’s shooting, Indiana had built a nine-point halftime lead, and was an impressive 62.5% from the field to end the first half. The Hoosiers looked to be firmly in control against a Northwestern team that has struggled against Big Ten competition this season.
This script flipped dramatically when the Hoosiers returned to the floor to start the second half. Wilkerson, who had been red-hot in the first half, went ice-cold for the rest of the game, scoring just 4 points in the second half. Without Wilkerson scoring at a high clip, the rest of the Hoosiers’ offense began to stagnate. The Hoosiers shot just 30.8% from the field in the second half and went a whopping nine minutes without a field goal.
Speaking to the media after the game, head coach Darian DeVries said, “Offensively, just couldn’t get anything going. We were 0 there for forever, and allowed them to stay in the game, stay in the game, stay in the game, and all of a sudden, now you got to make some plays. We just weren’t able to make the ones we needed to.”
Wilkerson echoed this in his postgame comments, saying,“We just couldn’t hook up as a team. As a group of seniors, we got to be better. Me, personally, I have to be better leading this team, stepping up. Just, you know, we could have made some plays down the stretch that could have helped us. It’s just one-on-ones that hurt, man. This is what our resume was — this hurt our resume. Now we have to try to go get these next ones and put our focus towards that.”
With the Hoosiers struggling to score, the Wildcats began to claw their way back into the game. Leading the charge was senior Nick Martinelli, who exploded for 21 of his 28 points in the second half, including a go-ahead three with less than three minutes left in the game.
“I thought it was really just us not being able to contain Martinelli was the biggest piece. Not getting stops. There was some offensive rebounds in there as well. Some big possessions where we didn’t come up with some of those loose balls.” Coach DeVries said postgame.
Despite this, the Hoosiers still had a chance to tie the game with 4 seconds remaining. As Tucker DeVries launched the potentially game-tying three, he appeared to very clearly get fouled. A foul was not called, however, and the Wildcats were able to sneak out of Assembly Hall with a win.
When asked what explanation he got as to why no foul was called, a very emotional Tucker DeVries said, “[The ref] said he couldn’t see it. I mean, that’s his explanation. 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.”
Wilkerson echoed this saying, “Ultimately, man, shouldn’t have came down to the ref. We shouldn’t have put the ref in the position to make that call. When we was up we shouldn’t have got comfortable. We just got to do better, man. We just got to do better.”
The Hoosiers’ path to the NCAA Tournament has all but evaporated after this loss. In order to have a chance to get a bid as a bubble team on Selection Sunday, the Hoosiers will now have to win out.