Written by: TJ Inman
“A tradition unlike any other” is often associated with a certain prestigious golf tournament in April but it could very well be said of Indiana’s appearances in the Big Ten Tournament. With a chance at the NCAA Tournament on the line, Indiana promptly crashed out in Chicago as they lost for the seventh straight time to the Northwestern Wildcats.
A strong early start for IU’s offense had the Hoosiers ahead 25-15 but turnovers stemmed the tide and Jake West continually got to the rim for easy layups to slice Indiana’s advantage. Back-to-back triples from the Wildcats actually gave Northwestern a lead at 33-32 but Nick Dorn answered with a three of his own and IU took a one-point lead into the locker room at 37-36. Northwestern ended up with 24 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes and the Hoosiers had five more turnovers (7 to 2).
With the season on the line and 20 minutes remaining, Northwestern got three chances on their first possession before getting a layup to grab the lead and they never looked back. Nick Martinelli set the pace with seven points in the first few minutes of the second half and propelled the Wildcats to a nine-point edge. Lamar Wilkerson headed to the locker room with an injury and things further unraveled. IU had a field goal drought of more than five minutes and the deficit ballooned to nearly 20 points as any NCAA Tournament hopes proved again to be foolish.
The second half was uncompetitive and Northwestern rolled to a comfortable 74-61 victory. Nick Martinelli torched Indiana again, scoring 28 points on 10-18 shooting while Jake West added a career-high 18. Lamar Wilkerson struggled, scoring only 17 and making only 7 for 16 shots with just one three-pointer. As was often the case this season, he got no help as Tucker DeVries struggled mightily and only Tayton Conerway exceeded six points (14).
Indiana’s season is over and the first year of the Darian DeVries era has to be classified as a disappointment. The staff will hit the reset button and the next 30-45 days will need to result in a whole lot more talent being brought to Bloomington as a trip to the NCAA Tournament seems like a must for DeVries to build his tenure.