How to Watch No. 15 Indiana Basketball Against Northwestern Wildcats
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana returns home for a Sunday afternoon matchup with Northwestern after painful 91-89 loss at Iowa on Thursday.
The Hoosiers let a 21-point lead over Iowa slip away, and Race Thompson left the game with an awkward leg injury. Indiana will likely be without two starters, Thompson and Xavier Johnson, on Sunday when a 11-3 Northwestern team arrives at Assembly Hall.
"There is nothing you can do about it," Coach Mike Woodson said of Indiana's injuries. "It's a part of the game. All I can do is wish X and Race a speedy recovery and that they get back. Until they get back, other guys got to step up and play, and I gotta help them get there."
- *** LIVE BLOG: And once the game starts, follow all the action on our live blog from HoosiersNow.com publisher Tom Brew. To read that story, CLICK HERE.
How to watch Indiana Hoosiers vs. Northwestern Wildcats
- Who: No. 15 Indiana Hoosiers (10-4, 1-2) vs. Northwestern Wildcats (11-3, 2-1)
- What: Indiana's second Big Ten home game
- When: Noon ET on Sunday, Jan. 8
- Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind.
- TV: FOX Sports 1
- Announcers: Matt Schumacher (play-by-play), Stephen Bardo (analyst)
- Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)
- Radio: IU Radio Network (Bloomington: 105.1 WHCC-FM, Indianapolis: 107.5 WFNI-FM)
- Radio Announcers: Don Fischer (play-by-play), Errek Suhr (color), John Herrick (pregame, halftime, postgame)
- Point spread: Indiana is a seven-point favorite against Northwestern, and the over/under is set at 132.5 points, according to the SI Sportsbook.
- Associated Press poll: Indiana moved up one spot to No. 15 despite a 12-day break from games. Northwestern has not been ranked all season.
- KenPom rankings: Indiana is No. 19 overall in the KenPom rankings as of Saturday afternoon. The Hoosiers are No. 38 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 28 in adjusted offensive efficiency. Northwestern is ranked No. 59 overall, No. 6 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 186 in adjusted offensive efficiency.
- Season projections: As of Saturday, Indiana is tied with Wisconsin at plus-1000 odds to win the Big Ten regular season title, behind Michigan State at plus-900, Ohio State at plus-650, Rutgers at plus-470 and Purdue at plus-145. Indiana is plus-1500 to reach the Final Four and plus-5500 to win the National Championship, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
- Last three games: Indiana lost 91-89 at Iowa on Thursday, defeated Kennesaw State 69-55 on Dec. 23 and beat Elon 96-72 on Dec. 20. Northwestern defeated Illinois 73-60 at home on Wednesday, lost to Ohio State 73-57 at home on Jan. 1 and beat Brown 63-58 on Dec. 29.
- Last season's records: Indiana went 21-14 overall, 9-11 in Big Ten play, 14-4 at home, 3-8 on the road and 4-2 at neutral sites in 2021-22. The Hoosiers finished ninth in the Big Ten, defeated Wyoming in the NCAA Tournament First Four and lost to Saint Mary's in the Round of 64. Northwestern went 15-16 overall, 7-13 in Big Ten play, 10-6 at home, 3-8 on the road and 2-2 at neutral sites in 2021-22. Northwestern finished 12th in the Big Ten, and their season ended with a 112-76 loss to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament.
- Series history: Indiana leads the all-time series, 120-53, and the Hoosiers are 6-4 in the last 10 matchups.
- Last meeting: Northwestern defeated Indiana 59-51 on Feb. 8, 2022 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. Before the game, Indiana coach Mike Woodson suspended Xavier Johnson, Parker Stewart, Tamar Bates, Khristian Lander and Michael Durr for breaking team rules. Indiana played with six scholarship players, plus walk-on Nathan Childress, and shot 37 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from the free throw line. Trayce Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson and Trey Galloway tried to will the Hoosiers to a victory with double-digit scoring efforts, but it wasn't enough as Indiana ran out of gas. Boo Buie led Northwestern with 18 points, followed by 12 from Chase Audige.
Leading scorers
- Indiana Hoosiers
- F Trayce Jackson-Davis: 17.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.7 bpg, 62.0 FG pct
- G Jalen Hood-Schifino: 11.6 ppg, 4.7 apg, 4.4 rpg
- F Miller Kopp: 9.4 ppg, 43.9 3-point FG pct
- Northwestern Wildcats
- G Chase Audige: 15.8 ppg, 2.6 spg, 36.7 3-point FG pct
- G Boo Buie: 13.9 ppg, 4.2 apg, 29.0 3-point FG pct
- G Ty Berry: 9.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 29.6 3-point FG pct
Meet the coaches
- Chris Collins, Northwestern: In his 10th season at Northwestern, Collins holds a 143–153 overall record and a 57-114 record in Big Ten play. He took Northwestern to its first ever NCAA Tournament during the 2016-17 season. The Wildcats earned a No. 8 seed and defeated Vanderbilt 68-66 in the Round of 64 before losing to No. 1 seed Gonzaga. Under Collins, Northwestern has finished 9th or worst in the Big Ten in eight of his first nine seasons. Collins was an assistant for the Detroit Shock for one season and Seton Hall for three seasons before working as an assistant for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski from 2000-13. Collins also played for Krzyzewski at Duke from 1992-96.
- Mike Woodson, Indiana: Woodson has NBA head coaching experience with the Atlanta Hawks from 2004-10 and the New York Knicks from 2012-14. Dating back to 1996, Woodson has also been an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers. Woodson played at Indiana University from 1976-80, and was named the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player as a senior under coach Bob Knight. He was the 12th overall pick in the 1980 NBA Draft, and played for various teams from 1980-91, averaging 14 points over 786 games. In his second season at Indiana, Woodson holds a 31-18 record.
Three things to watch in Indiana vs. Northwestern
1. Jordan Geronimo, Malik Reneau stepping up
Indiana sixth-year forward Race Thompson suffered a leg injury in the first half on Thursday at Iowa. Coach Mike Woodson didn't know the extent of the injury after the game, and Indiana has not given an update since Thursday during the game.
If Thompson is unable to play on Sunday, Indiana will need improved production from both Jordan Geronimo and Malik Reneau. Geronimo had nine points and five rebounds in 18 minutes against Iowa, but he's largely been quiet this year after a strong finish to the 2021-22 season. Reneau played arguably his best game at Xavier against veteran forwards Jack Nunge and Zach Freemantle, but he's struggled with foul trouble and turnovers recently.
2. Wildcats' strong defense, shaky offense
Northwestern is ranked sixth in the nation in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency rating, and they're allowing just 57.2 points per game on 36.3 percent shooting. Part of that is due to the Wildcats' 162nd strength of schedule ranking, but they've also held Michigan State, Ohio State and Illinois well below their season-long scoring averages.
On the flip side, Northwestern is 186th in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency and shoots a Big Ten-worst 38.0 percent overall. Indiana is coming off its fourth-highest scoring game of the season, shooting 8-for-15 from 3 with 89 total points at Iowa.
3. Jalen Hood-Schifino vs. Northwestern veterans
Indiana freshman point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino posted career-highs against Iowa with 21 points and nine assists in the Hoosiers' third game without Xavier Johnson. On Sunday, he'll go up against Northwestern's leading scorers Chase Audige (15.8 ppg) and Boo Buie (13.9 ppg), two guards who have started 134 combined games for the Wildcats.
Related stories on Indiana basketball
- GAME STORY: Indiana let a big lead slip away and lost to Iowa 91-89 Thursday night despite a heroic 30-point, 9-rebound night from Trayce Jackson-Davis. It was a painful loss too, because senior forward Race Thompson left with a serious knee injury. CLICK HERE
- WHAT WOODSON SAID: Indiana coach Mike Woodson met with the media on Thursday night after the Hoosiers blew a 21-point lead and lost to Iowa, 91-89. He was upset with the officiating, and also Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. Here's the full video, plus the transcript. CLICK HERE
- PHOTO GALLERY: The Indiana Hoosiers traveled to Iowa City to restart their Big Ten season, but lost 91-89 to the Iowa Hawkeyes. The photographers had a great night. Here are 15 images from the game. CLICK HERE