Indiana's Familiar Problems Continue in 76-72 Home Loss to Northwestern

Indiana's struggles shooting the ball continued to be a problem, and it was prevalent again in a 76-72 loss to Northwestern at Assembly Hall on Sunday in a game that wasn't that close. Indiana is now 14-11 on the year, and it's now just 1-3 in its last four home games.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Same old, same old for Indiana.

And it's getting really old, isn't it?

The Hoosiers can't shoot from deep, can't make enough free throws, foul foolishly and give up too many offensive rebounds. That's been a common theme all season, and it was again in a 76-72 loss to Northwestern that wasn't really that close.

The Hoosiers are now 14-11 overall and just 6-8 in the Big Ten with six regular season games to go. It's their second straight loss at Assembly Hall, and they've lost three of four games on their home court since Jan. 16 as their season is now in full unravel mode. 

They've also lost four straight games to Northwestern now, and six of the past eight ag against the Wildcats. And it's the shooting woes that continue to get in the way.

"They've got to step up and knock them down.'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said of the team's struggles, but from deep and the free throw. "It's frustrating, because I thought we played well enough after we got back into it, but we just didn't make enough free throws. It's simple. You've just got to make shots. We're not doing that.''

These issues that have bothered Indiana all season were clearly evident again. They made just 1 of 7 three-point attempts in the first 17 minutes, and were just 3-for-15 from deep late in the game before a flurry of long balls in a late rally. They were 6-for-18 for the game.  

They made 2 of 5 free throws in the first half and were just 12-for-21 for the game, a miserable 57.1 percent. They also gave up 14 offensive rebounds and only forced three turnovers the entire game, including just one in the second half. 

"We shoot a lot of free throws in practice, because we see what we can get better at, said freshman guard Gabe Cupps, who did a great job defensively of keeping Northwestern star Boo Buie in check. "We get the reps in all week, we've just got to step up there and have some confidence to make them.''

Indiana's last lead was at 12-11 in the 10th minute of the first half, but then Northwestern went on a 6-0 run to take the lead, and followed that up with an 8-1 run that gave them a 30-19 lead. They lead 34-26 at the half, with guard Ryan Langborg leading the way with 12 points.

Indiana opened with a 7-0 run to start the second half, cutting the lead to one. But they could never get the lead back. They were down 40-38 and had the ball, but sophomore forward Malik Reneau, who had a rough day, turned the ball over and Northwestern converted in transition with another Langborg three.

It was a big daggar at the time, Woodson said. And it got Northwestern going on another run.

"I thought the biggest play was when we were down two and Malik had it on the left block. Mackenzie had just hit a three and he was sitting right there,'' Woodson said. "Malik went to a bad shot and they hit a three, and we never recovered. I though that was a big play, along with not making free throws. We were just 12-for-21, and that's just not good enough.''

Northwestern's lead quickly grew to 16 when Buie, who is averaging 19.2 points per game, finally made his first basket at 8:35 mark after missing his first eight shots. He hit a long three over Anthony Walker, and then scored at the rim and hit another three all in two-plus minutes. 

Indiana did try to make it interesting down the stretch, going on an 11-0 run and then fouling quicky in the final three-plus minutes. Northwestern made 11-of-14 free throws in the closing moments. Indiana got no closer than four though as the clock ran out.

Langborg, a transfer who played his first three seasons at Princeton, finished with a career-tying 26 points for the Wildcats. He also scored 26 in an NCAA tournament regional semifinal loss to Creighton last year. Buie and center Matthew Nicholson had 14 and Nic Martinelli had 13.

Indiana was led by 7-foot center Kel'el Ware, who had 22 points and 16 rebounds. Freshman forward Mackenzie Mgbako had 20, and senior guard Trey Galloway had seven points and a career-high 12 assists. 

Reneau had nine points, but fouled out quickly with two fouls on consecutive possessions. He only played 24 minutes and had a team-low minus-9 plus-minus rating. 

The Hoosiers are back home on Wednesday against Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are 18-8 overall and 8-7 in the conference. They beat Indiana 86-70 on Jan. 3 in Lincoln. 

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