EVANSTON, Ill. — A bad second-half stretch kept Indiana from ending its woes against Northwestern.
Indiana missed 10 straight shots during a 13-0 Northwestern run, and the Wildcats beat the Hoosiers 72-65 on Thursday night.
“We look like we were getting ready to set a 3-point record in the first half and then the same things weren’t there in the second,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “Our team has been resilient but one thing we’ve got to learn is that when the shots are not falling you’ve got to find a way to win. You cannot be driven and distracted when the shots aren’t going.”
IU (19-10, 9-7) has lost consecutive meetings with Northwestern (14-14, 5-10), which has won four straight overall after losing 10 in a row.
“It would have been real easy to say, ‘You know what? Let’s wait ’til next year,'” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. “(But) we really wiped the slate clean. . (Now) we’re playing well. The guys are confident. There’s nothing like winning. It builds confidence.”
Junior guard Tre Demps scored 23 points and sparked the decisive second-half run.
Alex Olah had 17 points and 11 rebounds while Vic Law added 14 points for Northwestern.
Troy Williams collected 21 points and 14 rebounds, Nick Zeisloft had 12 points, while Robert Johnson and Yogi Ferrell had 11 apiece for Indiana (19-10, 9-7), which has lost two of three and three of its last five.
Northwestern used the second-half run to take command to open a 62-48 lead with 4:09 to play.
Indiana’s drought ended with Williams’ fast-break layup with 3:17 to play.
After trailing by as many as 14 points the Hoosiers crept to within five with 17 seconds left but got no closer.
Indiana was 9-for-14 on first half 3-point shots as the teams played to a 40-40 halftime deadlock. Zeisloft hit 4-for-5 from beyond the arc for 12 points.
Northwestern mixed inside and outside shooting and shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) for first half. Law had 11 points— including two 3-pointers — while Olah worked inside for 10 points.
Olah also had a block midway through the first half, giving him a school record 137.
Demps scored nine unanswered points in a span of 3:35 in the second half as Northwestern opened a 58-48 advantage with 9:27 showing.
“I think our mindset right now is we’re humble but we’re hungry,” Demps said. “We’re not satisfied with where we’re at. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover after a 10-game losing streak. I think everybody’s bought in.”
