After two Big Ten road wins, no one is ready to label Northwestern “road warriors.” But with one more victory away from Welsh-Ryan Arena, the 2005-06 Wildcats would have the most road wins in NU coach Bill Carmody’s tenure in Evanston.
NU (10-8, 3-4 Big Ten) gets a chance to pick up road win No. 3 tonight against No. 22 Indiana (12-5, 4-3) in Assembly Hall.
But as NU tries to make history, it also will have to fight against it. The Cats last won in Bloomington, Ind., in 1968 and have never won in Assembly Hall, which opened in 1972.
“Usually it would be difficult for any other Northwestern team, but two out of our three Big Ten wins were on the road,” NU junior swingman Tim Doyle said. “I think we have a little more confidence right now. We’re a little more optimistic on the road.”
Nearly midway through the conference season, NU, Ohio State and Illinois lead the Big Ten with two road wins. The top seven teams in the conference are a combined 25-2 at home. Indiana, tied for fifth in the league, is 4-0 in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers continue to get impressive play from senior forward Marco Killingsworth, a transfer from Auburn who is third in the conference in scoring (19.2 per game) and sixth in rebounding (7.5).
“He’s the best post player in the league,” Doyle said. “Our goal is to stop him. But it’s like anything else. You’re going to give up open looks.”
As Killingsworth continues to improve his candidacy for Big Ten Player of the Year by dominating the paint, Indiana has really done damage from beyond the arc.
Indiana leads all Division I teams in 3-point shooting, hitting 44.2 percent of its 3-pointers. Three Indiana players – forward Robert Vaden (50.5 percent), guard Errek Suhr (50.0 percent) and guard Marshall Strickland (49.3 percent) – are three of the top four 3-point shooters in the Big Ten.
NU is third in the Big Ten in 3-point defense, allowing teams to shoot only 31 percent. But last Wednesday, Purdue found openings in NU’s zone defenses, hitting 56.3 percent of its 3s.
And when the Cats played the Hoosiers last March, Indiana made 9-of-11 3-point shots in the first half and shot 60 percent from 3-point range for the game.
The Cats will look to neutralize Indiana’s inside and outside threats on Wednesday
“Indiana is tough to stop,” NU senior guard Mohamed Hachad said. “Indiana can obviously get inside, but Killingsworth can pass too. We have to focus on stopping him inside, but if we’re double-teaming him, the other (defenders) have a bigger responsibility to not let the ball get to the shooter.”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
