By Ben LarrisonThe Daily Northwestern
In its final home game of the season, Northwestern came as close as it has all year to upsetting a top Big Ten opponent.
Despite multiple late-game comebacks, the Wildcats fell just short against Indiana, losing 69-65 Wednesday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“This just seemed like a replay of a bunch of games this year, and somehow I thought towards the end tonight that it was going to be different and that we’d actually catch them at the end,” NU coach Bill Carmody said.
After a slow start, the Cats (13-16, 2-13 Big Ten) put up one of their most competitive halves of the season. Indiana (19-9, 9-6) took a 9-2 lead five minutes in courtesy of three-straight 3’s against NU’s unusual Senior Day lineup, and eight of the Hoosiers’ first nine shots came from behind the arc. Starters Kevin Coble, Tim Doyle, Joe Kennedy, Vince Scott and Ivan Tolic looked out of sync, and even when Carmody resorted to a more typical five following a media timeout the Cats struggled offensively.
After NU turned the ball over seven times in the game’s first 12-plus minutes, failing to either produce points or stop Indiana, Carmody replaced center Scott with Sterling Williams. The small lineup proceeded to drag the Cats back into the game, as they went on a 13-2 run by forcing turnovers and producing offensively.
With 2:30 remaining in the half, NU held a 23-20 lead, and the Hoosiers had gone over five minutes without a basket.
“I just wanted to try (the small lineup),” Carmody said. “Because it didn’t seem like we were getting any rebounds of our centers anyway, and we knew it would be a tougher matchup (for the Hoosiers).”
In the final minutes of the half, Indiana once again found its touch from long-range, while the Cats missed in-and-out on two layups. Senior guard Roderick Wilmont hit three treys in the last two-plus minutes, including a bank from the top of the key with one second remaining, to help the Hoosiers retake the lead 32-28 entering halftime.
Wilmont continued to carry the Hoosiers at the start of the second half. On a 3-pointer from Wilmont and two layups from D.J. White, Indiana quickly took a nine-point advantage. NU would close the lead to four, but Wilmont proved unstoppable, hitting two more 3’s to bring his total to seven for the game.
“Obviously the star tonight was Rod Wilmont,” IU coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Rod’s shooting was a big part of our offense, but I think Rod’s courage was a big reason why we got this win tonight.”
NU fought back yet again, with a seven-point scoring burst that made it a one-possession game with fewer than 10 minutes left. But it would be Wilmont again who crushed the Cats, draining two 3-pointers and a put-back layup as the Hoosiers took a double-digit lead. Wilmont finished with a career-high 31 points, including a Welsh-Ryan Arena-record nine 3’s.
Playing his final game in Evanston, Doyle made one final bid to pull off the upset, leading an aggressive comeback in the last two-and-a-half minutes. A 13-4 NU run cut the Indiana lead to just two, and the Cats had a shot at the tie on their last possession. But a Craig Moore 3-point attempt fell short, and the Hoosiers escaped with the victory.
Doyle finished with a team-high 17 points and eight assists, one shy of his career-high, and earned the respect of the opposing coach.
“He’ll probably be first-team all-American in some men’s league some day, because his game’s kind of like that,” Sampson said.
Reach Ben Larrison at [email protected].
