BLOOMINGTON, Ind.- Northwestern has struggled to find enough offensive consistency to get its first conference win. Visiting No. 11 Indiana did not seem like the place to get things going the right direction.
But the Wildcats got the offense working against the Hoosiers. NU kept the game close on the road thanks to a strong shooting performance, but could not keep up in the end.
Sophomore forward Kevin Coble, the team’s leading scorer missed a 3-pointer that would have given NU its first lead of the game with 10:42 left. The Hoosiers took control after that, closing out their 75-63 victory over the Cats on a 15-4 run.
Coble also had a chance to cut the lead to one point on a free throw about a minute before the 3-point attempt. But he missed the opportunity.
“Our radio guy told me we were cutting harder than we had all season,” coach Bill Carmody said. “If we’re going to play with this team, and we did for 30-some minutes, you can’t have missed opportunities. I think we have to avoid those things. We really have to cherish the ball.”
NU (7-12, 0-8 Big Ten) kept the game close thanks to one of its best shooting performance since the beginning of January.
The team finished shooting 47.9 percent from the field and 10 of 20 from beyond the arc, its best 3-point mark since shooting 62.5 percent in an 88-68 win over Arkansas State on Dec. 3.
Junior guard Craig Moore led the Cats with 17 points and sophomore guard Jeremy Nash scored a career-high 12 points off the bench.
Coble added 12 points and four rebounds.
The Cats shot 63.6 percent in the first half, countering an equally strong shooting performance by the Hoosiers (18-3, 7-1), who shot 50 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc.
NU hit 50 percent of its 3-pointers on the game, but also worked through the offense to create easy layups and jumpers.
The Cats ended the half down by two points when Moore stole the ball at the top of the key and found Nash streaking to the basket for a breakaway layup as time expired.
NU did not succumb to a letdown in the second half after the hot start.
The offense continued to generate easy baskets to help keep the Cats in the game.
“We executed to perfection most of the time,” Moore said. “Even when we missed shots, we were executing well. Coach put an emphasis on making sure we got back to the basics of the offense. We missed a couple (easy shots), that if we make them, it’s a totally different ball game.”
Freshman guard Eric Gordon got the Hoosiers started early. He scored nine points on three consecutive 3-pointers in the first four minutes to jump-start Indiana. He finished the first half with 17 points and scored 29 in the game.
Senior forward D.J. White paced Indiana throughout the game, scoring 26 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, including six offensive boards.
White and Gordon combined to shoot 17 of 25.
NU struggled containing Indiana on the glass. The Hoosiers out-rebounded the Cats 39 to 17 and grabbed 18 offensive boards, scoring 18 second-chance points.
Eventually Indiana switched to a zone defense and took NU out of its offensive groove. The Hoosiers held the Cats without a field goal for nine minutes, turning a two-point game into a comfortable 14-point margin.
“We were able to dictate their shots (in the zone),” Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson said. “When you play man-to-man, it’s hard to get them out of their offense. … But at least in a zone, you can dictate where their shots are coming from.”
Moore said the encouraging result shows that NU can compete with the best teams in the conference.
Coble said despite the loss, the game was a step forward for a team still looking for its first conference victory.
“You’ve got to go to practice and we’re going with the same intensity and the same attention to detail, which was a lot better tonight than it has been,” Coble said. “If we play like this on Wednesday, we win.”
Reach Philip Rossman-Reich at [email protected]
