Men’s Basketball

Seniors Tre Demps and Alex Olah had not been themselves entering Saturday’s contest in Indiana. But despite glimpses of vintage dominance against the Hoosiers, the duo could not muster the firepower necessary to carry an otherwise lifeless squad past a surging Indiana team, who won 89-57.

The first half laid the foundation for the rest of the game, with the two seniors scoring 24 of Northwestern’s 26 points. Demps, who finished with 17, looked confident in the backcourt and Olah, who notched 19, looked spry in the post, making a strong return to the center position after missing six games with a foot injury and playing limited minutes in the subsequent two.

But on the other side of the court, the Hoosiers (17-3, 7-0 Big Ten) relied on a team effort to propel it to an early lead over the visiting Wildcats (15-6, 3-5).

“You come in and they just hit you right away to start the game,” coach Chris Collins said. “I think we worked our way back into in a little bit but they just put a lot of pressure on you. Their driving game is really hard to stop and they have a lot of guys that can put pressure on you and their driving ability, plus everyone can shoot.”

Indiana, who remains undefeated in the Big Ten, put on an offensive show, taking advantage of the Cats’ missed defensive rotations and shooting 13-of-28 from deep on the day.

The mark serves as a stark contrast from NU’s shooting numbers. After unsuccessfully relying on 3-point shooting to pace its offense, the Cats made a conscious effort to get to the rim, either driving or working the ball into the bigs on the block. The result was a 5-of-15 mark from 3 for NU, which allowed Demps and Olah to enjoy big days, but left the Cats grasping for straws after sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh failed to find any offensive rhythm through the bulk of the contest.

McIntosh went 1-of-7 from the floor in the opening half and found fleeting success working a two-man game in the second half with freshman center Dererk Pardon, who scored 9.

Overall, McIntosh scored just 4 points, going 2-of-12 from the floor and dishing out six assists. His struggles come on the heels of two rough shooting games — against Penn State and Maryland — after McIntosh seemingly single-handedly led NU past Wisconsin in their last win.

McIntosh’s recent stretch highlights the harsh reality that the Cats will only go as far as their point guard will take them, and Saturday, it wasn’t enough.

On the other hand, his positional matchup, guard Yogi Ferrell, proved to be everything he was advertised to be and then some. After a decent yet unremarkable first period, Indiana’s floor general exploded after the break, scoring 12 of his 17 in the second half to guarantee a Hoosier win.

He was joined by seven other Indiana players who scored at least seven. For comparison, outside Olah, Demps, McIntosh and Pardon, only freshman forward Aaron Falzon and junior forward Nathan Taphorn scored, tallying 5 and 3 points, respectively. Indiana also found firepower behind a stellar effort on the glass that saw them out-rebound NU 40-23.

As the Cats prepare for Thursday’s home bout with the talented, but struggling No. 11 Michigan State, Olah and Demps’ collective rejuvenation offer a silver lining. But overall, a 32-point loss that saw minimal contributions from the rest of the team guarantees that NU has plenty to work on before it looks to bounce back against the Spartans.

“That’s the Big Ten for you. It’s an 18-game journey,” Collins said. “It’s a long journey of a season and this is definitely a tough stretch. You come in trying to get a win and we got beat. It happens sometimes, especially against a great team.”

This story was updated with postgame quotes.

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Twitter: @GarrettJochnau