The last time Northwestern and Indiana faced off in Welsh-Ryan Arena, the two battled down to the game’s final buzzer. 

The two teams’ back-and-forth play resulted in a double-overtime thriller, ending in an Indiana three-point victory. Even with no fans allowed in the building, both groups’ play generated enough electricity. 

363 days later, the Wildcats and Hoosiers returned to Welsh-Ryan Arena, this time in front of a sold-out crowd, for their first meeting of the season. Similar to their last affair, NU (12-10, 5-8 Big Ten) and Indiana (16-7, 7-6 Big Ten) played down to the wire once again. This time, though, the home team came out victorious, 59-51.

“Really good win for us tonight,” coach Chris Collins said. “Our points down the stretch, we got stops, we made free throws, we didn’t turn the ball over.”

Entering the contest, most eyes were on the matchup of senior forward Pete Nance, NU’s second-leading scorer, and Indiana’s leading scorer, forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, However, big news struck the surface approaching game time — five Hoosiers were suspended for “disciplinary reasons,” meaning they were benched for Tuesday’s game. This included two starters for Indiana in guards Parker Stewart and Xavier Johnson.

Even with these unforeseen circumstances, NU struggled to capitalize in the first half. Along with no players scoring more than 10 points by halftime, the team shot 1-13 from deep, and had three assists and zero points off fastbreaks. Collins credited this to the match’s physicality.

“That was a physical game,” Collins said. “In the first half, it really affected how we were playing offense, and then I thought in the second half we really regrouped.”

Indiana flexed a starting lineup of players six-foot-five or taller, including Jackson-Davis, (6-foot-9-inches and 245 pounds) and its second-leading scorer, forward Race Thompson (6-foot-8-inches and 235 pounds). As a result, NU struggled to find openings in and outside of the paint.

Although their offensive woes loomed large, the Cats’ defense picked up the slack. Similar to NU, no Hoosier had scored more than 10 points either, and guard Trey Galloway turned the ball over four times, all contributing to only a four-point Indiana lead.

A major component to the Wildcats’ stifling defense was the combination of Nance and redshirt junior Ryan Young playing together to combat Indiana’s tandem of Jackson-Davis and Thompson. This contributed to NU winning not only the rebounding battle 47-37, but also the game as a whole.

“We wanted to keep bodies on those guys all night,” Collins said. “It was such a defensive game that I felt like we needed that size on the floor and the physicality.”

The constant swing of momentum in the first half came back for round two in the second 20 minutes, as no team held a lead over 10 points the entire half. However, the two halves did show some differences. This time, NU was able to get their offense going.

Nearly two-and-a-half minutes in, junior guard Boo Buie finished at the rim to cut the Hoosiers lead down to five. For the next three minutes, the Cats would continue on a 13-0 run capped off by a left-wing dagger 3-pointer by junior forward Robbie Beran to extend the home team’s lead to six. Buie, who led the team in points with 18, emphasized what the team did on the opposite end that kept them in the game.

“The whole game came down to our defense,” Buie said. “When you’re not making those shots, the defense is really how you’re going to win those games.”

As the game continued, the atmosphere’s intensity and each team’s defensive rigor only increased. After Beran’s three, NU would score only seven points in nearly the next nine minutes, whereas Indiana picked up eight, at one point making it a three-point game.

With the Hoosiers knocking on the door and their fan base jumping out of their seats, redshirt junior Chase Audige shut the door immediately. Catching a pass from senior guard Ryan Greer, Audige took advantage of the wide-open top of the key opportunity and banked in a three pointer. 

From there, the Cats defense limited their opponent to four points in the next five minutes, highlighted by a forced shot clock violation with 50 seconds left, leading the way to victory — the team’s third straight win.

“We found a way to get enough points to hold them off,” Collins said. “We held them to 51 points, so the defense was certainly the catalyst for this one.”

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