NU fails to collect 20th win as Shurna falls just short of scoring title

Well, at least Northwestern no longer needs to worry about facing Penn State in the Big Ten tournament's opening round.

With their 88-80 overtime loss Saturday afternoon at Indiana - a team that had lost 8 games in a row by 14 points or more - the Wildcats dropped their seventh straight road game and fell out of contention for the No. 6 seed.

Northwestern, which got 31 points and 12 rebounds from John Shurna and 25 points with 8 assists from Juice Thompson, opens Big Ten tournament play Thursday afternoon as either the No. 7 or 8 seed.

NU's slot depends on whether Michigan springs an upset Sunday at Michigan State.

If Michigan wins, the eighth-seeded Wildcats (19-12, 7-11) face ninth-seeded Iowa at 1:30 p.m. Thursday

If Michigan loses, the seventh-seeded Wildcats have to deal with 10th-seeded Indiana (10-20, 4-14) at 4 p.m. in Indianapolis.

Judging by the Wildcats' inability to guard or rebound on Saturday, they might want to avoid a rematch with the Hoosiers.

Freshman guard Jordan Hulls scored a career-high 24 points - shooting 8 of 12 from 3-point range - as four IU freshmen combined for 63 points and 28 rebounds on Senior Day to snap an 11-game losing streak.

Northwestern finished with 5 more 3-pointers than Hull, but needed 30 more attempts to accomplish the feat.

Thompson drilled a career-high 7 3-pointers as the Wildcats spent much of their day trying to shoot over the top of Indiana's 2-3 zone.

NU needed Thompson's best marksmanship to force overtime.

Indiana led 69-61 with 3:24 to go, but Thompson drilled a pair of 3s and fed Luka Mirkovic for a layup to make it 69-69 with 1:13 to go.

Freshman Alex Marcotullio missed two shots to take the lead, then NU stole the ball with 2 seconds left to keep Indiana from getting the last shot in regulation.

Given another chance to earn the program's first 20-win season, Northwestern never got going in overtime.

Hulls' eighth 3-pointer helped Indiana score the first 7 points as the Wildcats turned over the ball on their first two possessions.

Thompson's 3-pointer with 44.8 seconds to go pulled NU within 85-79 - and Indiana couldn't inbound the ball to give the Wildcats one more chance.

Thompson rimmed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, though, and IU closed it out with a free-throw contest.

Shurna delivered his second career double-double, but he needed 1 more point to become the first Wildcat since Ray Ragelis in 1951 to win the Big Ten's scoring title in conference games.

Ohio State's Evan Turner averaged 20.13 points in 16 league games while Shurna averaged 20.11 in 18 games.