Northwestern creates its own luck with hot-shooting second half against Indiana
The expanded Big Ten was supposed to be a giant mash of teams this season, indistinguishable in the KenPom ratings.
That's turned out to be true, with Northwestern getting the brunt of the league's bad luck. The Wildcats have lost on a 3-pointer at the buzzer in Iowa, were victims of a bizarre video review that wiped out a game-tying basket in the closing seconds at Penn State, then lost in overtime at Michigan on Sunday with point guard Jalen Leach getting ejected for a somewhat inadvertent flagrant foul.
So Northwestern needed a win badly on Wednesday against Indiana. The game started off well for the home team, then the Hoosiers closed the first half with an 18-2 run to take the lead at halftime.
“I just really challenged our guys,” NU coach Chris Collins said. “I said, 'Guys, it's not panic time, but it's extreme sense of urgency time.' You've got to win these games if you want to stay relevant.”
The Wildcats countered Indiana's first-half run with a 21-4 surge of their own late in the second half, leading to a 79-70 victory at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Northwestern knocked down 9 of 14 shots from 3-point range in the second half. Ty Berry was 7 of 10 for the game from long range, while Leach hit 3 in a row during the decisive run.
“I just felt like in the second half, there were a whole lot of green beans all around,” Berry said. “Shots as soon as you released them, they felt good and you knew they were going in. Once you see one go in, the hoop turns into an ocean.”
Wait a second, green beans? It has to do with the NBA video game, but let's let him explain.
“When you play 2K, if you have a perfect release, it goes green,” Berry said. “So it means it automatically goes in.”
This result was a nice redemption for Leach, a transfer from Fairfield. He had already scored 19 points against Michigan when he was hit by a hard screen and ended up kicking center Vlad Goldin between the legs. Collins didn't complain about the flagrant call, saying the rule makes it clear. Still, tough break for the ‘Cats.
“You've got to use it as motivation,” Leach said. “It happened, it's the past. It's a loss on our record. We can't do anything about it, we've just got to move on. We know we're a good team.”
Four players scored all but 2 points for Northwestern (12-7, 3-5). Berry led with 23, Brooks Barnhizer added 21, while Glenbrook South grad Nick Martinelli — the Big Ten's leading scorer — finished with 18. Barnhizer lost his balance on a fastbreak dunk late in the game and injured his nose on the landing, but Collins thinks the senior forward will be OK.
The Wildcats started the night tied with Nebraska for 15th place in the Big Ten standings. Indiana (14-6, 5-4) has the better record but lost at home to Illinois by 25 last week. There was a reason NU was favored in this one.
“I'm a big believer in the 'basketball gods,'” Collins said. “I just feel like when guys really immerse themselves in the game and they compete and they're all about winning and their team, then the ball just magically starts going in.”
Collins might consider petitioning those basketball gods to keep evening up the bad breaks.