Northwestern beats Indiana 77-75

In retrospect, all the signs were there.

Northwestern forward and co-Big Ten player of the week Kevin Coble starts the game by taking the ball off the opening tip and doinking an easy dunk attempt.

Indiana, a double-digit underdog, follows that up by hitting three straight 3-pointers en route to taking a 12-3 lead and stunning a fairly full house at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Seven seconds into the second half, with the game tied, one of the shot clocks goes on the fritz, forcing a long delay featuring a lot of pointing and small group meetings before temporary clocks are wheeled out.

In other words, nothing came easy for the Wildcats on Wednesday, but in the end they hung on for dear life to eke out a 77-75 victory over one scrappy Indiana team.

"It was a hard-fought college game," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. "That team just never quit. We were very fortunate because they shot the ball well and had a plan of attack."

And that plan got them to within 2 points and 5.2 seconds of - at the very least - sending this one to overtime despite falling behind by 11 points midway through the second half.

But in the final seconds, Coble (19 points) sealed the deal by stealing the inbounds pass and running out the clock.

"It's a good thing he got it because the last thing we said was don't go for a steal," Carmody said.

"He says a lot of stuff," said Coble, who scored his 1,000th point Wednesday. "I felt it was an OK risk to take."

It paid off, leaving the Wildcats relieved to begin a string of six of their next seven games at home with a victory.

The Hoosiers, on the other hand, left the buiding completely spent.

"That was one of the most intense games I've ever been a part of as a coach," said Indiana coach Tom Crean. "I'm disappointed for our guys; that would've been a great way of walking out of this city feeling very good."

Indiana guard Devan Dumes led all scorers with 26 points, and Craig Moore paced the Wildcats with 21. In fact, the two had a brief staredown at midcourt at one point before being pulled apart.

"If you like basketball," Moore said, "you had to love that game."