Northwestern confident about Indiana game

Considering Northwestern freshman center Luka Mirkovic came to America less than two years ago, he has a reason not to know the Wildcats' sordid record at Indiana.

When told Northwestern hasn't won on the Hoosiers' home court in 41 years, Mirkovic couldn't stifle his first thought.

"Well, that's quite a bit," Mirkovic said. "But really, this is a different kind of team."

At the same time, Mirkovic and his flu-ridden teammates are almost back to their old selves as Northwestern heads to Indiana today (5:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).

The 6-foot-11 Mirkovic, who went as low as 218 pounds, has regained several of the 12 pounds he shed in a week's time.

Junior forward Kevin Coble, who wasn't 100 percent in Sunday's 27-point loss at Minnesota, and freshman forward John Shurna, who dropped 6 pounds during his flu bout, also looked healthy during Tuesday's practice.

Shurna, apparently, spent part of his convalescence watching "Hoosiers."

Here's his take on NU's long losing streak at Indiana once he got his initial reaction - "Oh, my God" - out of the way:

"Why not change that around?" Shurna said. "We know we can play with them. We've just got to come out and prove it. The court's the same length. The hoop's the same height. Just got to put the ball through the basket and play basketball."

The Glenbard West alum will see some friendly faces at Indiana today. Well, they'll be friendly when the game's over.

"A lot of my friends from high school said they were going to be there giving me a hard time," he said. "They said they'd wear my high school stuff, but they'd still be heckling me."

Time running out on DePaul: Senior center Matija Poscic has a buddy with a unique take on the Blue Demons' 14-game losing streak.

"I just talked to my friend," Poscic said. "He was like, 'Are you losing on purpose so when you go into the (Big East) tournament you kill everybody?' "

"I'm like, 'Yeah.' Imagine if that happened? That would be awesome."

At this point, DePaul fans would settle for one win before this season passes into the history books.

Starting with today's visit from No. 10 Villanova, the Blue Demons have four regular-season games left.

To avoid being relegated to the No. 16 seed in the Big East tournament, DePaul needs to win two more games down the stretch than Rutgers (10-17, 1-13).

It's frustrating," Poscic said. "I can't say it's not. But it's not over."

He and sophomore guard Mario Stula talk often about wishing the Demons could more frequently play the way they did growing up in Croatia.

Poscic would commute six hours per day in order to take part in his club team's double sessions.

"Back home, no matter who you play, you just kill yourself on the court," Poscic said. "You just play as hard as you can and that's it. That's how you're supposed to play here."