Todd’s Take: Indiana Believed In Fool’s Gold At Northwestern … And Are Poorer For It

It is a fact that Indiana did not allow Northwestern to score in the final 9:35 of the first half of their Big Ten men’s basketball game at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday.

It is also a fact that Indiana closed the half with an 18-2 run to take a six-point halftime lead.

No one gets the right to their own facts. Those things did happen, and Indiana did turn a 23-13 deficit into a 31-25 halftime lead.

Facts are facts. Where it gets tricky is in interpreting how those facts came to be.

During his halftime interview with Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz, Indiana coach Mike Woodson listed his reasons for the Hoosiers’ late first-half comeback.

“Our defense picked up. They force you to have to play defense because they play great defense. So we have to come out and put together another 20 minute half like we did in the first half. That was pretty good,” Woodson said.

Yes. Purely by the numbers it was pretty good. A 3-point shot by Ty Berry at 9:35 gave the Wildcats their 10-point lead, and Northwestern went into a deep funk afterward. Indiana’s comeback was of the slow burn variety, but it did happen and Indiana did have the advantage at the break.

Even taking all of that into account, I was surprised by Woodson’s words just a little bit. Northwestern did indeed miss its last 12 shots of the first half, but how many were well-defended by the Hoosiers and how many weren’t?

In other words, how much fool’s gold was being mined by good fortune?

My impression was that Northwestern missed a lot of open looks, but I wanted to make sure. I was not in Evanston on Wednesday, so I had the benefit of being able to look back at Northwestern’s misses via replay immediately after the game ended.

Anthony Leal, Nick Martinelli. — Indiana Hoosiers guard Anthony Leal (3) and Northwestern Wildcats forward Nick Martinelli (2) go for the ball during the first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Here’s a breakdown:

• The first was a well-defended layup attempt by K.J. Windham. Anthony Leal walled up and forced a turnover in addition to the miss (he was credited with a blocked shot). Chalk one up for the Hoosiers.

• After that was a sequence in which Northwestern didn’t attempt a shot for over two minutes. Included was a bad pass turnover by Wildcats Jalen Leach and Matthew Nicholson. They weren’t good passes, but Indiana played a role in it, so those plays were a credit to the Hoosiers.

After that, though? Northwestern had plenty of opportunities to exploit Indiana weaknesses.

• Leach was wide open on a late close-out by Luke Goode at 6:59, but his shot was off the mark.

• On another late close-out by Goode at 6:13, Angelo Ciarvino had a good 3-point look but it was long.

• Luke Hunger missed a decent elbow jumper over a slightly-late-closing Malik Reneau at 5:34.

• Leach was open again from 3-point range at 4:38, but rushed his shot over the hand of Kanaan Carlyle.

• An open corner 3-pointer by Ciarvino was missed at 4:11.

• Late in the shot clock, Justin Mullins was forced to take a turnaround jumper. That was good defense by Indiana at the 3:29 mark.

• Mullins missed a relatively open 3-pointer on the right wing over a closing Trey Galloway at 2:01.

• Nick Martinelli forced a leaner in the lane at 1:07. Northwestern got the offensive rebound and Leach was found wide-open on the perimeter in the scramble, but he missed. Indiana gets credit for the Martinelli leaner, but not the Leach miss.

• Berry turned down a 3-pointer, stepped inside the arc, and missed a floater from near the elbow. The presence of Oumar Ballo forced Berry to take the floater, so credit to Indiana for that.

• Brooks Barnhizer forced a fall-away jumper over the top of Galloway. Credit to Galloway, but it wasn’t good shot selection by Barnhizer, either.

So of Northwestern’s final 12 misses of the first half, Indiana’s defense played a starring role in five of them. Seven of the other misses were good looks but failed to find the mark.

That’s not good defense. That’s hardwood pyrite – fool’s gold.

Northwestern Wildcats guard Jalen Leach (1) celebrates his three point basket against the Indiana Hoosiers with guard K.J. Windham (24) during the second half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Unfortunately, Indiana put the fool’s gold in its pocket, thinking it was rich enough to get by. However, Northwestern taught the Hoosiers a lesson in the law of averages in the second half.

Northwestern got many of the same open looks after halftime. This time? They made Indiana pay a heavy price for their inability to guard the arc.

Northwestern was 9 of 14 from 3-point range after halftime. Berry is a veteran who has been dangerous at times from the arc during his career, but he was never more explosive than he was on Wednesday. He made a career-high 7 of 10 from long range, including 4 of 7 after halftime.

Berry had been 6 of 26 from 3-point range in his previous five games for the Wildcats.

Leach later joined in the party in the second half as he was 3-for-3 from long range, and the Hoosiers got bombed right out of Welsh-Ryan Arena in a 79-70 loss.

Woodson also said at halftime he wanted “defending, rebounding and not turning the ball over” in the second half. Northwestern converted 62.5% from the field, Indiana was out-rebounded, and the Hoosiers committed nine second-half turnovers. Ask and ye shall not receive.

That fool’s gold never felt so foolish in yet another bad night for Indiana against Northwestern.

Related stories on Indiana basketball