Northwestern looks to accomplish something that hasn’t happened in more than 100 years on Wednesday night, as well as get a season that seems to be slipping away back on track.
A win over the Hoosiers at Welsh-Ryan Arena would give the Wildcats five straight in the series for the first time since 1913-15. Northwestern won the last game in that winning streak just days before Woodrow Wilson became the 28th President of the United States. Now, just days after Donald Trump became President No. 47, the Wildcats are aiming to do it again.
It won’t be easy. Indiana’s season looked to be teetering after a pair of back-to-back 25-point losses. But the Hoosiers (14-5, 5-3 Big Ten) are coming off of a confidence-boosting overtime win at Ohio State and may get a star back into their starting lineup to face the Wildcats (11-7, 2-5).
Six-foot-nine forward Malik Reneau is the team’s second-leading scorer who missed the last five games due to a knee injury suffered on Jan. 2 against Rutgers. The junior averages 14.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
In addition, 6-foot-7 freshman Bryson Tucker, a role player off the bench averaging 6.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, may also return to the lineup after missing the Ohio State game.
Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said on Tuesday that both players would be a game-day decision.
Northwestern will also get a key piece back in the lineup, as sources told WildcatReport that backup big man Luke Hunger will return to the lineup after missing the last three games with a foot injury. The 6-foot-10 Hunger will help as the Wildcats have to contend with 7-foot Indiana center Oumar Ballo, the Big Ten’s leading rebounder.
The Hoosiers notched a big win in their last outing, beating Ohio State 77-76 in overtime last Friday in Columbus behind 44 combined points from a pair of transfers. Illinois transfer Luke Goode poured in 23 points and hit 4-of-7 shots from beyond the arc, while Arizona transfer Ballo had 21 to go along with a game-high 15 rebounds.
To top it off, they’ll have five days of rest to play a Wildcat team coming off of two overtime games last week.
That win over the Buckeyes was crucial for Indiana, which was coming off of a pair of drubbings. The Hoosiers got blown out, 85-60, on the road at Iowa. Then they suffered an embarrassing 94-69 defeat to Illinois at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, where the home fans let the Hoosiers know how they felt about their performance with a shower of boos.
One thing about these Hoosiers is that when they lose, they lose big. All five of their losses this season have been by 16 or more points.
That stands in stark contrast to Northwestern, which has experienced three of their five conference losses by four or fewer points. Last week, the Wildcats split a pair of overtime games, beating Maryland at home 76-74, and then losing at Michigan in a heartbreaker 80-76.
The Wildcats will have to contend with Ballo, who leads the Hoosiers with 14.5 points and a Big Ten-leading 10.3 rebounds per game. He is in his first year in Crimson & Cream after two years at Gonzaga and three at Arizona. He has notched double-doubles in five of IU’s last six games and now has 40 of them in his career.
The Wildcats will have to do better against Ballo than they did against Michigan’s Vlad Goldin on Sunday, when the 7-foot center put up 31 points against the Wildcats. Ballo, however, doesn't have the shooting touch that Goldin does. Goldin hit three 3-pointers against the Wildcats, while Ballo has never even attempted a shot beyond the arc in his college career.
Matt Nicholson, who had a game-high 16 rebounds against the Wolverines, will bear the brunt of the responsibility against Ballo. For what it's worth, the 7-foot Nicholson had a monster game against the Hoosiers in their lone meeting last season, when he put up 14 points and 16 rebounds in the Wildcats' 76-72 win, going toe-to-toe with IU big man Kel'el Ware.
But Nicholson will get some help inside from Hunger, especially on the offensive end, where he gives them much more of a threat than Keenan Fitzmorris, the Wildcats' other backup big man.
Scoring is where the Wildcats have struggled all season. They rank 16th in the Big Ten with only 73.4 points per game, despite having the conference’s No. 1 scorer in Nick Martinelli (20.0 ppg) and No. 6 in Brooks Barnhizer (18.4).
