Indiana lost five of six games to close the regular season after a solid 5-1 stretch.
That sufficiently captures the profile of the Hoosiers, who enter Wednesday’s Big Ten tournament second-round game against Northwestern in Chicago with a pulse on reality.
Tenth-seeded Indiana needs a strong run in the conference tournament to bolster its case for an NCAA Tournament bid.
“We have a lot of motivation going into the Big Ten tournament to show what we can do,” Hoosiers senior Reed Bailey said.
Indiana (18-13) will aim to avenge a 72-68 home loss to the Wildcats on Feb. 24. Northwestern standout Nick Martinelli, the Big Ten’s leading scorer at an average of 22.8 points per game, had 21 of his 28 points after halftime to boost the Wildcats.
Northwestern (14-18), the No. 15 seed, opened the conference tournament with Tuesday’s 76-66 first-round victory against No. 18 seed Penn State.
Martinelli was at it again, scoring 24 points to go with nine rebounds. With second-leading scorer Arrinten Page sidelined with an illness, however, the Wildcats welcomed a strong supporting effort from Jayden Reid.
Playing in his first Big Ten tournament, the South Florida transfer had 14 points and nine assists, one assist shy of his career high.
“Obviously, my teammates did a great job of finishing, but just trusting the offense, letting the game come to me, not forcing anything,” Reid said. “Obviously, we have great players on the court. Obviously, we’ve got Nick Martinelli. … It makes my job easier.”
Northwestern set a conference tournament record with 21 assists.
Indiana, meanwhile, has been idle since Saturday’s 91-78 loss at Ohio State to close the regular season. Lamar Wilkerson led the Hoosiers with 18 points, his 12th straight game in double figures.
Sam Alexis followed with 14 points to secure his 13th double-figure scoring effort of the season. The senior forward has six of those in the past eight games, though, including 13 points against Northwestern.
“He’s played the best basketball — from our perspective — of his career in the last month,” Hoosiers coach Darian DeVries said. “It’s been fun to watch him grow throughout the year.”
