Indiana men’s basketball is back in action for one of its two remaining home games Tuesday night against Northwestern. The Wildcats enter the game at 3-13 in conference play, but one of those wins was on the road at USC, where Indiana couldn’t win. As is usually the case in the Big Ten, this isn’t a team to take too lightly.
At 8-8 in conference play, Indiana needs the win to keep its tournament hopes alive. Back to back blowout losses at Illinois and at Purdue didn’t help the Hoosiers, but Bart Torvik still gives them an 89% chance of making the tournament. All 121 brackets polled on Bracket Matrix also still include Indiana in the field.
Here are 5 things to know about Northwestern:
- As one of the hallmarks of Darian DeVries’ offense so far, it should not be surprising that Indiana is currently 11th nationally in assist rate. Northwestern is ahead of Indiana and even Purduein assist rate, with 65.3% of theWildcats baskets being assisted, good for fourth nationally. While it hasn’t produced a staggeringly efficient offense, it’s something that can catch a team off guard if all five players aren’t as focused as they need to be defensively.
- The good news is that Northwestern’s defense allows an assist rate of 61.2%, one of the worst nationally. Indiana will have to exploit this, which could mean more playing time for Tayton Conerway, who led the Hoosiers in assists last game off the bench. Coach DeVries would also do well to make sure the ball winds up in the hands of guys other than Lamar Wilkerson, as his team needs to establish more secondary scoring down the stretch to help share the load.
- Northwestern is smaller than Indiana, with a lower average height and just one player in the regular rotation above 6’7”, center Arrinten Page, who stands at 6’11”. Not only should this open up scoring opportunities in the paint, but it should help Indiana get back on the right track rebounding the ball. Northwestern’s offensive rebounding rate is roughly equal to Indiana’s (Not Great) but its defense allows a higher rate of offensive boards than Indiana does.
- Nick Martinelli is their most important player, by a lot. The senior forward is leading the team with 22.3 points per game, followed most closely by Page, who averages 10.4. He’s the only player used on more than 28% of the team’s possessions, and leads all Wildcat rotation players as a 43.5% 3-point shooter. The good thing for Indiana is that he only attempts 3.3 shots from deep per game, but he’s somebody that will command a lot of attention defensively.
- Jayden Reid is the other player Indiana’s defense will have to account for, as the main facilitator, averaging 4.9 assists per game. He can also score it, sitting at 10.1 points per game on the season, but he has the second-highest usage rate on Northwestern and plays over 60% of the Wildcats’ point guard minutes. Conor Enright will likely get this assignment on defense, as Enright lacks the height to guard Martinelli, but it will be a crucial matchup in a game Indiana cannot lose.