3 Takeaways from Indiana’s 74-61 loss to Northwestern

For the second time this season, Indiana faced off against Northwestern in a game that would decide its NCAA Tournament fate. For the second time this season, Indiana lost a must-win game against Northwestern.

The Hoosiers have a new roster and new coach, but the hold Chris Collins has over this program continues. In a game that meant a lot more to Indiana than it did Northwestern, Northwestern led for more game time than Indiana did, including most of the second half.

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Darian DeVries tried a new lineup and got the same result, despite Northwestern being down Arrinten Page, who had 10 points and led Northwestern in assists in the first meeting. Even shorthanded against a different lineup, Northwestern looked like the better team while Indiana looked like a team that does not belong in the NCAA Tournament.

Here are 3 Takeaways from the loss:

Coaching decisions

In theory, starting two bigs against a team that killed Indiana on the glass and in the paint last time was a sound idea. But that doesn’t mean it was the right one.

Even without the benefit of hindsight, there were reasons to doubt the lineup DeVries started. Sam Alexis and Reed Bailey have never started alongside each other before, and have only spent 4.3% of the minutes over the last five games on the floor together.

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While some change needed to happen, the lack of chemistry appeared to hurt Indiana, especially on the defensive end. Neither player appeared sure as to his rim protection responsibilities with the other big on the floor, allowing a lot of Wildcat points in the paint. Indiana narrowly won the rebounding battle, but still managed to allow more second chance points than they could score themselves.

There were also a handful of questionable substitutions throughout the game that I will refrain from getting into too much detail about so as not to bring attention to the players who were not put in positions to succeed.

Indiana has lost games because it was less talented, less athletic, and…

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Publish date : 2026-03-12 01:10:00

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