Indiana University
17-3, 7-0
Northwestern
15-6, 3-5
Hoosiers Rout Northwestern, 89-57
1/23/2016 2:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Hoosiers jumped out to a 10-0 lead to start the first half.
They would never relinquish it.
Indiana collected its 12th win in a row, easing past Northwestern 89-57 in Assembly Hall. It's the third straight home game in which IU has led by 30 or more points — the closest the Wildcats ever came was five.
"I'd say we're moving the ball and making the simple play," senior forward Max Bielfeldt said. "We're finding shooters. With that movement, guys are getting open a little better and we're just knocking them down. So that's probably the biggest culprit."
Senior guard Kevin Yogi Ferrell, who was honored before the game for breaking Michael Lewis' all-time assists record, had a team-high 17 points and six assists during yet another 3-point shooting clinic put on by the Hoosiers.
Seven different Indiana players hit treys on 13 of 28 shooting, with Ferrell, junior forward Collin Hartman and sophomore guard Robert Johnson grabbing three apiece.
"We definitely cut our practice times back, but we're not cutting shooting out," head coach Tom Crean said. "What our guys are doing are really making the adjustments with the way they're cutting and moving without it, and they're making the next pass. That's when we're at our best."
It was a strong day for IU's seniors, as Bielfeldt, Ferrell and Hartman all reached double digits.
Bielfeldt led IU with nine first-half points, while Hartman tallied 11 points for his best total of the season.
During an IU timeout, Crean gave the huddle to Ferrell and tasked the senior with fixing his team's pick-and-roll defense.
"He's a very smart player," Crean said. "One of the smartest players I've ever had the privilege to coach. When you've got a smart player like that, you want them to share that knowledge and you want them to share it in realtime. Not just film sessions, which he does, and not just halftime, which he does or postgame which he does, but in realtime when the game is flying."
Ferrell had a relatively quiet first stanza, not attempting a shot until there was 7:14 remaining in the half. He found his stroke when he retook the floor in the second, scoring seven straight points for IU including a couple at the end of the shot clock.
His offensive numbers against the Wildcats were enough to move him into the top 10 in all-time scoring.
He becomes just the third player in program history to crack the top 10 in both scoring and assists, joining Damon Bailey and A.J. Guyton.
"He gets a pretty good amount of assists — I don't know if you've heard," Bielfeldt quipped. "He does a great job leading the charge and swinging at the right person and they make the right play too."
Indiana trumped Northwestern in every key statistical category. The Hoosiers out-rebounded the Wildcats 40 to 23 and shot 16 of 20 from the charity stripe compared to Northwestern's 2 of 8.
After committing seven turnovers through 10:51 of play, Indiana finished with just 10.
But it's defensively, Ferrell said, where the Hoosiers feel they are drawing the most confidence.
"For us to play loose out there, it's us getting down and getting stops," he said. "I think even as a team we probably don't even think this is our best defensive game."
Indiana is now 7-0 in Big Ten play, amounting to the best start since the 1992-93 season.
The Hoosiers will next travel to Madison, Wisconsin, for a rematch of their narrow 59-58 Jan. 5 win against the Badgers in Assembly Hall.
