IU's Comeback Falls Short at Northwestern, 73-66

Tuesday, January 22

Evanston, IL

9:00 PM

Indiana University

12-7

Northwestern

12-7

Indiana

Northwestern

IU's Comeback Falls Short at Northwestern, 73-66

1/22/2019 11:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com

EVANSTON, Ill. – Falzon. Second syllable pronounced "zone."

Aaron Falzon immediately found his shooting zone, then stayed in it a good long while Tuesday night, much to Indiana's detriment.

Falzon came off the Northwestern bench, his team trailing IU 20-13, and made two straight 3s to ignite a 15-4 Wildcat run that gave the home team the lead for good in a 73-66 NU victory.

After having had just six points through this season's first 18 games, Falzon fired home 6 of 7 shots from 3-point range and all three of his free throws for a game-high and career-high 21 points.

"Aaron Falzon's energy, when he came in during the first half, changed the game," NU Chris Collins told the Big Ten Network post-game after his 100th career win in his sixth season at Evanston. "I almost want to get emotional. Kid's been hurt for two years. And he cares so much.

"To see him come out, when we really needed him, come out and hit shots and help us win, I'm just so proud of him. And in the second half, I thought we executed really well.

"Things look better when the ball goes in."

No need to remind the Hoosiers about that.

Indiana's losing skid reached five games as it went 4 of 21 from 3-point range (.190) at the renovated Welsh-Ryan Arena.

IU is now 10 of 55 from beyond the arc (.181) in its last three games. Overall from the field, over that same span, IU is 64 of 163 (.393).

Consequently, things haven't looked very good much of that time. Especially in terms of half-court offense.

After building an 18-10 lead, and still up by seven before the Falzon cyclone hit, Indiana went scoreless from 9:01 to 0:42 of the first half.

"We were good to start the game, played really hard to start the game, had opportunities to extend the lead at times," IU coach Archie Miller recalled. "The last eight minutes (of the half), we missed some real easy ones … we got stagnant.

"And we have to continue to find more movement. It's been a challenge with this team. The way some teams have been guarding us, we're not able to move ourselves and move the ball as much. When we did (tonight), good things happened for us in the game."

But that came, ultimately, too little and too late. The Hoosiers rallied to make it a ballgame down the stretch, but only after getting down 15 points.

After a Rob Phinisee 3 pulled IU within 37-34 win 16:01 to play, Falcon went off again. He hit a 3, then saw teammate Vic Law follow suit, then hit three free throws after Justin Smith fouled him beyond the arc. Suddenly it was 46-36, Cats.

Falcon's fifth 3, made open behind a double-screen, made it 49-36.

And it wasn't all due to defensive lapses. Falcon's final 3 resulted from a crazy bounce on a night where every bounce seemed to go his way.

The Hoosiers had a strong defensive possession, nearly forced an over-and-back, then did force a loose ball with the shot-clock ticking down. The ball, naturally, rolled over to a wide-open Falcon on the right baseline. Swish. 52-38.

Northwestern's lead peaked at 55-40 on a Ryan Taylor 3 from the top of the key with 12:10 to play.

But the Hoosiers weren't waving any white flags.

Indiana responded with a 13-1 run.

Juwan Morgan started it with a nifty, lefty spin in the lane. And by the time Romeo Langford made a circus shot while drawing a foul in the lane, then making the ensuring free throw, IU was within 56-53 with 6:42 left.

"We got going there in the second half," Miller said. "Able to fight. I was proud of the guys, to show the fight. They played hard. We were able to get some defensive rebounding and get out in transition. We had opportunities there late to keep it one-possession, but we weren't good enough."

The Hoosiers had another chance to pull within 3, freeing up Justin Smith on an inbounds set with the score 58-53 – but instead of gathering a relatively high pass, he tried to spectacularly dunk the ball and missed, with the long carom leading to a NU break that produced two free throws.

Smith then tried to force another shot and missed, leading to another pair of Wildcat free throws.

Suddenly, the IU deficit was back up to 62-53.

The Hoosiers still had some moments – such as the 6-foot-1 Phinisee's lane drive and tomahawk dunk with 3:12 left to make it 64-58. And the Hoosiers pulled within 70-66 on a pair of Phinisee free throws at 0:26.5., but the Wildcats then salted away the game at the free throw line.

Smith's night, in some ways, typified IU's. There was effort – he fought for a game-high 12 rebounds, leading a 44-29 Indiana advantage in that effort category, but made just 3 of his 12 shots from the field.

Morgan had an 18-point, 11-board double-double for the Hoosiers, who also got 13 points from Phinisee, 12 from Langford, 11 from Al Durham and 10 from Smith. Falzon's scoring was augmented for NU by Dererk Pardon (17, on 7 of 11 shooting), Law (11) and Anthony Gaines (11).

IU (12-7 overall, 3-5 Big Ten) finished 23 of 60 from the field (.383), 12 percentage points below its season average. Northwestern wasn't much better (.396) but crucially hit 10 of its first 20 3s, finishing 10 of 24.

"It really comes down to the 3-point line tonight," Miller said. "They did a fantastic job and, Aaron Falzon, give him credit. He hadn't been playing much … but he's known as a shooter and he got going. One guy changed the game there, in two crucial parts.

"Second half, at home, they had some guys step up and make some shots. But then we were able to dig in – and we've seen that from this team over the course of the season. They've found ways to hang in there and they did tonight.

"Didn't shoot the ball on the road, again, well enough to win."

Indiana will try to shoot better at home, and will likely need to, when No. 5 Michigan comes calling for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff Friday.