Confidence Game: Hoosiers Need to Build on Solid Finish vs. Northwestern

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - They were down, and it wasn't looking good.

The Hoosiers had watched an 11-point first-half lead turn into a 50-40 second half deficit with 11:04 to play vs. Northwestern at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, and a media timeout gave head coach Archie Miller a chance to talk to his team

He talked about defense, about the importance of stringing together some stops that would lead to offense and cranking up the competitiveness of the group on the floor. It was time for the Hoosiers to answer the wake-up call Miller talked about after a recent loss.

It wasn't quite a pivot point of the season, but it wasn't far off.

Miller's players answered the call.

The Hoosiers closed the game on a 26-12 run, wiping away the bad feelings of the middle of the game and picking up a 66-62 victory that moved IU to 12-3 on the season and 2-2 in Big Ten play.

"Big Ten win," Miller said. "Doesn't matter how you get it, but they're all hard. And I think it showed tonight. Obviously, Northwestern's really a well-coached team that executes and does their stuff. And they were able to execute on us for a really good portion of the game and they made it hard on us. And we were not very together, not very energized early. And it took urgency and it took desperation to sort of kick us into gear."

The light came on because the Hoosiers found their competitive streak. They started playing with more of a purpose, and they stopped worrying about trying to do more than their own job. They also started to find some confidence, something that has been lacking of late.

"I think part of it is right now we just have a lot of guys who are unsure of themselves," Miller said. "We're looking for effort, energy, and hustle more so right now than we're looking for anything else. That's going to give us more confidence than we had couple weeks ago."

The Hoosier crowd played its role. A restless group most of the evening as IU rode a roller coaster for the first 30 minutes, the IU faithful came alive when Indiana started putting things together. They cheered when junior Justin Smith stole the ball and was fouled in transition. They roared when freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis tipped in his own miss on the fast break. They were rapturous when junior Joey Brunk grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free-throw by junior Al Durham, and they were thunderous when Durham converted a pair of free throws to tie the game at 50 with 7:38 to play.

But nothing rivaled the reaction when Jackson-Davis threw down a dunk with 1:24 to play off an alley-oop pass from sophomore Rob Phinisee, a jam that put Indiana up 63-59 and finally gave the fans the belief that everything was going to be OK.

"We were at home," Miller said. "It helps. You got that kind of crowd behind you, just waiting to burst. You give them a few things to cheer about they'll help you. They really want to help you. Don't give them anything to cheer about, they'll obviously sit there. But we need to do a little more for them because obviously when they get rolling it's a different place in there. And we need to do that. Our guys need to play more inspired and do more."

The win over Northwestern not only snapped a two-game losing skid. It also should help Indiana refocus for some tough games coming up. Saturday sees Ohio State come to Bloomington, and Miller suggested he might tinker with his lineups a bit to make sure everyone stays on the same page.

"I think that's why we have some turnovers, and I think that's we're playing lethargic defensively," Miller said. "Like I said to them after the game, strength in numbers is only going so far right now. The number has to shrink, maybe, in my opinion for some guys to get a jolt."

The basketball wasn't always pretty—Indiana was just 3-of-14 from 3-point range and committed 16 turnovers—but IU fell back on what works best for them during their rally over the final 10 minutes. Indiana didn't attempt a 3-pointer after the 10:02 mark, and the Hoosiers shot 19 free throws in the second half, nine more than Northwestern attempted in the entire game. IU converted 15 of those attempts, helping build confidence from the line.

The key will be to keep the good feelings flowing when the Hoosiers next take the court.

"We'll have to find the guys ready to roll at the start of a game that are ready to play like we need to play, and like our fans and our crowd and everybody wants to see," Miller said. "Nobody needs to see anybody jogging up and down the floor not playing hard. That's just not going to work."

Indiana University Athletics

Confidence Game: Hoosiers Need to Build on Solid Finish vs. Northwestern

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