Mark from the arc

EVANSTON, Ill. – With seven seconds left in the first half of IU’s 69-65 win Wednesday night, IU senior guard Rod Wilmont officially stole the show. \nFighting to find a shot before the halftime buzzer expired, Wilmont pulled up for a 3-pointer; a high, wild attempt that careened off the backboard and squarely through the hoop just before the buzzer sounded. \nBut that was just one of his threes.\nBy the time Wilmont finished, he had hit eight more, giving him nine for the night and a new school record for 3-point field goals in a game. The guard moved ahead of former Hoosiers Steve Alford, Jay Edwards, Brian Evans, Neil Reed and Robert Vaden, all of whom now reside in second place on the single-game list with eight. \n“It’s an honor to come out and do something like that,” Wilmont said. “Knowing all the great players that have come through here – and to have (IU) coach (Kelvin) Sampson let me go out there and play my game – it’s an honor.”\nThe IU guard finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds in the IU win, which did not come as easy as Wilmont’s dominant statistics might suggest. \nThe Hoosiers led by 10 with 3:07 left in the second half, but ceded much of that lead in the closing moments. Northwestern senior Tim Doyle converted a series of steals into easy points for the Wildcats and closed the lead to four with 57 seconds left.\nThe Wildcats pressed the Hoosiers to the finish and had a chance to tie the game with nine seconds left. But Northwestern guard Craig Moore missed everything on the final attempt, and IU guard A.J. Ratliff sealed the victory with the resulting free throw.\nThe Hoosiers struggled on both ends if the floor against Northwestern’s unique scheme, which involves tons of motion-generated backcuts on offense and a 1-3-1 zone on defense.\n“It’s an unorthodox way to play,” Sampson said. “It’s the only game all year you play against a team that plays this way offensively and defensively.”\nThe win gave IU just its second Big Ten road win of the season and its first road win overall since the Hoosiers toppled Connecticut in Hartford. Since that loss, the Hoosiers have suffered all of their losses on the road, including defeats at Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State.\nIn that loss to Purdue on Jan. 10, IU guard Earl Calloway suffered a slight shoulder separation. Calloway has missed three games since then but made his return Wednesday night. He scored two points and had two turnovers in nine minutes of play. \n“I don’t know if Earl was better for Northwestern or us tonight,” Sampson said. “But we need his presence. We don’t have a lot of creating guards ... Armon Bassett’s really the only guard we have right now who can create shots for other people. It’s important we get Earl back. It helps us to get him back out there.”\nThe win moves the Hoosiers to 19-9 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten. This last week of the season, including the last game of the regular season Saturday night against Penn State, offers IU an opportunity to further solidify its NCAA Tournament resume and end the season on a positive note. \n“It’s a great win, first of all, but we have an opportunity to get our 10th league win and 20th overall this season,” Sampson said. \nStill, Sampson said, his record-breaking guard was the star. \n“Rod’s shooting was a big part of our offense, but I thought it was Rod’s courage that was a big part of why we got this win today,” Sampson said.