Early fouls hurt IU

Evanston, Ill. – A blown whistle can end a team’s momentum. And Sunday, all those whistles killed IU’s chance of winning.

IU’s fouls came quickly and added up for the Northwestern Wildcats (16-7, 5-6), who beat the Hoosiers (9-13, 3-7) 78-61 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

While the final stats show little discrepancy between the two teams, their timing was as different as their records.

The Wildcats committed almost as many fouls as the Hoosiers – 21 to the Hoosiers’ 23 – but didn’t commit them as quickly. The Wildcats were able to get to the line earlier, which gave them another advantage against the already shorthanded Hoosiers.
Northwestern’s first foul came at the 10:45 mark, almost nine minutes after junior guard Jeremiah Rivers committed IU’s first foul at 19:08.

By the time Northwestern guard Jeremy Nash committed that first foul, the Hoosiers already had seven team fouls and were in the penalty. By contrast, the Hoosiers shot their first one-and-one free throws with 1:55 left in the first half.

And while Northwestern shot 69 percent from the free-throw line to IU’s 85 percent, the early conversions helped the Wildcats add to an ever-growing lead.

“They put us on the line and when we got to the line, we got guys that can make free throws,” Nash said.  

But the Hoosiers made free throws, too, hitting 7-of-8 from the line in the first half.  
Before Sunday, Northwestern was averaging 17.8 fouls a game, while IU had a 20.7 average. On Sunday, both teams finished above their averages.

Despite the small differences at the end of the game, IU’s early fouls put the Wildcats at the line and let them build an early lead.

“They hurt us a lot,” freshman forward Christian Watford said. “They run a type of offense that whenever it breaks down, they’re going to get fouls. We tried to limit those chances of going to the line, but they did a great job.”

This isn’t the first time this season the Hoosiers have struggled with early fouls.

Sophomore forward Tom Pritchard – who led IU with four fouls against the Wildcats – has had 74 fouls this season, 11 more than the second-highest fouling Hoosier.
IU had nine fouls after the first half, while Northwestern finished with eight.

But the Hoosiers didn’t stop fouling in the second half. They committed three fouls in the first three minutes and were in the penalty within seven minutes. And while IU can’t blame the loss on being too aggressive, it’s another area the team needs to focus on as it finishes out the Big Ten season.

“There are too many times this year we’re like swiss cheese,” Crean said. “We have too many holes.”