Open looks propel Northwestern past IU

EVANSTON, Ill. — IU entered its matchup against Northwestern knowing the capabilities of its opponent’s offense.

But in Sunday’s 93-81 loss at Welsh-Ryan Arena, the Wildcats firepower was even better than expected.

Much of that success, according to IU coach Tom Crean, stemmed from his squad’s lack of defensive discipline.  

“Our issues were that we weren’t off enough — we didn’t have good enough ball pressure,” he said. “Then we just started hanging our heads. We played extremely immature in the first half.”

The loss was the sixth in a row for the Hoosiers, who fell to 9-8 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten.

The Wildcats (10-4, 1-3) ran a Princeton offense — a system utilizing quick passes and screens to set up backdoor layups and open looks from the perimeter — that simply was too much for the Hoosiers’ defense.

One of the offensive system’s main beneficiaries was forward John Shurna, who paced Northwestern with 24 points on 6-of-9 shooting (including 4-of-5 from the 3-point line).  
Crean said Shurna lived up to his billing as one of the Big Ten’s top players.

“He’s an excellent player. He’s the leading 3-point shooter in the country for a reason,” Crean said. “You can’t give him any space. He’s going to be a pro for a long time.”
Shurna, though, was not the only Wildcat player who was effective against IU’s poor
defense.  

Northwestern guard Michael Thompson added 16 points while serving as his team’s main distributor with eight assists.

Center Luka Mirkovic was on the receiving end of many of Thompson’s passes. The Wildcats’ big man controlled the paint with ease Sunday, pouring in 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting despite often facing multiple IU defenders.

Mirkovic also pulled down 12 rebounds — five offensive — that kept many plays alive for the Wildcats.  

“He just out-toughed us,” Crean said. “He just out-toughed us inside, and that’s the bottom line.”

IU’s inability to stop the Northwestern offense was most apparent early on.
Quick ball movement by the Wildcats set up open looks from long range. When the perimeter was tightly guarded, the Wildcats big men were freed up down low for easy baskets. By halftime, the Hoosiers trailed by 12 points, 40-28.

And while the Hoosiers have typically come out stronger in the second half of games this season, it was not the case Sunday.

The lack of defensive energy in the first half continued to hurt IU in the final 20 minutes of play.

With 11:14 remaining, the Hoosiers faced their largest deficit of the game, down 24 points.  IU eventually cut the lead to eight points with two minutes remaining, but their comeback was too little, too late.

Crean said consistency was a major issue against Northwestern, especially on the defensive end.  

“In the second half, we start to come back and play desperate,” Crean said. “We don’t understand that we got to play that way in the first half. We got to learn how to play 40 minutes quickly.”