The last time IU and Northwestern met, it ended up being the turning point of two drastically different seasons.
The Hoosiers’ 91-84 victory in Evanston, Illinois, marked IU’s second Big Ten road win in the last 38 games. Following that game, the Hoosiers reeled off six wins in their next seven games to secure a double-bye into the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
Northwestern’s loss to IU was part of the Wildcats’ five-game losing skid that removed Northwestern from the national polls. Northwestern, once projected as a top Big Ten team, finished 4-14 in conference play.
After two wins in as many days against Wisconsin and Minnesota, however, 12th-seeded Northwestern will face fourth-seeded IU in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals Friday at approximately 2:30 p.m.
“Regardless of who it is, it’s going to be a challenge,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “It’s the Big Ten, it’s the tournament. We’re not going to be any different, it’s a new season for everybody.”
Moren, the newly named 2015-16 Big Ten Coach of the Year, said her team will benefit from extra time off with the double-bye. The six-day break in between IU’s season finale and tournament opener will be the longest break for the Hoosiers since the winter holidays.
“The difference for us is the duration of our drills,” Moren said. “We haven’t gone away from what’s worked for us and the staples of our system. We’ve just continued to work on the things that we have been.”
The Hoosiers were not aware of who they would be playing in the quarterfinals until Northwestern knocked off Minnesota on Thursday afternoon. The Gophers fell in a crucial game for their NCAA Tournament hopes.
“These last couple days in practice, we’ve went over our offense and the different options that they’d run,” sophomore guard Tyra Buss said. “It’s hard because we don’t know who we’re going to play, we don’t want to guess because they’re both good teams.
In late January, IU was able to defeat Northwestern on the road behind the same duo that has paced the Hoosiers all season. Buss and sophomore forward Amanda Cahill scored 21 and 20 points, respectively, and corralled a combined 21 rebounds.
Northwestern’s first-team All-Big Ten forward Nia Coffey scored a game-high 29 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
She averages 19.8 points per game, fifth in the Big Ten. The 6-foot-1 forward leads the conference in rebounding with 10 boards per game.
In Northwestern’s first two Big Ten tournament games, Coffey has scored 25 and 18 points, respectively.
The winner in Friday’s game will face the victor of Friday’s quarterfinal between top-seed Maryland and Iowa.
The Terrapins were named Big Ten regular season champions after a 27-3 (16-2) season.
IU is one of those teams that is hoping to hear its name called next Monday during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show.
The Hoosiers were projected as a No. 10 seed in this week’s ESPN Bracketology, but an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament may put IU right on the bubble.
“We talked about it today about not being satisfied with what we’ve accomplished,” Moren said. “We don’t want to do that. We want to continue to move forward in the bracket and position ourselves for postseason play.”
