The slide has continued for IU.
Losers of five consecutive games, the Hoosiers are a junior guard Josh Newkirk layup at the buzzer away from having lost eight straight games.
IU will look to break that streak Saturday against Northwestern, who comes into Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in the hopes of solidifying its NCAA Tournament chances and avoiding a second straight damaging loss.
For the Hoosiers, it will also be senior night for senior forward Collin Hartman, who has missed the entire season after having knee surgery. Hartman could potentially return next season, but his future plans remain unclear.
The two teams played earlier this season and Northwestern beat IU, 68-55. Since that game, the Wildcats have been inconsistent, losing four out of their last six games.
Indiana native and Northwestern junior guard Bryant McIntosh looks to have a strong game after struggling in his first appearance at Assembly Hall last season. While McIntosh struggles from 3-point range — shooting 26.4 percent — he has one of the best assist rates in the country.
His assist rate of 33.9 percent is good for 29th in the nation, and he helps pace a Wildcat attack that only turns the ball over on 15.6 percent of its possessions, which is 12th in the country.
Northwestern has one of the best defenses in the Big Ten. Opposing teams only have an effective field goal percentage of 44.9 percent against the Wildcats, which is good for 13th-best in the nation.
IU’s turnover problems plagued the Hoosiers in the loss to Iowa on Tuesday night as IU had 22 turnovers against the Hawkeyes.
The Wildcats force turnovers on only 18 percent of possessions, which is only good enough for 216th in the country. Junior guard Robert Johnson said turnovers have hurt IU at the ends of games.
“I think that is one of the details that hurt us down the stretch,” Johnson said. “We talked about just being more aware of certain situations that produce turnovers.”
The turnover conundrum is mind-boggling for IU Coach Tom Crean.
“We just get away from the fundamental base in post-feeding or driving it baseline when the post is loaded,” Crean said. “It’s not how we practice.”
It’s not the turnovers that have hurt IU all season, it’s their untimely nature. During the current losing streak, IU has had four losses that have all been within six points or fewer. Late in those games, turnovers come back to bite the Hoosiers.
That was the case in the loss to the Hawkeyes.
“Twelfth game where it is three points or less under a minute to go,” Crean said. “It’s disheartening that we play as hard as we play. We make our mistakes, as do the other teams, to not have it go our way. They’re working their tail off.”
Even with the Hoosiers on a long losing slide and their postseason hopes all but extinguished, the players remain positive.
“At the end of the day, I think everybody is just going to fight, just keep fighting is the bottom line” Johnson said. “It’s frustrating where a lot of these close games end up as losses, but as I said, we’re just going to keep fighting.”
