After IU men’s basketball’s 68-60 victory over Butler University in the Crossroads Classic, the team will return to Bloomington to start conference play.
IU is set to take on Northwestern at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Northwestern is coming into the game off a 79-65 win against No. 4 Michigan State. Sophomore guard Boo Buie led the Wildcats with 30 points in just 24 minutes of play.
“They got me up right now trying to figure out what to do with these guys because the performance they put on the other night against Michigan State – they were very impressive,” IU head coach Archie Miller said on his radio show Monday.
Senior guard Al Durham said in a press conference Tuesday that Northwestern has been a good team for years now, but the Wildcats are finally putting the pieces together.
“Hats off to Northwestern. They played a great game that game,” Durham said. “And we know what’s coming into our arena and we know that we gotta be on our toes and we gotta be alert.”
Miller said covering Northwestern’s five-out offense around the perimeter will be difficult and unique because it’s not something they see a lot. Their spread offense opens up the floor to allow for open cuts, which Miller said is a problem for his defense because the Wildcats shoot so well from outside.
Durham said the team needs to be aggressive and play fast with Northwestern. He said they can’t allow them to run their offense efficiently or make the passes they want.
“With a team that’s that good in their offense, we gotta be able to disrupt them and take away some of their looks,” Durham said.
But in this game, Miller said his team’s offense might just be as important as its defense.
“We have the ability to run a better version of ourselves where we’re efficient,” Miller said. “And hopefully we’ll be able to play a little bit inside-out and get to the foul line. But we have to continue to find a way to take good shots.”
IU has won its last five home games against Northwestern. The Hoosiers lead the all-time series 118-52 against the Wildcats.
But this time, the Hoosiers won’t have the fans they did in their last five home wins against Northwestern.
Durham said in his last three years playing at Assembly Hall, the fans are a huge part of the experience. He said it’s different to look into the crowd and only see 100 people.
He said since the Hoosiers don’t have that same fan presence, they have to create that energy themselves.
“But I would say you can’t replace fans,” Durham said. “You can’t replace the energy that they bring you, you can’t replace the momentum it gives you, the energy it gives you — you can’t replace that. But, something that’s different, you gotta bring it yourself.”
Another difference this season is playing so close to Christmas. Durham said not going home for the holidays was a sacrifice the team was willing to make to play this season. The players knew going home came with a risk.
“We all came together and we knew we had to sacrifice going home,” he said. “Instead of going home, we had to be here with each other, staying safe and just keep getting tested.”
