IU men’s basketball got off to one of its slowest starts of the season Wednesday but still managed to pull off a win over Northwestern. It took the Hoosiers almost six minutes to score their first points of the game.
At the 7:41 mark in the first half, IU was down by 14 points. Usually, the team would look to sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis for a spark, but tonight, it was guards Al Durham and Armaan Franklin that got the Hoosiers back in the game.
IU overcame the double-digit deficit to force two overtimes. After 50 minutes of play, the Hoosiers defeated the Wildcats 79-76 in the second overtime period, crushing Northwestern’s hopes of snapping a nine-game losing streak.
“It was a game that you look back on and you say I don’t really know how we figured a way out to get a win in this one,” head coach Archie Miller said after the game.
The Hoosiers fell back into bad habits to start the game — poor free throw shooting and turning the ball over.
Although they finished the game shooting 71% from the line, the Hoosiers missed their first six free throws of the game. IU also turned the ball over 13 times, allowing Northwestern to score 19 points off turnovers.
On a night when Jackson-Davis couldn’t get going and only added 10 points, well short of his 19.4 points per game average, the team looked to its guards. Durham and Franklin stepped up and combined for 47 points.
“We needed more, so I echoed it to the team,” Durham said after the game. “As we kept going and we kept fighting throughout the game, we needed it more, we needed this win very much. And I felt like this one was very important to us.”
Although the Hoosiers came out with the win, they only led for 2:35, while the Wildcats had the lead for the other 43 minutes. But IU led in the moments that mattered and found ways to get back in the game.
Durham and Franklin led by example, especially in the final minutes of the game. Durham finished the game on a 7-0 run in the last two minutes of regulation to send it to extra time. Five of those points came from the free-throw line, where the team had previously struggled.
After starting the game 0-of-6 from the free-throw line, the Hoosiers went 27-32 on free throws through the rest of play.
“This one right here puts a smile on my face more than any of them just because of what we had to go through to figure out how to do it,” Miller said.
During the first overtime period, Durham and Franklin were the only two Hoosiers to score — combining for 12 points in those five minutes. IU went into the final minute of overtime down six points, but managed to tie it up yet again.
Franklin visited the free throw line twice in that minute, draining all four of his attempts. Then, with just one second left, Durham took the final shot to win the game. He stepped back on the perimeter, but not far enough as his foot was on the 3-point line. But the shot went in, sending the Hoosiers into a second overtime.
“I tried to pump fake and step back, but I missed the line. So it is what is, but I knew the shot was good –– if that counts for anything,” Durham said. “I tried to step back for a three. I didn't make it, but I hit a two. So, it is what it is.”
IU outscored Northwestern by just 3 points in the final extra time period, but it was enough to escape the Wildcats. With Durham and Franklin’s leadership from the line all game, the team went 8-8 on free throws during double overtime.
Coming into this game after defeating No. 8 Iowa on Sunday, Miller was 2-9 after wins against ranked teams at the helm in Bloomington. It looked like he would soon be 2-10 for so much of IU’s game against Northwestern, but the Hoosiers eventually prevailed thanks to their guard play.
“Between the free throw shooting late, stepping up between a couple big baskets, a couple key turnovers and stops, we just found a way and really on a day when you probably shouldn’t have won,” Miller said.
