Big Ten Basketball: Northwestern Gets Second Ever Win At Assembly Hall 70-64

Indiana’s home dominance over Northwestern was once one of the best in the Big Ten, but the Wildcats grabbed their second win in three years after never winning at Assembly Hall before the 2008-09 season. Michael Thompson had 22 points for the Wildcats as Northwestern hit 11 3-pointers.

Northwestern was able to tie the game on two occasions in the second half, but couldn’t quite get over the hump. A key moment came with 3:58 left and Indiana trailing 64-59. Jeremiah Rivers missed a pair of free throws, but Derek Elston was fouled grabbing the offensive rebound. Elston also missed a pair of free throws as Indiana missed all four key free throw attempts.

Verdell Jones III led the Hoosiers with 18 points. Indiana must now win at least three of its final four regular season games plus a game in the Big Ten Tournament to have any chance at the postseason.

Northwestern is showing no ill effects from a quick turnaround this week as the Wildcats are bombing away on Indiana in Assembly Hall. The visitors have already connected on seven 3-pointers as Northwestern leads Indiana 40-30 at halftime. Michael Thompson leads the Wildcats with 14 points.

Indiana started strong, but they have struggled defensively in the final ten minutes of the half. Verdell Jones III has nine points to lead the Hoosiers, but Indiana has been unable to keep pace with the usually stoic Wildcat offense.

Purdue has been counted out a number of times this season, but the Boilermakers find themselves solidly in second place in the Big Ten with five games to go after beating Wisconsin Wednesday night. Lewis Jackson scored 19 points to provide a spark, and he also played harassing defense on Jordan Taylor in the 70-62 win. Purdue became the first team to score 70 points against Wisconsin this year.

Hammer & Rails has more:

The mark of success in the Big Ten is how well you defend your home court. Look at the three teams atop the Big Ten right now. One of the things they have in common is that they have defended their home courts. Purdue, Wisconsin, and Ohio State have yet to lose at home this season. When they have played each other, the home team has won all four meetings. You cannot win a conference championship unless you defend your home turf and steal a few on the road. If Purdue wins on Sunday Mackey Arena, it is likely that the title will be decided by what team stole the most on the road. Our 14-0 mark is now our best start to a season ever at home, so we have the defending home court part down cold.

Purdue absolutely needed this win. Now that we have established as #2 in the race with five games left, my preseason prediction is coming true. The "Holy crap, Matt Painter is a hell of a coach for recovering from the Robbie Hummel injury" talk is beginning. In fact, they just mentioned it when showing the conference standings during the Illinois-Michigan game. I knew we would still be in the race. Two All-America caliber players will do that for you, but the media is acting like Painter has pulled off some sort of miracle because we’re not in seventh place.

There is no miracle. This is a damn fine basketball team that is coming together at the right time:

We couldn’t win without Robbie Hummel: We’re winning

We needed a third scorer: Lewis Jackson

We won’t finish in the top five in a tough conference: We’re in second

We can’t beat good teams: We just took down a team coming off a win over the last undefeated team in the country.

How else would you like to challenge us?

Wisconsin’s SBNation site is also amped for tonight’s showdown in West Lafayette:

In terms of schedule, Purdue has a bit more to hang its hat on — so far at least. The Boilermakers won at both Penn State and Illinois, two places where the Badgers failed to win this season. They are 8-3 against likely NCAA tournamentteams and won all five against those out of conference. Meanwhile, Bucky is 7-4 versus the projected tourney field, but only 2-2 in the non-conference tilts. Of course, Purdue did not play anybody like Notre Dame pre-conference and has to face Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois and Michigan State once more. The Badgers did not have to go to Minnesota and still must complete trips to Purdue and Ohio State.

Shooting TPPP

Team eFG% 3P% 2P% 3PA/FGA 3Pt 2Pt Differential (%) Status

Wisconsin 52.7 38.3 49.3 41.0 1.149 0.986 0.163 (14%) Smart
Purdue 51.3 38.3 48.5 31.9 1.149 0.970 0.179 (16%) Dumb

I still cannot figure out why the Boilers do not attempt more 3-pointers, since they are even better at shooting them during Big Ten play (40.5%) while ranking last on 2-pointers (47.4%). One thing we know is that Purdue is a much better team when Ryne Smith is hitting treys. Besides the shot distribution, the major difference between Wisconsin and Purdue is preferred pace, with the Badgers holding the edge in turnovers (of course).

Ryan Evans and Josh Gasser both made big contributions against the Boilers in Madison and UW hit the glass effectively. I imagine rebounding will be one of Matt Painter’s points of emphasis for his undersized team tonight, and I expect Purdue to get more than three points from its bench this time too.

While Jon Leuer and JaJuan Johnson may serve to cancel each other out again, reigning Big Ten player of the week Jordan Taylor has been red-hot so Lewis Jacksonis the key player for Purdue. The Badgers held LewJack to one point at home, but he has played well in the last two Boiler wins. Meanwhile, E’Twaun Moore has been making a living at the free throw line lately, so UW must counter by being aggressive also.

Hammer & Rails has a look at tonight’s big game in West lafayette as the Badgers, who recently upset top-ranked Ohio State, travel to Mackey Arena for a crucial game in the Big Ten Standings:

Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer are obviously the story for Wisconsin. Like E`twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, they are the main players that make them go. Leuer is more of a perimeter threat than JJ, while Taylor has emerged as a scorer and a distributor when E`Twaun tends to pick one or the other. The first game was about what you would expect. For a half it was a low scoring, defensive affair. The second half saw things open up and Purdue dominated for a stretch before Wisconsin closed it. The big two on each side got at least 15 points apiece, leaving the game in the hands of the role players.

That is where Ryan Evans came up big. He only had 10 points, but he hit the de facto game-winner and had a breakaway dunk to seal it at the end. He had a game similar to D.J. Byrd. Each scored in double figures unexpectedly and hit some big shots. Byrd’s runner with 1:10 left gave us a 59-58 lead, but we couldn’t get a stop. Josh Gasser also hit some big shots with 11 points for them, and we had no one to match his effort.

The one player I am terrified of tonight is Keaton Nankivil. Actually, I am not sure if terrified is a strong enough word. If Harry Caray were still alive, Nankivil would get the infamous, “I am going to drive this guy to the airport to make sure he leaves town” moniker. He has never averaged double figures in his career, but he LOVES shooting from long-range at Mackey Arena. In 2007-08 he didn’t play as a freshman (thank God). The next year he only scored four points and was 0 for 1 from long range. Last season, however, he went apeshit. He was 7 of 8 from 3-point land and had 25 points. This was easily a career high and the only 20 point game of his career, plus it was after we held him to just two points in Madison. His last three came with 43 seconds left and it gave Wisconsin a 57-56 lead before E`Twaun saved the day.

Honestly, we should expect another defensive slugfest tonight. That’s the way these games go between us. I do like our chances because we’re a different team at home and Wisconsin is a different team on the road. The Badgers have lost at Michigan State, Penn State, and Illinois already. They also struggled at Iowa and lost at UNLV. Their only convincing road victory was an absolute beatdown they handed out at Northwestern.