FINAL: Indiana Hoosiers Upset by Northwestern, 54-47

Jan 18, 2014; Bloomington, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers guard Evan Gordon (10) shoots the ball over Northwestern Wildcats center Alex Olah (22) during the first half at Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports

Four days after notching a signature win, the Indiana Hoosiers were dealt a glaring loss. IU dropped a very winnable game to Northwestern Saturday afternoon, 54-47.

The Wildcats managed to take away IU’s best asset: Yogi Ferrell‘s ability to drive the ball. They kept the Hoosiers from getting inside, and IU was unable to hit outside jumpers.

Indiana was held to just 25-percent shooting Saturday. A season low.

Noah Vonleh led the Hoosiers with 17 points off 5-of-15 shooting. He also had 12 rebounds, marking his seventh double-double of the season and first in Big Ten play.

Yogi Ferrell had just 9 points off 2-of-14 shooting. Everytime he attempted to cut towards the basket, the Wildcats would roll players in to cut off the drive.

Tom Crean and his staff failed to make adjustments to give the Hoosiers higher percentage shots. IU appears to be entering games lacking a game plan and failing to make changes based on the flow of the game.

Crean only move seems to be putting in bench players who might give the Hoosiers slightly more effort. IU managed to make a few runs with the reserves in, but the lack of a discernible gameplan is especially troubling.

Against Wisconsin, slashing to the basket worked incredibly well and led to a win. But the Wildcats actually watched film and came up with a plan to prevent Ferrell from gashing them for a ton of points. Crean didn’t come into the game with a plan B.

While missing every single open jumper is generally going to lead to a loss, it doesn’t help that IU’s shot selection was mediocre at best and they ran the same plays all game.

IU managed to keep turnovers down to just 9 and held Northwestern to just 37-percent shooting. They were dead even in rebounding,

The loss to Northwestern negates the win against No. 3 Wisconsin. IU is going to have to rattle off a series of impressive conference wins if they want to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament.

IU will be at No. 4 Michigan State on Tuesday night.

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