IU 85 NW 82

Whew! This was definitely a game where you don't care how they won, all that matters is that they won. The last 48 hours have been crazy and I'm sure the players are mentally and physically exhausted. I'm just glad they came together and found a way to win. Winning this game is a big step in moving on. Had they lost this one, it would have been tough for this team to rebound. I'm sure there will be a lot of articles talking about the coaching change, the emotional state of the players, and so on. And I'm sure all those things had a major role in this game being so close. However, I also think that Northwestern is just a tough matchup for this Hoosier team. If there is one thing this team has struggled with all year, it was been defensive focus. Northwestern's Princeton-style offense gives this Hoosier team fits. Let's remember that NW played IU extremely tight in Bloomington and that game was tied with about 8 minutes to go before the Hoosiers pulled away at the end. So, it was reasonable to believe that IU may struggle in Evanston where they had lost 3 of the last 4 trips, even without all the chaos of the week. In the Bloomington game, Sampson went to the 2-3 midway through the 2nd half, NW went cold, and that game was history. My fear for tonight's game was that Dakich would be stubborn with the man-to-man. But Dakich did go to the 2-3 on several different occassions. The only problem was that tonight, NW was hitting their open 3s whenever IU would zone. Northwestern was working that Princeton-style offense to perfection tonight. They just kept getting back-door layup after back-door layup. Now, on some of them, it was just horrible defense by IU where they would just get toasted on the back-door cut. But others were just perfect passes by NW. They were dropping dimes like I've never seen before. Then, NW's Kevin Coble was absolutely on fire. This guy poured in 37 points and was hitting everything. IU tried Stemler, Ellis, Crawford, and Taber on this guy and they all failed miserably. So, looking back on it, the Hoosiers were fortunate to get out of there with the win. The big reason that IU was able to get out of there with the win was the play of Armon Bassett and Jordan Crawford. Bassett had 24 and Crawford had 21. Oh, and a couple guys that go by EJ and DJ also pitched in with 18 and 16, but it was Bassett and Crawford that were the difference makers. Bassett was hot early and Crawford came into the game hot and stayed that way. Crawford went 4-5 from the arc and added another traditional 3-point play. He was also 5-5 from the line and added 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Jordan can be frustrating at times, but he has also played a huge role in several big wins this year. Let's not forget that he's just a freshman. Gordon only had 2 FGs and even missed a pair of FTs plus another FT earlier in the game. But down the stretch, he was going to the line and hitting all of them. He ended up 13-16 from the line to still end up with 18 points. However, he nearly cost the Hoosiers the game. IU was up by 1 with 13 seconds to go when he received the inbounds pass and traveled. Fortunately, it didn't end up costing IU the game. D.J. had another double-double and altered NW's go-ahead shot with 5 seconds to go, grabbed the rebound, got fouled, nailed both FTs, and the Hoosiers hung on for the win. After the game, DJ talked about being a leader and that he fully plans to continue to lead this team. He said the circumstances of the past week have been tough, but the team is ready to move forward. Gotta love DJ! At one point, tempers flared. IU was on offense when a foul was called. After the whistle, Crawford continued toward the basket for a layup when a NW player put a hard foul on him (again, this was after a whistle for a foul on the floor). Crawford hopped up and took exception to it, but DJ and the officials quickly stepped in. However, while Bassett and DJ were holding Crawford back, Ellis was still jawing with another NW player. Ellis ended up getting a technical foul. It kind of looked like a cheap technical, but Jamarcus was kind of running hot the entire game, so it wasn't too surprising. Once again, you have to love the way this team shoots FTs, especially down the stretch. I don't recall them missing one is the last several minutes of the game and I know Bassett, Gordon, and DJ all went 2-2 in the final minute with the score at just a 1-point game. The BTN also televised most of the postgame press conference. The players and Dakich all said the right things. They basically just said it has been an extremely tough week, especially the last 24-48 hours and they are just happy that they got the win. And finally, with Memphis losing tonight, it looks like our Hoosiers remain the last team to ever go unbeaten. Wow, what a week. Go Hoosiers!