Northwestern reaches 20 wins, beats Indiana in opening round

Indianapolis – Northwestern earned its 20th win of the season for the first time in school history Thursday, defeating Indiana, 73-58, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse.

“We’re excited for what we’ve done this year,” Northwestern guard Michael Thompson said. “We’re going to try to add to it.”

Thompson scored a team-high 16 points and was one of four Wildcats to score in double figures. Indiana guard Verdell Jones III led the Hoosiers with 20 points.

The story of the game was turnovers. The Hoosiers finished the game with 19 turnovers compared to just seven for Northwestern. Northwestern scored 29 points off the turnovers compared to five points for Indiana.

“The turnovers came at a very tough time for us,” Indiana head coach Tom Crean said. “There were some times when our youth showed.”

The 10th-seeded Hoosiers (10-21 overall, 4-14 Big Ten) jumped out to an early 8-0 lead behind a crowd made up of many Indiana fans. The teams played fairly even for the rest of the half, with Indiana holding a slim 30-27 lead over Northwestern (20-12, 7-11), the seventh seed in the tournament.

The Wildcats started the second half cold, scoring one field goal in the first three and a half minutes, but the Hoosiers were unable to pull away, only extending the lead to 37-29.

The Wildcats only hit two of their first 24 three-point attempts but were slowly able to chip away at the Hoosiers’ lead and eventually tied the game with 8:50 to play.

Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said he’d vote in favor of moving the tournament back to Chicago because he didn’t like the rims at Conseco Fieldhouse.

“I was thinking about (former Indiana Pacers guard) Reggie Miller and how does he make all those shots?” he joked.

The Wildcats took their first lead of the game on a pair of free-throws by Mike Capocci with 7:58 to play.

Consecutive 3-point makes by Northwestern guard Michael Thompson gave the Wildcats a 10-point lead with less than four minutes to play and put the game out of reach.

The Wildcats, who likely need to win the Big Ten Tournament for their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in school history, will play the second-seeded Purdue Boilermakers at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

“In order to be successful, we have to come out ready to play and handle (Purdue’s) defensive pressure,” Thompson said.

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