March 12--1. Beyond the arc awareness: Indiana made nine 3-point shots in the first half against Northwestern in the last game. "We have to do a good job defensively defending the 3-point line," NU coach Chris Collins said. "Fortunately for us they went cold in the second half (3 of 17). Because a lot of those shots were open. We have to do a better job in identifying their shooters and not letting them get going from the 3-point line."
2. The man in the middle: Center Alex Olah has shown improvement throughout his junior season and the Wildcats must continue to feed him. "We have to be efficient offensively ourselves," Collins said. "We were able to do that in the first game. But to beat Indiana you have to score. To me, they are one of the best offensive teams in our league."
3. Matching the tempo: If the Wildcats cannot slow down the action enough to fit their style of play, then they must come up with matching points from a variety of sources, including Tre Demps, Vic Law, JerShon Cobb and Scottie Lindsey. "It's not going to be a low-scoring game. We have to put the ball in the basket and we have to be good on the offensive end," Collins said.
4. Home-court advantage: The Wildcats will need to take advantage of playing in front of a Chicago crowd and a larger crowd than usual because they have a first-round bye for a change. Collins thinks local fans will root for the underdog Wildcats if they can manage to advance in the tournament.
5. Adapting on the fly: Indiana likes to alternate from zone to man-to-man defensive sets within a game to confuse opponents. The Wildcats must adapt seamlessly. Additionally, Indiana figures to press Northwestern's guards earlier in the contest. The Hoosiers were effective in rattling the Wildcats with that tactic in the second half of their last game.
fmitchell@tribpub.com
