March 13--Indiana dominated Northwestern 71-56 Thursday night to advance to a third-round game against Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament.
Northwestern defeated Indiana two weeks ago at Welsh-Ryan Arena, yet a victory over the Hoosiers Thursday night in the Big Ten Tournament would be considered an upset.
The Hoosiers performed as advertised in the first half, sprinting to early leads of 24-6 and 28-11 as junior Yogi Ferrell and freshmen James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson hit three-pointers.
Indiana settled for a 36-22 lead at the intermission.
Indiana is on the bubble for an NCAA tournament berth and figured to play with the type of desperation that could cause problems for the Wildcats, who won five of their previous seven.
Northwestern was particularly mindful of the Hoosiers' outside shooting prowess. IU was eighth in the nation in 3-point field goals during the regular season. Ferrell entered with a 62-game streak of making at least one 3-point field goal, longest in the nation.
Nick Zeisloft was first in the conference in three-point field goal percentage (51.4).
Indiana also led the Big Ten in scoring with 78.0 points per game.
fmitchell@tribpub.com
Wildcats beat Hoosiers on Feb. 25
