Northwestern blows late lead, falls at Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Trayce Jackson-Davis made the tie-breaking free throws with 1:57 left and scored eight of Indiana’s final 10 points Wednesday to cap a late rally, giving the Hoosiers a 66-62 victory over Northwestern.

Indiana trailed by 10 midway through the second half and still trailed 59-54 with 3:20 to go. But Jackson-Davis, who finished with 21 points and seven rebounds, delivered on the offensive end for Indiana (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten).

Northwestern (5-9, 0-4) only scored three points, on 1-of-6 shooting, the rest of the game.

Pat Spencer had 15 points, five assists and four rebounds to lead the Wildcats, who have lost five straight. A.J. Turner and Miller Kopp each scored 12.

For the Hoosiers, it was another brutal night for the offense.

But after Northwestern took a 50-40 lead on Spencer’s short jumper with 12 minutes remaining, Jackson-Davis, Justin Smith and Aljami Durham bailed out the Hoosiers by combining for 10 straight points to tie the score at 50 with 7:38 to go.

And when the Wildcats retook the lead Smith tied it with a three-point play, Jackson-Davis broke the tie with two free throws and punctuated the victory with an alley-oop dunk that made it 63-59 with 1:22 left.

Northwestern never recovered.

BIG PICTURE

Northwestern: The Wildcats may not score at a high pace, but they play hard and they play smart. It was almost enough to win at Indiana for the first time since 2014. But they couldn’t close out their first win in Bloomington since 2014.

Indiana: The Hoosiers are in a offensive funk, and Northwestern took full advantage with a zone defense that had them confused. If Indiana’s 3-point shooters don’t make shots consistently, they can expect to see more zone defenses — and more games that follow this script.

STAT PACK

Northwestern: Turner returned to the lineup after missing the Wildcats’ previous game with a lower body injury. … In the first half, Northwestern outscored Indiana 22-14 in the paint and forced 11 turnovers. They finished with only a 36-32 advantage in the paint. .. Coach Chris Collins is 0-4 in conference play for the first time in his seven seasons at the school. … Ryan Young added 10 points and seven rebounds.

Indiana: Smith had 18 points and six rebounds. Durham scored 16 points and had four assists. … Jackson-Davis and Smith were each 7 of 11 from the field. The rest of the Hoosiers were 6 of 32. … The Hoosiers improved to 1-2 this season when trailing at halftime. … Indiana had a 40-29 rebounding advantage.

UP NEXT

Northwestern heads home to take on Nebraska on Saturday following back-to-back road games.

Indiana completes a two-game homestand Saturday against No. 11 Ohio State.