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Northwestern pre game


Hoosierfan1901

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A week ago, the feeling of handling Maryland was a confidence-builder.  Yesterday, we got handled at home.  As has been the case for several years, passionately following IU is like hugging a cactus.  
 

IU MUST win TUE night.  And it won’t be easy.  Kopp went off at Syracuse and has been an enigma since.  Change that position in the starting lineup and let’s just see.  Gotta win.  With schedule ahead it is vital. 

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15 hours ago, Hoosierfan1901 said:

ESPN has us finishing 5-3

Wins:

Wisconsin

Maryland

Rutgers

Minnesota

Northwestern 

Losses:

Michigan State

Ohio State

Purdue

I would take that, but with this team...well, I'm not counting on it.  I don't feel you can assume ANY game as won ahead of time with IU.  We aren't that talented.

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When: Tuesday, February 8th 9 PM EST

Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois

TV: BTN

Record: 11-10 (4-8, 11th in Big Ten)

Results so far:

image.png.a632ffd34098a08fab080ef561306666.png

Northwestern has only been blown out one time in conference play (By 20 at Purdue). The other 7 conference losses were by an average of 5 ppg.

Conference Stats:

image.png.4ecff5278a86aa40197cc4f8d87636dd.png

As you can see, they go 9 deep. They have good size with Nance, Young, and Beran. Elyjah Williams is a grad transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson who is an inside banger at 6'7.

Chase Audige killed us down the stretch at Evanston last year, but he's been struggling a bit this year. The Wildcats do have some shooters in Buie, Berry, and Nance. They play better defense than they did last year, but they remind me on Maryland a bit. If they start to struggle offensively, they'll have guys who settle for shots rather than run the offense. Buie Will be another challenge for XJ as he has both a good outside game and is pretty good on the dribble drive.

They've been starting Buie, Beran, Nance, Audige, and freshman Julian Roper the past 5 games. Whichever big Trayce gets, he's going to have to guard on the perimeter because both Beran and Nance can shoot the 3. 

Don't let those 8 conference losses fool you. Northwestern is a pretty decent team not to be taken lightly as Michigan State found out in East Lansing a few weeks back. We'll have to be at our best to win in Evanston.

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2 hours ago, FKIM01 said:

They've since downgraded to 4-4 with Northwestern rated as a toss-up.

I believe 4-4 would be enough to get the tournament. Would love to see us finish with a bit more momentum. We match up pretty well with every team we play down the stretch though OSU and Purdue are better than us...

We struggle when the other team has a post that is effective and bigger than TJD if they can couple that with a PG that we can't over. 

With Northwestern we can play their point guard and five straight up (though Buie can get hot, Young plays hard, and they have a post who can stretch the D...which we are desperate for) , and will have to think long and hard about guarding Nance and Audige. 

Edited by mchenry34
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13 hours ago, mchenry34 said:

With Northwestern we can play their point guard and five straight up (though Buie can get hot, Young plays hard, and they have a post who can stretch the D...which we are desperate for) , and will have to think long and hard about guarding Nance and Audige. 

It'll be interesting to see who Coach Woody puts on Audige and Roper. It'll have to be Stewart and Kopp for those 2 but I'm not sure who each would guard. Best guess is Stewart on Audige and Kopp on Roper. 

Like you said, XJ on Buie is a given. On the bigs, I'd guess TJD on Nance and Race on Beran. When Young subs in, I'd definitely put Trayce on him.

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Just win is all I got. Northwestern is capable of beating most everyone in our league. If a couple of the guys who might be leaving after this year want to truly leave their mark and get IU back to the tourney this is the game we need them.

I'll probably feel different tomorrow night but right now this game is a pickem right now. 

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