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Northwestern Pre-Game Thread


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When: Sunday, January 8th 12:00 pm EST 

Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana

TV: FS1

Northwestern comes in to Assembly Hall with an 11-3 overall record and 2-1 in the Big 10

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We're familiar with pretty much all of these guys...Audige has haunted us in more than a few games...Boo Buie runs hot and cold. Neither has ever seen a shot they didn't like...They start 2 bigs in Nicholson and Beran. Beran can shoot the 3 (32%) so you have to be honest when he's out on the arc. Ty Berry rounds out the starting lineup. Better shooter than his numbers indicate. 

Barnhizer, Verhoven, and  Roper are the only 3 off the bench that get any significant playing time....

Northwestern is 2nd in the Big 10 in defensive rating, so they do get after it...But 12th in offensive rating.

Shorthanded, it'll be a tough one for us at home with Race out, Trayce hobbled, and a short turnaround. I would think at home we might see some CJ Gunn, Kaleb Banks, or Logan Duncomb if just for a few minutes to give guys a breather...

Northwestrn isn't a pressing team, but after seeing how it affected us at Iowa, I wouldn't be surprised to see it. As long as XJ is out we might see it...

Time to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and win this one...

 

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I don't see any way that we don't have to get something out of Malik and/or Duncomb on Sunday. Nicholson isn't an especially talented big guy, but I can't imagine Woody wants Trayce having to follow Beran out to the perimeter all game either...Beran is a spot up shooter or post em up big guy, not particularly skilled at the dribble drive. I think both Malik and Logan can guard him better than Geronimo could. 

I know some will be calling for Trayce, Kopp, Bates, Galloway, and JHS to start, but what does that do to our depth? You'd have to get Gunn, and possibly Leal some spot minutes. Be interesting to see how Coach Woodson plays this...

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Was just checking kenpom to see how our defensive efficiency rati g keeps tumbling and realized Northwestern is ranked 6th in d efficiency.  

Rutgers is ranked 3rd.  

Im not super confident in this one.  We just aren't locking people down.  Not like they would last year at times.  Without our best on ball defender and 2nd best big, we might be in trouble.  

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2 hours ago, kyhoosier29 said:

I would like to say that I expect an angry team to show up and take care of business, but that’s not in our DNA. I’ve been one all year saying we’re too soft outside of XJ. No bulldogs on this team now. 

That’s been my problem with our teams lately. We need more toughness and edge. Talent is great and all, but you have to have to want it and out tough the other team. 

As much as I hate to say it, Rutgers has that. 🤮

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4 hours ago, Lostin76 said:

They need to be prepared and pissed off on Sunday. Will be tough w/o Race, but Malik needs to learn fast. 

I’m guessing Duncomb is not bringing it in practice, but he has done pretty well when he has played limited minutes against cupcakes. He needs to be ready to play some. 

I don't know whether it's still the case, but CMW said Duncomb had a lot of injuries which though minor kept him out of practice a lot, and he can only go for a very short while.  But there is now lots of minutes to take up now.

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The matchups in this game will be interesting...

I just remembered Miller Kopp knows Robbie Beran's game very well... They were teammates for a year at Northwestern... If he could handle Beran, we could go with 3 guards, Miller, and Trayce... My only concern there would be Beran posting him up, as Kopp isn't a good post defender, and Beran is a good post player... I know Miller had 9 boards vs Iowa, but he's normally not a good rebounder... 

If we start Geronimo or Reneau, then Kopp has to guard Audige, Buie, or Berry...

So I'd say... If we start 3 guards...

TJD-Nicholson 

Kopp-Beran 

JHS-Buie 

Galloway-Audige 

Bates-Berry 

If we start Geronimo 

JG-Beran 

TJD-Nicholson 

Kopp-Audige 

JHS-Buie 

Bates-Berry

If we start Malik, I would imagine he would take Nicholson, and Trayce would be on Beran...

The first option affects our depth, but I'm not sure I'm in love with either one of the second 2 scenarios defensively. I think I'd rather have Trayce parked in the post guarding Nicholson than out on the perimeter trying to stay with Beran...

It'll be interesting to see how Coach Woodson plays it... 

 

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1 minute ago, IUFLA said:

The matchups in this game will be interesting...

I just remembered Miller Kopp knows Robbie Beran's game very well... They were teammates for a year at Northwestern... If he could handle Beran, we could go with 3 guards, Miller, and Trayce... My only concern there would be Beran posting him up, as Kopp isn't a good post defender, and Beran is a good post player... I know Miller had 9 boards vs Iowa, but he's normally not a good rebounder... 

If we start Geronimo or Reneau, then Kopp has to guard Audige, Buie, or Berry...

So I'd say... If we start 3 guards...

TJD-Nicholson 

Kopp-Beran 

JHS-Buie 

Galloway-Audige 

Bates-Berry 

If we start Geronimo 

JG-Beran 

TJD-Nicholson 

Kopp-Audige 

JHS-Buie 

Bates-Berry

If we start Malik, I would imagine he would take Nicholson, and Trayce would be on Beran...

The first option affects our depth, but I'm not sure I'm in love with either one of the second 2 scenarios defensively. I think I'd rather have Trayce parked in the post guarding Nicholson than out on the perimeter trying to stay with Beran...

It'll be interesting to see how Coach Woodson plays it... 

 

Also interesting to see which reserve(s) get the additional playing time

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48 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

Of their 3 main weapons on offense in career games versus Indiana...

Audige 16 PPG 18-49 overall 6-20 from 3

Buie 10 PPG 12-34 overall 5-17 from 3 

Beran 6 PPG 9-20 overall 4-9 from 3 

They have a big guy who likes to play on the perimeter.  One of the main matches of the game will be how we deal with that guy.  Rebraca and Murray killed us at Iowa because we got a net negative out of our "deep" front court when Race went down (outside of TJD--and even he was an unintentional liability at times with the back).

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3 minutes ago, IUCrazy2 said:

They have a big guy who likes to play on the perimeter.  One of the main matches of the game will be how we deal with that guy.  Rebraca and Murray killed us at Iowa because we got a net negative out of our "deep" front court when Race went down (outside of TJD--and even he was an unintentional liability at times with the back).

That'd be Beran... 

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21 minutes ago, IUCrazy2 said:

He is the guy I would be most worried about even if his stats don't show it up to this point.

He's definitely a tougher matchup for us without Race...

We try to guard him with Kopp or Geronimo, he'll post them up... Reneau, he'd go out on the perimeter... He's only 31% from 3, but you have to respect him...

 

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Not sure where this "short turnaround" conversation  came from. They played Thursday night, so they had two and a half days to recuperate. We're talking about young guys here. A couple of weeks ago we were lauding CMW for scheduling quick turnaround games to prepare for what an NCAA tournament run would be like.

Let's not make up excuses. IU will grit out a win. Northwestern doesn't score well, we're home, students are back. May be closer than we'd like, but it doesn't matter. A win is a win.

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Just now, Steubenhoosier said:

Not sure where this "short turnaround" conversation  came from. They played Thursday night, so they had two and a half days to recuperate. We're talking about young guys here. A couple of weeks ago we were lauding CMW for scheduling quick turnaround games to prepare for what an NCAA tournament run would be like.

Let's not make up excuses. IU will grit out a win. Northwestern doesn't score well, we're home, students are back. May be closer than we'd like, but it doesn't matter. A win is a win.

I think the short turnaround concern is more driven by Trayce's back injury than a worry about the teams overall conditioning... 

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37 minutes ago, Steubenhoosier said:

Not sure where this "short turnaround" conversation  came from. They played Thursday night, so they had two and a half days to recuperate. We're talking about young guys here. A couple of weeks ago we were lauding CMW for scheduling quick turnaround games to prepare for what an NCAA tournament run would be like.

Let's not make up excuses. IU will grit out a win. Northwestern doesn't score well, we're home, students are back. May be closer than we'd like, but it doesn't matter. A win is a win.

It is more that the Thursday night game not ending until 11:30 and I hen had to fly home. Then the game Sunday starting at 12 makes it even less of a turn around. Also with TJD back injury it might be hard for him to be fully ready for the game.

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1 hour ago, Steubenhoosier said:

Not sure where this "short turnaround" conversation  came from. They played Thursday night, so they had two and a half days to recuperate. We're talking about young guys here. A couple of weeks ago we were lauding CMW for scheduling quick turnaround games to prepare for what an NCAA tournament run would be like.

Let's not make up excuses. IU will grit out a win. Northwestern doesn't score well, we're home, students are back. May be closer than we'd like, but it doesn't matter. A win is a win.

yeah.  i agree in general.  i am one that used the term short turn around just because of TJD's back and us adjusting to playing without Race.  otherwise, i agree.  they are college kids in great shape.

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