INDIANAPOLIS — Northwestern's Michael Thompson still remembers how it felt to lose 20 games as a freshman.
Now he can embrace the celebration of the Wildcats' first 20-win season.
The junior guard scored 11 of his 16 points, leading a second-half comeback that gave Northwestern a record-setting 73-58 victory over Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten tournament Thursday.
"It feels great to have won 20 games in a season, especially going 1-17 in conference my first year," he said. "We're excited for what we've done so far, but we're still working hard and trying to add more wins to it."
Thompson did everything he could to energize Northwestern's struggling shooters, even stealing a page from Michael Jordan's playbook by keeping his shooting arm raised after making shots.
But the seventh-seeded Wildcats (20-12) are hoping there are more memorable moments still to come.
It was Northwestern's first conference tourney win in five years and a day, and sets up a Friday quarterfinal contest against No. 6 Purdue. The second-seeded Boilermakers shared the regular-season conference title with No. 5 Ohio State and No. 11 Michigan State.
Northwestern also beat Purdue 72-64 on Jan. 16 in the only other meeting between the teams this season.
Two things will be different this time. Purdue won't have forward Robbie Hummel, who tore the ACL in his right knee. And if Northwestern has any hopes of making its first NCAA tournament appearance, it may need to keep winning in Indianapolis — thoughts that are not lost on Northwestern's players.
Coach Bill Carmody wasn't thinking that far ahead Thursday.
"It (the win) is important to our guys because in the short term, we haven't been playing very well," he said. "This was a real important game for us. Twenty wins always sounds nice and it's real important and I told our guys we have one senior, Jeremy Nash, he knows the history. But he's thinking it's a new era."
Thompson is one of the biggest reasons for the changes.
After enduring an 8-22 season two years ago, Thompson has become a vital cog for the Wildcats — especially Thursday when the Big Ten's top 3-point shooting team opened the game going 2 of 24 from beyond the arc.
Not surprisingly, the Wildcats trailed for the first 32 minutes until Thompson got his teammates in sync.
The defense forced five straight Indiana turnovers midway through the second half, leading to 10 unanswered points. That gave Northwestern its first lead of the game with 7:58 to go.
Then the catalyst quickly sealed it.
Thompson drove in for a 5-foot runner, followed that with a 3 and closed out the decisive 23-7 run with two more 3s that gave Northwestern a 62-52 lead with 4:09 to go.
"He's our best player and he's what makes our offense flow," Northwestern forward John Shurna said after finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists. "I think when he gets in rhythm like that, it really opens things up for us, and we just want to keep finding the hot hand."
Indiana never had another chance.
Verdell Jones scored 20 points and had six assists to lead Indiana (10-21). The only other Hoosier in double figures was Derek Elston with 10 points.
But the Hoosiers lost for the 12th time in 13 games, finished with a second straight losing season and will miss the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in seven years. Indiana has now lost five straight Big Ten tournament games and that wasn't even the most frustrating part for coach Tom Crean.
"The bottom line in this game was the points off turnovers, the turnovers came at very tough times for us," Crean said. "There were times where I thought our youth showed, maybe where we were tentative. We had a couple of tough times with the ball and they made us pay."
So five days after Indiana prevented Northwestern from getting win No. 20, Thompson made sure it didn't happen again.
"I think it's just a tribute to these guys who have stepped up and played so well," Carmody said. "People talk about John Shurna and he's really improved, but Thompson has really had a great year for us, a super year for us and doing some really good things for us. They thought they were a good team and they're doing OK."
College Sports
Related Photos
-
Michael Conroy
-
Michael Conroy
-
Darron Cummings
-
Darron Cummings
Related Links
Discussion
Thompson leads Northwestern past Indiana 73-58
- College Sports
-
-
AU men lose, but still clinch spot in HCAC tourney
The Anderson University men’s basketball team lost to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Manchester College 81-71 on Wednesday night at Stauffer-Wolfe Arena in North Manchester.
-
Hoosiers hold off ’Cats
Tom Crean’s first 20-win season at Indiana came with some fitting benchmarks.
A freshman credited with turning the program around led the way again. An injured senior who survived a six-win season closed it out. And, of course, the Hoosiers had to scrap for another 40 minutes to pull off the win -
Wiles’ heart leads her to Hoosiers
Meghan Wiles took some time to explore her options, but she always kind of knew where she would end up.
She’s an IU girl.
Wiles, a Pendleton Heights senior, signed to play soccer at Indiana University on Feb. 1, the NCAA’s National Signing Day. Her parents, Tom and Mandy, both attended IU. -
Boilers get back on track with win
Robbie Hummel scored a season-high 27 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds Sunday as Purdue snapped Northwestern’s three-game winning streak with an 87-77 victory.
-
W. Virginia women upset No. 2 Irish
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said her team had it coming to them. “I thought we’ve been building up to this game now for a couple of weeks,” she said. “We just haven’t played well for a long time.” The second-ranked Irish almost played well enough Sunday, but West Virginia ended their 21-game winning streak with a 65-63 victory.
-
Prahalis lifts No. 10 OSU women past No. 16 Purdue
Samantha Prahalis, the only senior on Ohio State’s roster, has been through a lot of battles on the court. So it figured that when the No. 10 Buckeyes were badly in need of a bucket on Sunday against No. 16 Purdue, it was their most experienced player who supplied a dagger of a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to pave the way to an 80-71 victory.
-
Ravens soar past Grizzlies
The Anderson University men’s basketball team has been in tournament mode for the past three weeks.
But the Ravens took a big step toward the actual postseason Saturday afternoon with a 79-65 victory against Franklin in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. -
AU women fall to HCAC leaders
The Anderson University women’s basketball team lost to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference leader Franklin College 68-43 on Saturday at O.C. Lewis Gymnasium on Senior Day.
-
No. 23 Hoosiers hurry past Illinois 84-71
Illinois played like a desperate team Thursday night. That didn’t matter to Indiana. Cody Zeller scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo and Christian Watford each had 18, igniting No. 23 Indiana’s late charge to get past the Fighting Illini 84-71.
-
Boilers honor Lewis at halftime against IU
Purdue basketball fans took time out Saturday in the middle of a heated rivalry game with Indiana to honor Anderson High School graduate Troy Lewis, whose No. 23 jersey hangs from the rafters at Mackey Arena.
- More College Sports Headlines
-
