Indiana forward Tucker DeVries described the Hoosiers’ last four regular-season games as “massive for us trying to make that NCAA Tournament.”
Stronger seeding for the conference tournament can only help the Hoosiers (17-10, 8-8 Big Ten).
The same goes for a short memory. Indiana is set to host Northwestern on Tuesday night in Bloomington on the heels of lopsided road losses to ranked foes Illinois and Purdue — results the Hoosiers know they can’t dwell upon.
“We’re playing for a lot right now,” DeVries said, “and I think it’s important that there’s not much that we can do right now about the previous game, but we can learn from it and move on to the next one and use this to get ready for these next four games.”
Hoosiers’ top scorer Lamar Wilkerson has scored at least 20 points in six straight games. Tayton Conerway, Reed Bailey and DeVries also finished in double figures during the 93-64 blowout loss at Purdue.
One of nine schools with double-digit league losses, Northwestern (11-16, 3-13) is fighting to stay out of the Big Ten basement.
The Wildcats have been idle since defeating visiting Maryland 78-74 on Wednesday to end a five-game losing streak. The skid included an 87-75 home loss to then-No. 2 Michigan in which Northwestern held a 16-point lead in the second half.
“We’ve shown that we can compete with any team in this conference,” said Wildcats senior Nick Martinelli, the Big Ten’s leading scorer at 22.3 points per game. “We just haven’t been able to close games out.”
Northwestern coach Chris Collins has often emphasized developing offensive consistency behind Martinelli. Against Maryland, the team found it in reserve Jordan Clayton.
Clayton contributed a career-best 20 points while hitting 6 of 7 treys. He had scored just 26 points in the team’s 10 games before Wednesday.
“It’s good to see your hard work pay off,” Clayton said.
Northwestern has won five straight meetings with Indiana, including a 79-70 home victory in January 2025.
“We gotta go beat Northwestern,” Hoosiers coach Darian DeVries said. “And that’s a Northwestern team that’s put up a good fight every single night.”
