Indiana 69, Northwestern 65

Well. We hit a bunch of threes. As in our only other Big Ten road win this season, a great performance from Rod Wilmont saved the day. Rod scored 36 points on 17 shots. That's really good. I'm not convinced on the accuracy of the IU box score, but it would appear that the pace was about 60 possessions, a little quick for NU and a little slow for IU. That means IU turned the ball over on abour 28 percent of its possessions. Not good. Of course, three in a row came in that odd sequence at the end of the game. I suppose it's some consolation that we were able to pull out the win, but it's a concern nonetheless and shows some of the ballhandling limitations of this team.

I said before that a loss to Northwestern would be the worst loss by any school in the Big Ten this season. We dodged the bullet, but Iowa was happy to oblige by losing at Penn State, which had not won a Big Ten game since early January. Stevie's teams do seem to shine brightest during the Big Ten Tournament, and they will need it this year.

I'm not going to make excuses for the fact that we nearly put ourselves back on the bubble with an inexcusable loss, but Northwestern must be tough to prepare for. I was impressed with their defense's effectiveness, and the Princeton offense always is a challenge. Sampson clearly was unhappy, and should have been, but NU has played a surprising number of close games this season. I think the biggest concern isn't that it was a close game for 37 minutes, but that we let them back in with sloppy turnovers. Live and learn, and get ready for Senior Night.