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GAME INFO/HOW TO WATCH
Who? Northwestern Wildcats (15-5, 3-4, 9th in Big Ten) vs. Indiana Hoosiers (16-3, 6-0, 1st in Big Ten)
Where? the Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana, Earth
When? Saturday January 23rd, 12:00pm ET
Watch? ESPN2, WatchESPN
Vegas? IU -9.5
Pomeroy? IU by nine, 82% chance of victory
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
I was born January 11, 1988. It's okay that y'all didn't get me anything, you didn't know. For most people who aren't me or my parents, that's not a very meaningful day. But for those among you who may consider yourselves Historians of Indiana Basketball, it might ring a bell as a day in which IU lost to Northwestern. Particularly because it didn't happen again for over fifteen years. Between the day of my birth and February 5, 2003, Indiana University beat Northwestern every time they played. By my count, it was "a bunch of games." My parents watched the game while my mom was recuperating from the tremendous effort of creating a human, and the story goes that the bliss of your firstborn's birth fades fast when you lose to a team that's never played in the NCAA Tournament.
As I grew up, whenever it came time for IU to play Northwestern, my dad would say to me "hey, you know when the last time IU lost to Northwestern was?" Obviously that time has passed, Northwestern's not total garbage anymore and they can actually hang. But it was a good fifteen-year run, anyway.
HEY WE WANT SOME FACTORS
| eFG% | TO% | OReb% | FT Rate | |
| INDIANA (#20 Adj. Offense) | 61.2% (2nd) | 20.9% (308th) | 38.9% (13th) | 34.3% (222nd) |
| NORTHWESTERN (#77 Adj. Defense) | 45.2% (24th) | 16.6% (285th) | 26.9% (61st) | 33.2% (100th) |
| eFG% | TO% | OReb% | FT Rate | |
| INDIANA (#52 Adj. Defense) | 48.1% (115th) | 20.8% (50th) | 29.8% (155th) | 30.5% (55th) |
| NORTHWESTERN (#74 Adj. Offense) | 53.4% (46th) | 15.3% (19th) | 31.9% (114th) | 31.5% (290th) |
OTHER NOTES
- Hey, did you know that Indiana is undefeated in Big Ten play? It's true! Unfortunately we're not the only undefeated team in the league, but hey, you can't have everything.
- IU is 6-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2007-08 season, which was garbage and should be forgotten by everyone. The last time the Hoosiers started the Big Ten slate 7-0 was the 1992-93 season. Indiana won the first thirteen conference games that season, and went 17-1 in conference. Oddly enough, Dan Dakich was involved in both.
- Northwestern is coming off two straight losses, one of which came against Penn State. Not great, Bob.
- DID YOU KNOW (PROBABLY YES): Northwestern is the only team in the Big Ten that's never qualified for the NCAA tournament. Even Rutger has been in the tournament. They're not even actually in the Big Ten!