INDIANAPOLIS – Devan Dumes turned to Verdell Jones III, who was sitting on Indiana’s bench.

“We’ve got eight minutes,” the Hoosiers’ senior guard said to his teammate after play had stopped for a media timeout, “come on.”

Indiana and Northwestern were tied at that point. Unfortunately for IU, the tide was already turning in the Wildcats’ favor.

Michael Thompson took over down the stretch, finishing with 16 points to lead Northwestern to a 73-58 victory over the Hoosiers in the first round of the Big Ten tournament Thursday at Conseco Fieldhouse.

“There were times that our youth showed in the sense where we were tentative, in our first postseason kind of action with a lot of guys, half our team,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “When we were confident and attacked, we did some good things. But we had some tough times with the ball, and they made us pay.”

The 10th-seeded Hoosiers had 19 turnovers, which led to 29 points for seventh-seeded Northwestern (20-12).

“If you want to win any game, that’s unacceptable,” said Jones, who had a team-high 20 points. “I mean, I thought our turnovers were the biggest key and the biggest difference.

“ … When they extended the zone, we became very passive. We weren’t attacking. We had a game plan. We weren’t following the game plan and that affected us.”

Thompson’s shooting also contributed.

He made three three-pointers during a 17-7 run after that timeout. That turned a game tied at 45 into a blowout.

“Thompson got hot and made some shots there and everyone knew it, and his teammates got him the ball and he knocked them down,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said.

The loss ends the second difficult season of the Crean era. The Hoosiers finished with a 10-21 record. In the program’s history, only last year, when IU went 6-25, saw more losses.

“There’s been a lot of trial and error in this. You see where we’re at on game day, and a lot of times it’s not very good,” Crean said. “I can promise you with the trial and error and the rebuilding situation that we’ve been in sometimes, I’m shocked we’re as far along as we are.

“I know our record doesn’t indicate that, but this program has endured a lot. A lot.”

The teams had just played Saturday, with Indiana winning 88-80 in overtime. Jordan Hulls made eight three-pointers in that game, scoring a career-high 24 points. Thursday, he went 1 for 3 on threes and had five points.

“There were some I could have taken, but I was trying to get the next pass,” Hulls said. “I felt the next guy had the more open shot than I did, so I tried to do that. In the game, it felt like more.”

Indiana started fast, scoring the first eight points. IU went to halftime leading 30-27 and still led 45-36 with 12:56 left.

The Wildcats then outscored the Hoosiers 20-5. Thompson hit his second of three three-pointers, giving Northwestern a 59-50 lead with 4:54 to go. IU called a timeout but never recovered.

“We’ve got to continue to develop toughness,” Crean said.

“We’ve made strides there, but we don’t have close to the physical and mental toughness yet we’ve got to have to compete at the highest level in this league.”

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