Northwestern bounces Indiana 74-61 in Big Ten tournament second-round game to earn another shot at Purdue

Chris Collins took Nick Martinelli out of the game with 8.9 seconds left, snarled at him, dapped him up, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and yanked him toward a hard-earned place on a very happy Northwestern bench.

One of those moments between a coach and a star player that says it all, even if no words were spoken.

Get a load of the Wildcats, the Big Ten tournament’s No. 15 seed, who advanced to the third round by beating No. 10 seed Indiana 74-61 at the United Center. Get a load of Martinelli, owner of the school’s single-season scoring record — 734 points and counting — who dropped a 28-bomb on the Hoosiers. Get a load of Collins, who was fired up after the game, too, referencing a Sun-Times back-page headline that took full note of the Wildcats’ loss-filled season.

“We’ve played so much better than our (15-18) record, even though I woke up today and the headline in the paper said it was a program going nowhere,” Collins said. “I don’t know about that.”

Where the Wildcats are going is into a 5:30 p.m. Thursday matchup against No. 7 seed Purdue, always one of the conference’s heavy hitters. But Collins’ teams have had some recent success against the Boilermakers, and the Wildcats came close to what would have been a major upset last week in Evanston, losing 70-66.

It might still be an impossible road to the NCAA Tournament for Northwestern, which would have to win six games in six days to land an automatic bid as conference tournament champion. As it is, two wins — including the first-rounder against Penn State — equals Northwestern’s total over the previous eight years.

But at least the Wildcats could puff out their chests while the Hoosiers (18-14) were left to ponder the very real possibility of missing the Big Dance themselves. Like Northwestern, Indiana has never won the Big Ten tournament, which is in its 29th year. Who would’ve believed that could happen way back when this event was created?

And who would have believed Northwestern would ever beat Indiana seven times in a row? That streak might even grow next season. But first comes another shot to keep this season alive.