State College, Pa–For the first time this season Indiana has lost two in a row in league play. The Hoosiers are 4-5 in their last nine games. With the lack of a perimeter game and turnovers on the road hurts the Hoosiers to get on track.
The Nittany Lions defeated the Hoosiers 64-49 Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center for its third straight win, pushing their record to 15-5 overall and 5-4 in the BIG10.
“When your offense lets you down like it did tonight its tough,” Archie Miller said. “It’s going to be hard on the road as it is, but you can’t defend and shut a team out for 40 minutes.”
Both teams struggled in the first half to score some points. They combined to shoot 21-of-61 in the game’s first 20 minutes, including 3-of-15 from downtown. Some of the misses were due to poor shot selection and stagnant ball rotation.
The Hoosiers went into the break knotted at 28 with a whole another 20 minutes to redeem themselves in the second half.
Penn State in the second half jumped out to a seven-point lead after an 11-4 run in the first 5:26 of the half. After that, run they never looked back and kept the pedal on the gas throughout the contest.
PSU was led by Lamar Stevens who moved to third on the program’s all-time scoring list in the second half. He scored 17 points in the game, giving him 1,994 for his career.
Curtis Jones Jr. chipped in 12 points in the game for Penn State against his former team.
Indiana outrebounded the Nittany Lions, 44-38, and the Hoosier defense held Penn State to only 24-of-64 shooting (37.5 percent) but couldn’t buy a bucket in the second half.
Trayce Jackson-Davis led Indiana with 14 points. Justin Smith scored 13 for the Hoosiers (15-6, 5-5 Big Ten).
With 15:37 remaining in the game, down by six points (41-35) with 12:33 to go. Indiana couldn’t match the Nittany Lions perimeter game down the stretch.
UP NEXT
Indiana visits Ohio State on Saturday.
Nebraska hosts Penn State on Saturday.
