Penn State Performs Surgical Precision on IU 

By Nick Jenkinson

   Without its leading scorer the Penn State Nittany Lions beat the Indiana Hoosiers 85-71 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Saturday afternoon for their first win in Bloomington since 2014. Penn State was without leading scorer Kanaye Clary who was injured in the second half last Saturday Night at Minnesota and averages 18.4 points per game. Penn State is now 2-0 without Clary and two double digit road wins against Rutgers by 15 points Wednesday Night and now Indiana on Saturday Afternoon.

    Penn State is 11-11 on the season and 5-7 in the Big Ten. Indiana drops to 13-9 overall and 5-6 in the Big Ten with a road matchup coming at Ohio State on Tuesday Night. The Hoosiers lead the series 42-16 as Penn State has won three in a row against the Hoosiers dating back to last season.

   Penn State was led in scoring with 22 points from Ace Baldwin Jr., Zach Hicks added 19 points, 6-11 Qudus Wahab scored 14 points and pulled down 7 rebounds and D’Marco Dunn added 10 points. The Nittany Lions were finished 31-54 for 57% from the field, 12-22 from three-point range for 54% and 11-16 from the free throw line for 66%, Penn State pulled down 22 rebounds, dished out 17 assists, 7 steals, no blocks and committed just 6 turnovers. Penn State scored 34 points in the paint, 18 bench points and 17 points off turnovers.

    Indiana was led with another double-double from Kel’el Ware who finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds for his 9th double-double of the season. In the first half was perfect from the field going 6-6 from the field, 1-1 from three-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line for 17 points and 7 rebounds. Ware finished the game 8-12 from the field, 1-1 from three-point range and 8-8 from the free throw line as head had 8 points and 4 rebounds in the second half. Malik Reneau returned after getting injured in the first three minutes of the Iowa as he scored 16 points and pulled down five rebounds in 33 minutes of action. Mackenize Mgbako added 13 points and Trey Galloway chipped in 12 Points. Xavier Johnson missed the game with an elbow injury he suffered Tuesday night against Iowa. Gabe Cupps started in place of Johnson and played 33 minutes scoring 2 points, 2 rebounds and committed one turnover.

    The Hoosiers finished 25-52 for 48 % from the field, 5-19 from three-point range for 26% and 16-19 from the free throw line for 84%. The Hoosiers had 28 rebounds, dished out 13 assists, 2 blocks. 2 steals and committed 13 turnovers.     The Hoosiers scored 40 points in the paint, 13 points off turnovers and three points off the bench by C.J. Gunn.

    Indiana got off to a good start in the first half leading by 11 points with 5:15 left in the first half leading 34-23. Penn State was struggling in the first half as the Nittany Lions got their first 9 points all on three pointers before D’Marco Dunn scored the first two-point basket of the game for Penn State with 12:24 left in the first half. Indiana scored 1:56 into the game on Kel’el Ware basket and hit two free throws to give Indiana a 4-0 lead. Zach Hicks scored the first basket of the game for Penn State 2:59 in as the Nittany Lions hit 6 three pointers in the first half.

    In the second half it was all Penn State outscoring the Hoosiers 48-30 and going 16-25 from the field for 64%, 6-10 from three-point range 60% and 10-14 from the free throw line for 71%. Penn State was able to score inside and hit from outside which in the first half there were struggling from inside the arc. The Hoosiers were 9-24 from the field for 37%, 2-10 from three-point range for 20% and 10-12 from the free throw line for 83%. There were a couple times were the Hoosiers had 2–3-minute scoring droughts and once Penn State took the lead 45-43 with 16:50 left in the game Indiana could not bounce back and the lead increased to double digits with 12:05 left in the game. “They dictated everything from the very beginning. Once we fell behind it was tough to get back” Indiana Head Coach Mike Wodoson said after the game. Coach Woodson did not like the way his team played in the second half saying they were flat, and Trey Galloway summed it up “They were playing harder than us”. Woodson did not want to what a lot of coaches do after a bad loss. “I’m not going to throw my guys under the bus, but they didn’t perform in the second half, they were flat” Woodson said.