Penn State basketball uses dominant second half to blow out Indiana

Penn State basketball (11-11, 5-6 Big Ten) was finally able to stack big wins, following up its victory at Rutgers on Wednesday with an emphatic 85-71 defeat of Indiana (13-9, 5-6) Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions rode one of their best shooting performances of the year and were able to force enough turnovers to create the opportunities needed to outpace a talented Hoosiers team and silence the near-sellout Assembly Hall crowd. Mike Rhoades now has his Nittany Lions back to .500 with a critical month of Big Ten basketball head.

Penn State basketball rides hot second half to blow out win

Penn State knocked down 12 threes on the game at a blistering 55% clip from deep. The sharp-shooting acted as a safety net in the first half, keeping the Nittany Lions in the game despite Indiana scoring 41 points. Penn State rallied from a 10 point deficit to only trail by four at the half. But, despite the great shooting from outside, the Nittany Lions shot just 51% from the field in the first half and just did not seem comfortable on defense.

Penn State ramped up the pressure in the second half, forcing more turnovers and putting together complete defensive possessions by fighting harder to deny post-entry passes to players like the Hoosiers’ Kel’el Ware. Ware had a monster day for Indiana, getting a double-double with 25 points and 11 boards. But it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the Nittany Lions fast paced offense in the second half. 

No Clary, no problem

Without leading scorer Kayne Clary for a second straight game, Ace Baldwin once again led the way for the Nittany Lions, scoring 22 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and 3-5 from deep. Baldwin also tallied 2 steals and 8 assists as he was the engine for Penn State basketball Saturday, playing all 40 mins. He looked the part of the star, which is becoming much more common as the transfer gets more comfortable playing in the Big Ten.

Qudus Wahab continued his recent run of strong play with 14 points on a very efficient 7-8 shooting, adding in 7 rebounds and 2 assists. Wahab is becoming a nice safety valve for the Nittany Lion offense. Whenever the offense is stalling, Penn State’s guards can dump it to the 6-11 forward in the post and trust him to get a good shot near the rim.

Zach Hicks and Jameel Brown provided strong shooting in this one, with both players knocking down 4 threes each. Hicks ended with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. Finally looking like the shooting threat he was last year at Temple, Hicks is using screens to get open from deep and leveraging the pressure of the defense to get inside and to the line.

Jameel Brown scored 14 off the bench on 4-5 shooting from deep, all of which were way behind the arc or contested. To me, Brown may be the smartest player on this Penn State basketball squad, and it really shows when he’s out on the court. His off-ball movement and relocation skills work so well to get open. After he hits a few open shots, he’s amazing at leveraging his gravity to create open lanes and opportunities for his teammates. Brown is not the shooter Andrew Funk was last year. But you can tell Brown learned a lot from last season, and he has carried a lot of that into this year. 

Can Mike Rhoades keep the Nittany Lions’ momentum going?

Obviously, Penn State basketball can’t expect to shoot 55% from deep every game, but I do not want to reduce this win to just hot shooting. Going into Assembly Hall, where the program has not won since 2014 without Clary, and beating an Indiana team headlined by a future first-round NBA Draft pick, is impressive.

Mike Rhoades and Penn State will look to carry the momentum from this huge win into the next game against Iowa, back in the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday. Tipoff is slated for 7 PM on the Big Ten Network.

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