The Minute After: Penn State

Editor’s observe: Ryan is out on paternity depart. Justin Albers will probably be writing The Minute After in his absence.

Ideas on a 77-73 loss to the Nittany Lions:

If there’s one factor Indiana has taught us this yr, it’s that you simply shouldn’t flip off any recreation till the ultimate buzzer sounds. The Hoosiers have performed in one-possession video games all yr, they’ve allowed groups to return again late after they’ve had giant leads, and in Saturday’s Huge Ten event semifinal in Chicago, they almost accomplished a comeback for the ages after sleepwalking for a lot of the afternoon.

After Indiana battled again from 12 right down to tie the sport at 47-all with 10:23 to go, Penn State put its foot on the gasoline and constructed a cushty 72-57 lead with 2:05 left. However once more, regardless of how poorly they performed all day, the Hoosiers didn’t give up.

They used full-court strain to go on an unbelievable 16-2 run over the following 92 seconds, chopping the Penn State result in 74-73 with 33 seconds remaining. After two Penn State free throws on the opposite finish, freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino had an honest have a look at a game-tying 3-pointer that fell harmlessly off the rim because the tenth-seeded Nittany Lions held on for a 77-73 win to advance to the Huge Ten event title recreation towards Purdue on Sunday.

Now, Indiana will watch for its identify to be referred to as when the NCAA event bracket is revealed on Sunday night time. Most consultants mission the Hoosiers as a 4-seed, which was unlikely to alter this weekend.

Saturday was one other quintessential instance of the 2023 Indiana basketball expertise. It may be extremely irritating for followers at occasions and fairly gratifying at others – usually in the identical 40 minutes of basketball.

Like they did Friday night time towards Maryland, the third-seeded Hoosiers got here out impressed, constructing an early 12-6 lead over Penn State. However, once more, prefer it did towards the Terrapins, that lead shortly dissipated because the Nittany Lions scored the following 13 factors and maintained a cushty lead for the remainder of the primary half.

It’s a script that has develop into fairly acquainted for these Hoosiers. Getting into Saturday, they’d trailed on the half in seven of their earlier eight video games, however went 5-3 in that stretch. In a kind of three losses, they erased a 19-point halftime result in tie the sport at Northwestern earlier than dropping by two.

That was the story once more on Saturday, however like the sport at Northwestern, the Hoosiers dug themselves too deep a gap to climb out of.

Like Alex and I coated throughout this week’s ‘Podcast on the Brink’ episode, Penn State is the kind of group that the Hoosiers actually wrestle towards. Led by former Purdue and Boston Celtics assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry – among the finest coaches in all of school basketball – the Nittany Lions play an NBA-style offense with a roster stuffed with floor-spacing shooters and a powerful, ball-dominant star in Jalen Pickett operating the present.

Indiana lacks the guard and wing depth to match up with groups with a roster make-up like Penn State. Race Thompson, for instance, isn’t constructed to chase shooters across the flooring for 40 minutes. And since the Hoosiers don’t usually see groups that play that fashion, they’ve struggled to regulate after they do.

On Saturday, the Nittany Lions obtained their eight 3-pointers from 5 totally different gamers, and on the opposite finish, Indiana appeared to have drained legs from chasing Penn State’s shooters as they repeatedly left leap photographs nicely quick.

After which there was Pickett, who was capable of play in area and again and bully his solution to his spots due to the capturing threats throughout him. The second-team All-American went for a game-high 28 factors to go together with eight rebounds and 4 assists.

Pickett goes to get his towards most groups, and Penn State goes to make photographs. What possible frustrates Mike Woodson most is what his group didn’t do within the areas they may management.

Penn State is final – per the NCAA’s statistics – in all of school basketball in offensive rebounding and free throw makes an attempt, and but, the Nittany Lions beat the Hoosiers in each on Saturday. They rebounded 28.1 % of their missed photographs towards Indiana, and went 23-of-26 from the charity stripe. Penn State entered Saturday trying solely 10 free throws per recreation and making eight.

In the meantime, the Hoosiers, who try almost 18 free throws per recreation, obtained there solely 11 occasions on Saturday.

What’s all of that imply? Properly, it says regardless that it could not have been a perfect matchup for the Hoosiers, they didn’t lose this recreation due to Penn State’s 3-point capturing. They misplaced it as a result of the Nittany Lions had been the way more aggressive group and performed tougher than the Hoosiers did for a lot of the afternoon.

Trayce Jackson-Davis did what he does with 24 factors, 10 rebounds and 7 assists, and Tamar Bates performed one among his higher video games of the yr with 14 factors in 24 minutes. But when Indiana needs to make any noise within the NCAA event, Hood-Schifino needs to be rather more assertive offensively, the Hoosiers have to remain locked in defensively quite than selecting and selecting occasions to speak with one another, and above all else, they should be harder than their opponent.

That didn’t occur on Saturday. This Indiana group is succesful, and so they’re resilient – the best way Bates and Malik Reneau performed in Chicago provides the Hoosiers extra cause for hope – however they should play exhausting and keep related on a regular basis, not simply after they fall behind by double digits.

The Hoosiers now have at the very least 5 days to regroup earlier than they play once more, and on the finish of the day, additional relaxation and avoiding one other battle with Zach Edey and Purdue will not be the worst factor.

(Photograph credit score: IU Athletics)

Filed to: 2023 Huge Ten event, Penn State Nittany Lions