Bloomington, IN – After Indiana’s convincing 73-58 win against then No. 13 ranked Purdue, a matchup against the second worst team in the Big Ten, Penn State, seemed like it would be smooth sailing.
It was not.
“Both teams were scoring at will,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said. “And like I told them at halftime, the team that is going to defend and rebound this half is going to end up winning the game.”
Basketball is known as a game of runs, but the first half was one of droughts for both the Hoosiers and the Nittany Lions. IU and PSU traded two and a half to three and a half minute long scoring droughts the entire length of the first frame.
However, Indiana’s inability to score early is not a new issue. The Hoosiers have averaged only 27.4 points in the first half over their last five games. They scored 37 in the first 20 minutes against Penn State but still trailed by two at the half.
“I think we're doing a great job of sharing it,” added Indiana guard Trey Galloway. “Guys are being unselfish and really wanting to find ways for us to score.”
The second half was much of the same. Indiana and Penn State went back and forth, tying 10 times for over five minutes. The game was tied for longer than Indiana had the lead until four minutes remained in the contest when the Hoosiers started to pull away.
“Tonight, you know, we shared it again,” Woodson said. “We scored 46 points and the ball was humming. And that's the way it's got to be.”
With a handful of minutes left to play, Trey Galloway and Miles Rice helped ice the game with some threes, and a Rice scoop and score. Galloway had 16 points, knocking down four threes in five attempts. It was Galloway’s best shooting performance from beyond the arc while shooting multiple triples since Indiana’s joust against Miami in March Madness two years ago.
That shooting helped Indiana take down Penn State 83-78 tonight.
“We knew that they're a heavy team that closes in on gaps,” Galloway said. “And I think we were going to be able to get open shots. And keep shooting the ball with confidence.”
Another ingredient in IU’s recipe for success in this game was assists. The Hoosiers tallied their second most assists in a game this season with 24, and their most since December 9th when they had 20 against Minnesota.
“We just can't rely on one guy,” Woodson claimed. “We've had four, five guys in double figures in two straight games, and we're going to need that going forward.”
Part of the reason why offense was hard to come by for Indiana was because their second best scorer, Malik Reneau, wasn’t even in the building. Reneau was out with an illness, meaning the workload fell mostly on Oumar Ballo. Ballo answered the call with a team-high 20 points.
“It starts with obviously Ballo and getting the ball in the middle and making the right reads and us just being able to make reads, pick-and-rolls and making extra passes,” added Galloway.
Indiana moves to 17-11 overall, 8-9 in the Big Ten. Their quest to inch closer to the .500 mark in conference play continues this weekend when the Hoosiers take their first ever Big Ten west coast trip to Washington and Oregon. Tip off against the Huskies is Saturday at 6 EST.
