Penn State Basketball upsets Indiana
By Evan Smith
Penn State Basketball knocked off Indiana, in Big Ten Conference play Sunday afternoon
Penn State Basketball upset the Indiana Hoosiers at the Bryce Jordan Center this afternoon.
The Nittany Lions open their 2022 right with a trademark super ugly game rolling around in the muck featuring just enough offense to win it. The final score was 61-58. The win pushes Penn State above .500 (6-5) with their first conference win (1-2).
Playing for the first time in 22 days thanks to COVID-19 issues within the program, Head Coach Micah Shrewbserry went with the Pickett, Cornwall, Lundy, Lee and Harrar startling lineup, Lee’s first start for the blue and white. Penn State was led in scoring by Pickett with 15 points and John Harrar added 6 points and 12 rebounds.
The Lions started their traditional slow offense featuring turnovers and iso-ball, but some cold Hoosier shooting really made this game feel like neither team was ready to play. A step-back three from Lundy (with a man in his face) gave the Lions their first lead at 19-18 with 8 minutes to go.
5 first half threes kept the Lions with just a few points as the entire half was played within Indiana +4 to PSU +1. A Hoosier miss from beyond at the halftime buzzer (they finished the half 2-10 from three) gave the Lions a 27-27 halftime lead.
Back to back massive dunks by Jackson-Davis (including an and-1 giving Greg Lee his fourth foul) gave the Hoosiers a two point lead and brought the large contingent of Indiana fans to their feet and a PSU timeout soon followed.
However, back to back threes from Sessoms and Dread gave the Lions their largest lead of the night, 39-36 as the Hoosier offense continued to look discombobulated (just 27.3% shooting) and the former New York Knick Mike Woodson was forced to call his own timeout. It didn’t work, however, as IU missed another three and Dread answered with his own and a Pickett jumper gave the Lions an 8 point lead with 11:40 to go.
When it’s your night, it’s your night as an end of clock three point prayer from Sessoms went in to push the lead into double digits. The Hoosiers continue to miss threes but still chipped away at the lead. Harrar went down with an injury with 7:42 in the middle of a 9-0 Hoosier run but ANOTHER end of shot clock contested prayer from 3, this one from Pickett, put the Lions back up 4 thanks to a +21 point differential from 3.
An over one minute Nittany Lion possession somehow resulted in no points and IU called a timeout, down 54-52 as John Harrar re-entered the game and immediately forced another Jackson-Davis miss. Trayce, the all-confefence performer, had a poor by his standards shooting day (finishing 8-18 for 20 points and just 5 rebounds).
A Dread three pushed the lead back to 4, PSU’s ELEVENTH three of the game was immediately answered by a Hoosier three. Two Lundy free throws with 1:06 left gave the Lions a 3 point lead and the Bryce Jordan Center crowd rose to their feet.
Jackson-Davis answered immediately with a bucket and a Lundy missed jumper gave IU their chance to won the game. Down just 1 with 21.0 seconds, Mike Woodson draw up a play for Jackson-Davis who missed another close one.
Sessoms, who had missed two free throws earlier in the half, made both and IU missed two more threes ( finishing 4-17), giving the Lions the upset win.
The Nittany Lions head on the road for a 9:00 pm tilt at Northwestern on Wednesday, televised on the Big Ten Network.