Hoosiers never trail, win 67-61 at Penn State
Winning on the road is never easy. It’s made even tougher when the only player on your roster that’s experienced a conference road win is a walk-on named Brett Finkelmeier.
But in what will be looked at down the road as a valuable learning experience for this rebuilding Indiana program, the Hoosiers went to Penn State Thursday night and left with a 67-61 victory. Even more impressive was this: Indiana never trailed en route to victory.
“They’re gaining conference,” Indiana coach Tom Crean told Don Fischer on the postgame radio show. “If you don’t have a win like Minnesota, the way that we won it, maybe they don’t feel like they can win this one. We held on. We got big stops. We attacked in press offense.”
The Hoosiers (9-9, 3-3 Big Ten) hit 9-of-20 from behind the 3-point arc, 10-of-14 free throws and committed just 12 turnovers to 15 assists. Devan Dumes, IU’s leading scorer last season, had a season-high 15 points.
“He really, really stepped up,” Crean said of Dumes. “I’m really proud of the way that he played. He made some big plays in 26 minutes of basketball. He answered the challenge of Talor Battle when Jeremiah (Rivers) had some foul trouble.”
After Indiana led 35-28 at halftime, Penn State (8-10, 0-6) opened the second half with a 12-5 run to tie the game at 40 with 13:44 remaining.
But unlike previous road games at Ohio State and Michigan where the Hoosiers had lengthy scoring droughts, Thursday was different: Indiana immediately answered with six straight points.
Penn State, which shot just 37 percent and got little offense besides 22 points from Battle, never got closer than three the rest of the way.
“Again tonight just like Minnesota, we went and earned the game,” Crean said. “We never lost the lead and that’s the key. We never had to play comeback on it. They bought into the fact that it’s not about running good offense, it’s about executing good offense.”
Verdell Jones had another game in double figures with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists and Christian Watford added 11 points and nine rebounds.
Filed to: Devan Dumes, Penn State Nittany Lions, Tom Crean