Indiana basketball will travel to play Penn State on Sunday. Read more for an Indiana vs Penn State prediction and preview.
Both of these Big Ten schools had very exciting football seasons with both teams making the College Football Playoffs and Penn State still competing for the national title. Basketball season has the potential to also be very exciting for both schools and this match up will be very telling for both sides.
General Information:
Teams: Indiana (11-3, 2-1) and Penn State (12-2, 2-1)
Tip Time: Noon EST
Watch: Big Ten Network
Listen: The Varsity Network
Latest on Penn State basketball:
The Nittany Lions have had a solid start to their season and an extremely impressive performance when it comes to conference play. Penn State is currently 2-1 in conference games and falling almost right in the middle of the rankings at 10th in the Big Ten. Their most recent win was against Northwestern where they won 84-40 at home. In this game, senior forward Zach Hicks led the way in scoring for Penn State with 20 points.
Their most impressive win of the season so far is undoubtedly their 81-70 win over Purdue. Ace Baldwin Jr. provided 20 points for Penn State and Nick Kern’s 8 rebounds also had a big impact. Most importantly though, was the fact that the Nittany Lions were able to hold Purdue’s Braden Smith to just 6 points. Smith is currently averaging 14.9 points for the Boilermakers and is known for his 3-point shot. However, Penn State only let him get one shot off from behind the arc leaving Smith 0-1 in 3-point shots in this game. The Nittany Lions also held Purdue’s leading scorer Trey Kaufman-Renn to just 15 points which is below his current average.
Penn State’s only losses this season are from Clemson and conference opponent Rutgers. Clemson was their first loss of the season with a final score of 67-75. Penn State lost to Rutgers 76-80 where the Scarlet Knight’s leading scorer, Dylan Harper, had 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Latest on Indiana Basketball:
The Hoosier’s latest win was in a battle against Rutgers on Friday with a final score of 84-74. Not only did both teams have very impressive performances, but they were also both playing with slightly different lineups than they are used to. Rutger’s leading scorer Dylan Harper was out due to illness, but freshman Ace Bailey put up 39 of their 74 points. On Indiana’s side, Oumar Ballo was in uniform, but did not start. However, a couple plays into the first half, Malik Reneau got injured and did not play the rest of the game. Ballo went in for Reneau and provided 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Hoosiers. So far, there has been no word on Reneau’s injury or on why Ballo did not dress in Indiana’s game against Winthrop last Sunday so it will be interesting to see who takes to the floor against Penn State.
Indiana vs Penn State prediction: Hoosiers by 4 (84-80)
Penn State is very good about protecting home and is currently 9-0 at the Bryce Jordan Center. However, if Indiana has a performance resembling the one they had against Rutgers, they should be able to come out on top against the Nittany Lions. Although, if they come out flat footed and lacking intensity they could be facing a double digit loss against a conference opponent.