Indiana and Penn State to face off for the second time this season on Wednesday night. Read more for prediction and preview.
General Information:
Teams: Indiana (16-11, 7-9) and Penn State (15-13, 5-12)
Tip-Off: 8:30 p.m EST
Watch: Big Ten Network
Latest on Penn State basketball:
The Penn State Nittany Lions are not having an incredibly successful season, although they are coming off of two impressive wins. In their most recent game at Minnesota, they came out on top with a final score of 69-60. In that game Yanic Konan Niederhauser led the way in both scoring and rebounds, finishing with 24 points and 7 rebounds. He is currently averaging 12.9 points and is leading the Nittany Lions in rebounding, averaging 6.2 a game. Niederhauser is a junior forward who transferred from Northern Illinois after last season. Another key to Penn State’s lineup is guard Ace Baldwin Jr., who is currently their leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game. He has consistently been a key to Penn State’s offense, joining the 1,000-point club during the 2023-24 season.
Penn State falls at the bottom of the Big Ten conference rankings and is barely holding on to its winning record. It is vital for them to win against Indiana, and then their final two regular season games against Maryland and Minnesota, if they want any chance of getting to play in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
Latest on Indiana basketball:
The Indiana basketball team is coming off of an extremely exciting win where they beat rival Purdue 73-58 in Assembly Hall this past Sunday. Not only were they able to pull off a double-digit win over a basketball powerhouse, but the team that showed up for Indiana looked like one that could make a run in March. Tied for leading scorers were Trey Galloway and Malik Reneau who both provided 15 points. One thing that really made Indiana stand out against the Boilermakers was their 7 turnovers compared to Purdue’s 16.
Head coach Mike Woodson rolled out a very different starting lineup compared to what’s been seen before this season. The starting five consisted of Galloway, Reneau, Myles Rice, Luke Goode, and Anthony Leal, with only three players coming off the bench which were Oumar Ballo, Mackenzie Mgbako, and Kanaan Carlyle. Each player that stepped foot on the court made a significant impact for the Hoosiers. This lineup and rotation were promising as we are starting to see some serious chemistry from this team. It will be interesting to see if this group sticks around against Penn State.