Indiana needed a win against Penn State, and it did so in emphatic fashion

After two straight losses, Indiana basketball was at a crossroads. During a pivotal stretch that included both nonconference and Big Ten games, the Hoosiers welcomed Penn State to Assembly Hall in a game IU desperately needed to win.

And Darian DeVries’ team delivered.

The Hoosiers didn’t just win — they destroyed the Nittany Lions and left no doubt that Indiana could respond after two rough losses. It seems a bit rash to call Tuesday night a “must-win” game, but you could certainly argue that it was.

With back-to-back losses coming into the game and a marquee matchup with Kentucky looming, the night against Penn State was critical for turning the season around — and Indiana passed the test.

It went scoreless during the first six and a half minutes against Louisville in Indianapolis, while the first six and change against PSU included 12 Indiana points, all on 3-pointers.

Guard Lamar Wilkerson was the star of the show, putting two frustrating performances against Minnesota and Louisville behind him in historic fashion. His 44 points broke the Assembly Hall single-game scoring record, while his 10 3-pointers set the single-game Indiana record.

“We lost the last two, so we were coming together as a team collectively, trying to get back to the way we were playing,” Wilkerson said after the win.

With his hot start from beyond the arc, Indiana’s offense scored 58 points in the first half and held a 32-point lead at the break. The Hoosiers picked up right where they left off in the second half as well, cruising to a 113-72 victory.

The win itself was important enough, but how Indiana won was incredibly telling in terms of how the Hoosiers respond to adversity. The two losses ahead of the Penn State game were brutal, but IU’s performance Tuesday showed just how good it can be when the group is at its best.

“We put a ton of time here this last week on just getting more actions, more movement. Sometimes you can’t always do that. People deny. You can’t just throw the ball from side to side. At some point you have to still be able to go make a play,” DeVries said postgame.

“I thought the guys did a really good job tonight keeping the ball, as we like to say, ‘hot’ — keeping it hot, keeping it moving. Player and ball movement I thought was really good tonight.”

It wasn’t just the offense, though, as Indiana’s defense was incredibly impressive while building its lead in the first half. Penn State made only nine field goals during the opening 20 minutes, as the Hoosiers were active and energetic on the defensive end — a major contrast to what was seen in the previous two games.

With a defense that played hard and an offense that made 17 of 31 shots from beyond the arc, the Hoosiers put together an all-around performance that allowed the Assembly Hall crowd to really get into things.

I’m sure fans across Hoosier Nation were worried that the team was beginning a downward spiral that could’ve included four straight losses. Playing on the road at Rupp Arena is never easy, even with Kentucky’s struggles of late, meaning a loss to Penn State could’ve been disastrous.

Instead, Indiana is 1-1 in Big Ten play and enters its first regular-season matchup against the Wildcats since 2011 with momentum. The Hoosiers could’ve let the pressure get to them after losses to Minnesota and Louisville or been caught looking ahead to Kentucky, but neither was the case.

“Yeah, it’s just keep being ourselves. There’s always things we’ve been working on, whether it’s being more physical or sharing the ball, all those types of things. But just getting back to how we played some basketball,” forward Reed Bailey said when asked what allowed IU to be successful.

If Indiana can continue to play like it did against Penn State, it should find plenty of success as the season moves along. With strong ball movement that produced 30 assists and a collective effort that fueled the defensive energy, the blueprint is there for DeVries’ team to build upon Tuesday night’s one-sided victory.

Kentucky presents the next challenge — and it’s a big one. The matchup is always emotionally charged, but based on their showing against Penn State, emotions aren’t getting the best of the Hoosiers.

Two straight losses ahead of two more high-major matchups could’ve doomed the Hoosiers, but that couldn’t have been further from the case.

Indiana responded, and its 113-72 win over Penn State might end up being incredibly meaningful due to the circumstances surrounding Indiana’s schedule at the time.

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