Hoosiers look to end slide at home against Penn State

Following IU’s home loss to Minnesota on Jan. 12, IU Coach Tom Crean said he wasn’t sure if his players knew how to handle success.

The Hoosiers were ranked in the top 10 for the first time in the Crean era and had knocked off three ranked teams in less than a month.

Flash forward a week after the Minnesota loss, and the No. 11/13 Hoosiers (15-4, 3-4) have lost three games in a row. They return home Sunday searching for that early season success when they take on Penn State (9-10, 1-5) in a noon tip.

On the offensive end of the floor, the Hoosiers still top all Big Ten teams in field goal percentage, but ball handling has been an issue in conference play.

The Hoosiers had 10 second-half turnovers against Nebraska on Wednesday and have 21 more turnovers than assists in seven conference games, compared to non-conference play when IU had 40 more assists than turnovers.

“For us, we’ve got to take care of the ball better,” Crean said following the loss to the Cornhuskers. “I think we are going to go back and look at the film and see the turnovers in the second half and just see how excruciatingly painful those were for us because those turned into more easy baskets for Nebraska.”

Following the Nebraska game, Crean said taking care of the ball is IU’s emphasis, but he still has his questions concerning the defensive end.

IU has allowed 70 points in all seven Big Ten games this season, and Crean said the team did not do a good job of fighting through screens or making stops late in the second half against the Cornhuskers.

The defensive struggles extend back to Jan. 8 in the first meeting between Penn State and Indiana.

The Hoosiers beat the Nittany Lions 88-82 in University Park, Pa., and those 82 points tied for the most scored by Penn State this season.

Despite putting up 82 points, Penn State’s leading scorer Tim Frazier was just 7-of-23 from the floor and fouled out in the game’s waning minutes.

Earlier this week, Crean compared Frazier to Nebraska guard Bo Spencer, who had 23 points (nine higher than his season average) Wednesday against the Hoosiers.

Frazier is second in the Big Ten in scoring average, leading the league with 6.6 assists per game and logging the most minutes of any player in the conference.

In the win at Penn State, IU overcame the defensive woes thanks to a 16-of-24 performance from 3-point range.

The 16 threes were one short of a school record, and IU got seven of those from junior guard Jordan Hulls.

Hulls’ 28 points were a season high, but since that game, he has gone just 4-of-17 from 3-point range during the Hoosiers’ three-game losing streak.

The Hoosiers and Hulls will return home Sunday, and despite battling adversity in the past week, their mindset refuses to be negative.

“We understand disappointment is inevitable in life, but discouragement is our choice, and we choose not to have it, so that’s our biggest goal right now as a coaching staff and with our team,” Crean said.