Hulls, Zeller lead IU to second round while in familiar stadium

The IU men’s basketball team was unfamiliar with winning a postseason game in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Jordan Hulls and Cody Zeller were not.

The junior guard and freshman forward both won Indiana state championships playing in the building formerly known as Conseco Fieldhouse.

The duo combined for 39 points to lead No. 5-seeded IU (25-7, 11-7) to a 75-58 victory against No. 12-seeded Penn State (12-20, 4-14) on Thursday.

Hulls said he took advantage of the familiar surroundings.

“Yeah, it’s not my first time playing here,” Hulls said. “It’s a different shooting background, but shots were falling down for me, my teammates were finding me when I was open, and I was able to create a little bit on my own. Luckily, the shots were
falling down.”

The shots fell down in bunches for Hulls, who finished with 20 points and shot 7-of-10 from the field. Hulls came in firing on all cylinders with 13 points in the first 9:38 to get IU out to the early lead.

A second foul forced Hulls to the bench after his fast start. The 2009 Indiana Mr. Basketball said IU picked up its defense when he went out.

“I got in foul trouble there, but my teammates picked it up on the defensive end,” Hulls said.

While Hulls lit up the Nittany Lions from 3-point range, Zeller took control on the interior. All of IU’s first 22 points came from Zeller and Hulls.

By game’s end, Zeller finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, which was his fourth double-double of his career. Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers said Zeller gave his undersized squad more than it
could handle.

“He’s a very difficult matchup for anybody, especially us because we’re a little bit small,” Chambers said.

When shots weren’t falling for Zeller after his first nine points, the freshman forward found a different way to jump-start the IU offense.

Though he shot just 1-of-2 from the floor in the second half, Zeller ended the night with 15 free-throw attempts.

“He’s a problem,” Chambers said. “They can put it inside, and he just shoots at such a great clip. He’s not just a big, he’s an athletic big. He’s strong, and he’s physical. He plays like a wily veteran.”

Though the 15 free-throw attempts were a career high, they weren’t falling all night.
Zeller missed three straight in the second half before he got his fourth to rattle home. After it went down, Zeller pointed to sophomore forward Will Sheehey on the bench and cracked a smile.

“He just told me to not worry about it and move on to the next one, which is exactly what I did,” Zeller said. “I don’t know how I missed three in a row.”

Zeller and Hulls helped lead an IU attack that notched its second victory of the season at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Though shots weren’t falling for Zeller like they were for Hulls, Zeller said he had to find other ways to get the job done.

“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Zeller said. “They were being physical down low, which we’ve seen quite a bit this year. But I just tried to stay aggressive, get to the free-throw line, get rebounds and do all the little things the team needed to win.”