Halftime: IU 44, Penn State 27

After starting a little slow and never really breaking away from their first Big Ten opponent against Iowa, the IU men's basketball stormed out of the gates early with the help from two senior hot hands to take a 44-27 lead at halftime.

Senior forward Christian Watford scored the team's first five points, including a bucket down low in the Hoosiers' first possession. The next time down the court, Watford hit a 3-pointer from the left wing that commenced a 13-0 IU run after the team fell behind early 3-2.

Watford finished the half with 13 points after scoring just 10 points during the entire game last season when the Hoosiers visited the Nittany Lions.

Senior guard Jordan Hulls broke out of the slump he fell into in Iowa City on New Years Eve, where he failed to score a single point, shooting 0-for-10 from the field. Hulls scored 10 points in the first 20 minutes, including 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.

After IU ran out to a 31-13 lead midway through the half, Penn State showed a brief sign of fight, going on a 6-0 run in less than a minute to cut IU's lead to just 12, but the Hoosiers bumped it right back up to finish the half up 17 points.


-Nathan Brown