After a road win against Michigan and before two games against No. 5 Iowa and No. 10 Michigan State, IU had a road game against a Penn State team with only two Big Ten wins before Saturday.
However, ahead of this stretch, IU lost 68-63 in State College, Pennsylvania, while shooting 33 percent from the field.
“We never overlook any game because in the Big Ten anybody can beat anybody,” senior guard Yogi Ferrell said. “But we didn’t come out in this game with the same mentality that we’ve had in the past couple months.”
It was a game where IU turned the ball over eight times in the first seven minutes. The Hoosiers finished with 11 turnovers in the first half and 15 for the game.
It was a game where Ferrell shot 3-of-12 from the field and turned the ball over five times. He also shot only 1-of-6 from behind the arc. Junior forward Troy Williams didn’t start the second half and only played three seconds in the final 2:57 of the game.
Scoring a game-high 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting, Brandon Taylor led the way for Penn State. He also made four of his nine 3-point attempts.
“I’m not sure why we didn’t get out there after he hit all those threes in the left corner,” Ferrell said. “We basically just let him get easy catches, and it all started in the first half.”
IU’s leading scorer was senior guard Nick Zeisloft, who scored 14 points.
He made half of IU’s 3-pointers in the first half, part of IU’s 6-of-12 performance from behind the arc in the half.
The Hoosiers continued to shoot from deep in the second half, but they weren’t making the shots. They shot 3-of-15 from behind the arc and only attempted eight field goals from inside the arc.
These shooting decisions continued even when IU got into the bonus with more than 12 minutes left in the half. More than once, freshman center Thomas Bryant was ignored in the post.
But when IU needed a scorer down the stretch, they turned to Bryant inside. He scored six of IU’s last eight points.
He only finished with 10 points in the loss because he didn’t get the ball in the post a lot. He finished 3-of-4 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line.
With about eight minutes left in the game, Bryant looked fed up. He had posted his man, but he didn’t get the ball. Bryant stomped his feet and yelled, upset he had gained position once again and not received the ball.
“We have to do a better job of getting him the ball, and he has to do a better job of escaping the contact,” Crean said.
For three straight possessions with less than a minute and a half left, IU went to Bryant.
The first time, he finished through contact and made the free throw to tie the game. The second time he was fouled and made both free throws to bring IU within one point.
He was hit on the third and final possession as well and drew a whistle for the third straight time. But this time the whistle wasn’t for a foul. The whistle was for a travel a step or two before the potential foul.
IU didn’t score for the rest of the game, and Penn State closed the game out by shooting 4-of-6 from the free throw line.
Crean had a hard time pinpointing why IU lost. The Hoosiers had won four conference road games before this.
He said his team had a great week of preparation, so he wasn’t sure why the focus wasn’t there in a Big Ten game.
He did find one word to describe IU’s loss, however.
“Ridiculous.”
