[Postgame 3-2-1] What We Learned From Indiana's Collapse Against Penn State

Here are three key stats, two observations, and one lingering question from Indiana's 85-71 loss against Penn State.

This loss has brought us to the official low point of the Mike Woodson era at Indiana.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, what was once an 11-point lead turned into a 14-point defeat on Saturday afternoon. That cannot happen, especially at home against a much less talented opponent without their top scorer.

Once Penn State took the lead, Indiana’s coaches didn’t have any answers and the players’ fight wilted throughout the second half.

Meanwhile, Penn State kept coming, led by their ace of a point guard; and now the Nittany Lions have notched two straight double-digit Big Ten road wins at the RAC and Assembly Hall. Pretty impressive for a first-year Big Ten coach.

“We had a four-point lead going into the half and we weren't playing well at all. I mean, and then we come out in the second half and it's the same thing,” Indiana senior guard Trey Galloway said postgame. “We are just not playing hard enough and smart enough on the defensive end.”

Indiana dominated the paint in the first half, scoring 26 points; however, in the second half, the Nittany Lions defense shut down the Hoosiers, only allowing 14 points in the paint.

The Hoosiers first home loss to Penn State in a decade drops them to 13-9 and 5-6 in the Big Ten.

Did you miss yesterday's edition of the postgame show?

3 Meaningful Stats

1. The Nittany Lions made 12 3s.

Penn State went into yesterday afternoon’s game ranked 269th in the country in 3-point percentage, shooting a notch over 30% on the season.

Yesterday, Mike Rhoades’ team shot an incredible 54.5% from beyond the arc, going 12-22.

“We haven’t shot like that all year long,” Rhoades said of the dozen makes from behind the arc.

The Nittany Lions finished the afternoon scoring 1.466 points per possession. Even when Indiana started scoring on consecutive possessions, they could not string together stops.

There was seemingly no gameplan for how to defend the screen. It turned into a guessing game between the guys on the floor as to whether or not they would be switching screens. The lack of communication on defense allowed Penn State to take open threes.

Penn State’s showing was the second most dominant offensive performance by a visiting team at Assembly Hall this season behind Purdue’s beat down of the Hoosiers last month.

On the other side, Indiana shot an abysmal 5-19 from 3 after starting the game 3-6 from deep.

“It was like we were a step slow,” head coach Mike Woodson said. “It’s disappointing.”

This season has offered more evidence that winning college basketball games in the 21st century without making 3s at a consistent clip is near impossible.

2. Kel’el Ware had another dominant double-double.

Despite the team’s inconsistencies, Kel’el Ware’s improved play on offense has remained consistent throughout the season.

The sophomore had a game-high 25 points on 8-12 shooting, also going 1-2 from 3.

JAMIE OWENS / Inside The Hall

Ware has only improved this season, and the most significant jump in his game has been from the charity stripe. The big fella drilled all eight of his free throws yesterday.

It almost feels that, once again, Indiana is wasting a potentially all-Big Ten first-team player as Ware’s draft stock is rising all the way up toward becoming a lottery pick.

Kel’el didn’t score in the first 11 minutes of the second half, which was due in large part to Indiana going away from what was working and Kel’el not being strong enough with the ball in the opportunities he did get.

3. Indiana had three bench points.

Of all the ugly that transpired throughout yesterday’s game, the minimal production from the three players who came off the bench was the most concerning.

Until CJ Gunn’s and-one with just over two minutes left in a game that was all but wrapped up, Indiana’s bench had contributed a Bloomington Bagel on the stat sheet.

The Nittany Lions’ bench out-scored the Hoosiers’ bench 18-3. It hurts even more when it’s a 14-point defeat.

There was negative energy from the bench yesterday, not just on the court but on the bench itself.

This year’s team has fed off the energy of the bench and crowd, but when there’s no energy at all, from anywhere, a 14-point loss to a sub-500 team is the result.

“They were flat as hell,” Woodson said of his team’s energy.

Indiana really could have a scoring or energy spark from Leal, Walker, or Gunn yesterday, but neither was able to provide it. Other guys like Kaleb Banks and Payton Sparks never even got a chance.