No. 11 seed Penn State men’s basketball (16-17, 9-11 Big Ten) was defeated by No. 6-seeded Indiana (19-13, 10-10 Big Ten) 61-59, falling in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. It was a back-and-forth battle between both teams, but Penn State was unable to come away with the victory and advance to the quarterfinals.

Puff Johnson led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds while Zach Hicks had 11 points and five rebounds of his own. Anthony Leal scored eight points but knocked down the game-winning layup with five seconds remaining in regulation.

How It Happened

Kel’el Ware won the opening tip against Qudus Wahab and didn’t take long to get the scoring starting, slamming home an alley-oop dunk to start the game in just a few seconds. Hicks missed a three to open the shooting for Penn State while Malik Reneau scored a layup on the other end to make it 4-0 Indiana early on.

A missed three by Ace Baldwin Jr. and back-to-back missed layups by Wahab prevented the Nittany Lions from scoring for the first three minutes of action. Wahab grabbed a rebound and found Johnson for a two-handed slam for the first points for Penn State. On the other end, Johnson made it back and took a charge call.

OK PUFF pic.twitter.com/5RytweTPsn

— Onward State (@OnwardState) March 15, 2024

However, after the make from Johnson, Penn State went cold and the Hoosiers took advantage. Mackenzie Mgbako and Reneau hit three layups to make it 10-2 in favor of Indiana, but Penn State finally got some offense going.

After an 1-11 start from the field for Penn State, D’Marco Dunn drilled a three to make it a five-point game. Ware missed back-to-back shots and Nick Kern Jr. drilled an attempt to make it a one-possession game. Xavier Johnson missed a three of his own, and Dunn knocked down a turnaround jumper to tie the game at 10.

Gabe Cupps didn’t let that last long as he drilled the first three of the night for Indiana. Baldwin was fouled heading into a media break, and out of the timeout, knocked down two foul shots to make it a one-point game.

Indiana then went on a huge 7-0 run. Ware and Mgbako both knocked down layups and Leal drilled a three to make the score 20-12 for the Hoosiers. Baldwin was fouled and hit one free throw to end the Hoosiers’ run, and Puff Johnson knocked down a pair of free throws to get the deficit back to five.

Xavier Johnson and Mgbako hit back-to-back layups to make it 24-15 with just over six minutes to play in the first half. Hicks then drilled a huge three-pointer and picked up a foul call on the shot, hitting the free throw and finishing the four-point play.

Ware and Demetrius Lilley traded dunks and Penn State got a huge pair of free throws from Wahab to make it a three-point game. Anthony Walker slammed another dunk for Indiana, but Wahab was fouled again and hit both free throws.

Mgbako missed a triple after the Wahab free throws and Kern drove through the lane for the first layup of the game for the Nittany Lions, ending the 0-13 start on layups. With Indiana up a point, Mgbako was fouled and hit both free throws to go back up three.

In the final minute of the first half, Mgbako knocked down a mid-range jumper to increase the Hoosier lead to five. With the final seconds ticking down, Penn State was unable to get a final shot to drop, ending the first 20 minutes down 32-27.

At the start of the second half, Baldwin scored his first field goal of the night, driving to the hole for a layup. Ware was fouled on the other end and knocked down both free throws. After misses from both teams, Hicks knocked down a big three to cut the deficit back to two.

Puff Johnson missed a floater but grabbed a huge steal on the other end, drove the length of the floor, and hit a huge layup to tie the game and get the foul call. He knocked down the free throw to finish the three-point play and take a one-point lead.

Reneau didn’t let that lead last long as he answered back with a quick layup, but the big shots kept falling for Penn State. Kern and Hicks drilled back-to-bak three-pointers, and Hicks drew a foul on his shot, hitting the free throw to finish his four-point play and make it 42-36 in favor of Penn State.

Zach Hicks. Automatic. pic.twitter.com/GZDnqHn6cx

— Onward State (@OnwardState) March 15, 2024

After a media break, Ware slammed another dunk to cut the deficit to four. Penn State was unable to knock down a shot over the next couple of minutes and Indiana took advantage of it. Xavier Johnson hit a pullup jumper and after a turnover by Baldwin, and Cupps drilled a long three-pointer that gave the Hoosiers the lead once again.

Kern was fouled and missed both free throws, but Puff Johnson grabbed another big steal and took it down the court for a two-handed slam. Indiana went back out in front after Leal hit a pair of free throws and Ware hit a turnaround jumper, but Puff Johnson tied things back up with a long three-pointer.

Leal was fouled again and hit one free throw to go back up one, but a foul by Cupps allowed Dunn to hit a pair of free throws to make it 49-48 Penn State. Ware answered back with a turnaround floater to retake the lead and back-to-back bad fouls by Penn State allowed Indiana to shoot four straight free throws to go up five.

Baldwin drove through the lane and hit a layup to make it a one-possession game again. Mgbako was fouled and hit one free throw before Dunn was fouled as well, though he knocked down both of his shots.

After a missed layup by Leal, Puff Johnson was fouled coming down with the rebound and knocked down both free throws to tie the game at 55. On the other end, Wahab fouled Ware was fouled by Wahab, knocking him out of the game. Ware hit only one shot to go up by a point with just over three minutes to play.

Playing with four fouls, Puff Johnson drove through the lane and got fouled, sending him to the line. He hit both free throws to go back up one. Ware was fouled on the other end but only made one free throw to tie the game at 57.

Hicks missed a three on the following possession and Ware took advantage of the small-ball lineup Penn State had on the floor, slamming an alley-oop to take a two-point lead. After a timeout by Penn State with a minute and a half left, Baldwin drove to the rim and got his layup to drop to tie things up at 59.

Both Xavier Johnson and Baldwin missed threes and Baldwin was able to get a jump ball call to get possession back to Penn State with just over 30 seconds left to play. Baldwin drove to the rim on the following possession but missed the shot and Indiana grabbed possession, calling a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Reneau missed a layup but Leal was able to come down with the board and put up another layup that dropped to take the lead with five seconds remaining. Dunn took the inbound and found Puff Johnson open for three but his shot was off and the Hoosiers hung on for the 61-59 win.

Takeaways

• It was a battle between both squads but Penn State was unable to come away with the win. The Nittany Lions shot an ugly 16-58 (27.6%) from the field, which ultimately caused them to not be able to pull away from the Hoosiers throughout the game.
• Bad fouls also led to this, as Wahab and Kern both fouled out with over four minutes remaining in the game, causing the Nittany Lions to play small down the stretch. Indiana took advantage of this and it allowed them to get the final rebound of the game and get the game-winning layup to drop.
• Puff Johnson came to play. After getting the start over Dunn, Puff Johnson made his time in the loss count dropping 16 points and eight rebounds, and also picked up two steals. Despite missing the potential game-winning shot, Puff Johnson played one of his best games of the season.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will now wait and see if they will make the NIT or any postseason tournament or if their season is over.