Indiana men’s basketball (7-2, 0-1 Big Ten) is set to take on Penn State (8-1, 0-0 Big Ten) in its second game of conference play and first at home this evening.
The Hoosiers are coming off an 87-78 loss to Louisville that wasn’t necessarily as close as the final score indicates. Indiana got down 16-0 early in the game and wasn’t able to dig itself out of that hole despite a handful of mini-runs to get back into the game.
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The Nittany Lions are coming off of three consecutive wins against mid-major competition, all of which are sub-200 in KenPom’s efficiency rankings. The offense performed remarkably well in those games, with Penn State’s lowest point total coming out to 87.
Indiana Hoosiers vs Penn State Nittany Lions
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Game Time/Date: 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 9
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Game Location: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana
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Streaming: YouTubeTV/FuboTV
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KenPom Spread: Hoosiers by 11
Predictions
Well, Indiana’s lost to a worse team already.
Penn State’s an interesting one under Mike Rhoades because on paper you’d think the defense should be better than the offense but that’s not true. The Nittany Lion offense isn’t outstanding but it is top-100 and scoring well to open the season.
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They shoot the ball reasonably well but don’t shoot it very often, doing so less than the vast majority of Division-I teams. The ball doesn’t move all that well though, their A/FGM is also toward the bottom of the country this season.
On defense they’re grinding out opponents into late clock situations, which haven’t been great for Indiana. They guard the 3-point line well but have trouble in the paint.
Indiana should win. That was true against Minnesota too. Take that as you will.
