Hosting Indiana, Lions hold big opportunity

Riding a two-game winning streak and a 3-2 Big Ten record, the Penn State men’s basketball team returns to action Wednesday evening at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Hosting Indiana (12-6 overall, 2-3), the Nittany Lions have an opportunity to reach a 4-2 record in conference play for the first time since 1996. Hoping for a large crowd during the midweek game, the program is incentivizing turnout by offering Dollar Dog Night, a Terrence Samuel trading card for the first 2,500 fans, and maybe most appealing to Penn State’s large football fan base, an in-person appearance by Nittany Lion sophomore running back Saquon Barkley as he’s formally recognized for his Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year award.

The promotions come with good reason:

Enjoying what Julian Moore called "one of their best seasons" in recent memory, the Nittany Lions have another opportunity to climb in the conference standings. With a win, Penn State would find itself just half a game out of first place leaders Maryland and Wisconsin a third of the way through the Big Ten schedule.

According to redshirt junior wing man Payton Banks, the attitude of head coach Patrick Chambers that has carried the program throughout his tenure at Penn State has now been matched by an overall ability to consistently take on the league’s best opponents.

“We can play with anybody since I've been here, regardless of the team we have. It's especially noticeable this year when we're going toe to toe with some of the better teams in the league,” said Banks. “It's just the confidence, it all stems from Coach's tenacity in practice. He hasn't wavered one time in the last four years I've been here about that. I think it definitely stems from him.”

That tenacity could be especially important Wednesday evening.

Squaring off against an Indiana program that leads the conference in scoring at 84.6 points per game, Penn State will likely need to dramatically outscore its 52-point output in a 2-point win against Minnesota on Saturday.

Still, said Banks, in a season in which the Nittany Lions’ scoring output checks in at 72.7 points per game - a dramatic increase above recent seasons in the low to mid-60s - which has opened a versatility for the team this year on off shooting outings.

“Our offense has definitely been carrying us through a lot of games and it's really good to see if we don't have those great shooting nights that we can still win,” said Banks. “We have trust in each other that we can come back against a really good Minnesota team and still not shoot the ball well. I think it was a really good confidence booster, especially for us and the young guys and we're just trying to move on from there.”

Against the Hoosiers, aside from keeping pace with their high-powered offensive production, the Nittany Lions have also spent the week focusing on the defensive side of the ball. Particularly efficient and deadly from beyond-the-arc, Banks noted that 3-point defense has been an important ingredient to this week’s practices. The Hoosiers, knocking down 38.8 percent of their shots from deep, check in at No. 2 in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage.

Similarly, the long rebounds that define misses from 3-point shooting teams have been a focal point. Coming off an effort in which the Nittany Lions allowed nine offensive rebounds to Minnesota, Chambers said that and ball security have also been integral this week.

“We can still find bodies. Nine rebounds might not be a lot to everybody, but it's a lot to me, especially where we started to get to, holding teams to four. That's where I'd like to be. That means everybody is finding a body on every possession,” said Chambers. “But there's little things that we need to do a better job. Ball screen defense, post defense… We can get a lot better. Convert, transition defense, we can do a lot better pointing, talking, finding bodies. So there's a long way to go on that end.”

Presented with another opportunity to advance a season that has been filled with ups and downs, though, the Nittany Lions are thinking about the here and now rather than the potential that could exist for the future. An admittedly young team, though every scholarship player currently holds at least another year of eligibility, the Nittany Lions are trying to “keep the train rolling.”

Said Moore, “It's really exciting for us to look forward and see that, but at the same time, we're really trying to get good now. We have the talent and the mindset now to try to get better and do everything we can to win. We're focused on right now, really.”

The Nittany Lions and Hoosiers tip at 7 p.m. at the BJC. The game will air on the BTN.