Penn State goes cold on three-pointers in a loss to Indiana at the Palestra

Three for 21. That was Penn State’s performance on three-pointers Sunday as the Nittany Lions fell, 77-71, to Indiana at the Palestra.

Penn State (12-3, 2-2 Big 10) started strong, but shooting woes prevented the Nittany Lions from keeping up with Indiana (12-3, 3-1). Still, the Lions stayed close till the end behind the play of guards Nick Kern Jr. and Ace Baldwin Jr.

“You don’t make all your shots,” said Penn State coach Mike Rhoades. “That’s reality. You’re not going to make them all. … You know how you make threes, you take the right ones, take good ones. Right guys, taking the right ones,.”

The Hoosiers leaned on senior center Oumar Ballo, who scored 25 points, and sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako, who added 20. Indiana was without its leading scorer, junior Malik Reneau, after he suffered an apparent knee injury in the Hoosiers' last game against Rutgers.

For the third year in a row, Penn State packed the Palestra in a sellout.

“Basketball is really important in the city of Philadelphia,” Rhoades said. “I’ve known that my whole life, and to be a part of it is really, really cool. We have so many fans and alumni and Penn Staters in this area. [By] going to them, it created a great college environment.”

Sunday marked the 63rd time that Penn State played at the Palestra.

Penn State point guard Baldwin who is on the watch list for the Naismith Men’s Player of the Year award, put on a playmaking clinic in the first half.

On back-to-back possessions starting at the 10-monute, 20-second mark of the first, Baldwin found teammates on beautiful feeds. The latter of the two was a bounce pass through Hoosiers defenders to find a streaking Kern in the paint for a dunk.

Baldwin ended his day with 12 points, three rebounds, and seven assists.

Indiana found pay dirt feeding senior center Oumar Ballo down low. The 7-foot, 265-pound center was a matchup nightmare for Penn State’s frontcourt.

Ballo scored 14 points and grabbed nine boards through the first 20 minutes.

Mgbako hit two three-pointers to start the second half for the Hoosiers. Along with a driving layup, the sophomore forward quickly scored eight points in the first moments of the half.

Indiana built its lead to 16 points midway through the half.

“We weren’t ready to play coming out of halftime. And that’s on me,” Rhoades said. “I’m mad at myself, because we’ve had some really good starts to the second half [this season], but we didn’t today.”

Penn State started to chip away at the lead behind the scoring of Kern, who finished with 21 points.

With 6:45 left in the game, the Nittany Lions finally hit a shot from beyond after 12 straight misses, courtesy of Freddie Dillione V from the corner. Kern added another three, cutting Indiana’s lead to four. Former Temple Owl Zach Hicks cut Indiana’s lead to two at the 1:40 mark with another three, but Penn State did not score again. The Hoosiers iced the game with free throws.