Durham, Phinisee Come Up Big In Indiana's Overtime Win over Penn State
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The dog house is a lonely place. And when you're playing poorly and it seems like the whole world is crashing down on you, sometimes it just a takes a little thing — or two — to make life grand again.
That happened for veteran guards Al Durham and Rob Phinisee during Indiana's 87-85 overtime win against Penn State in Simon Skjodt Assembly. The pair, which had been struggling mightily in December, were the heroes in this must-win game for the Hoosiers. Durham scored 18 points, his best night in a month, and Phinisee hit the game-winning shot with 13 seconds left in overtime to give Indiana is first Big Ten win.
"Big Shot'' Rob is back, at least for one night.
Durham made a season-high four three-pointers and was instrumental in helping Indiana get off to a good start against Penn State (3-4, 0-3 in the Big Ten). The turnaround was dramatic for the senior guard, who could have been benched just as easily as Phinisee was two games ago.
"Everybody knows I have been struggling a little bit from beyond the arc, but it was good to see (shot finally fall),'' Durham said. "My teammates always kept encouraging me. My coaches kept encouraging me and it just finally went down tonight.
"It was more of just making reads. Getting to the basket was one of the things that was working for us tonight, and we were making the plays to kick out for a three or get it inside. We were just reading off what they were doing defensively and making plays.''
Durham had a great first half, leading the Hoosiers with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a pair of threes, and Indiana never trailed, leading by as many as eight points on two occasions and taking a 38-33 lead into the locker.
Penn State wouldn't go away though, and tied the game at 49-49 with 14:31 to go on an Izaiah Brockington three-pointer. Indiana struggled to cover the perimeter most of the night, allowing the Nittany Lions to make 12 long balls in the game.
But spurred by Phinisee and Durham, Indiana pulled away again. Phinisee hit two mid-range jumpers and a three-pointer and Durham added two more treys himself, the last one coming off an assist from Phinisee. Indiana was suddenly 12, at 66-54 halfway through the final period.
But then Indiana, which has struggled to close out games all season thus far, let the entire lead slip away again. Three pointers by Myreon Jones and Sam Sessoms got Penn State within one, and when Sessoms scored a runner in the late with 28 seconds to go, Penn State actually had its first lead of the game.
Indiana could have won the game in regulation. Trayce Jackson-Davis, who had a team-high 21 points, drove to the rim and was fouled with 7 seconds to go. He made the first free throw to tie the game, but then missed the second, his only miss from the line all night in six tries. Sessoms missed a long three-pointer, so overtime it was.
In OT, nothing was happening on the perimeter for Indiana, but Race Thompson and Jackson-Davis got buckets inside. And on Indiana's final possession, with nothing really happening the offense, Phinisee got into the lane and hit the game-winner on a fade-away jumper just inside the free throw line.
Brockington got a good look in the final seconds for Penn State but missed.
"Yeah, obviously, it was a broken play,'' said Phinisee, who finished with 11 points. "I just saw an opening and I feel like I had to make a shot for my team. I just delivered it.''
Phinisee played 29 minutes off the bench, but played with confidence and came up big when his teammates needed him.
"I mean, I will do whatever it takes. Come off the bench, starting, it doesn't matter,'' Phinisee said. "Really, my teammates really just gave me confidence, and just keep playing aggressive. We just played team ball. I'm just going to keep playing aggressive, be accurate in practice and play my role.''
Indiana junior guard Rob Phinisee puts up the game-winning shot for the Hoosiers in an 87-85 overtime win vs. Penn State (USA TODAY Sportrs)
Indiana can't compete in the tough Big Ten without big contributions from their veteran guards, so it was good to see them get back to playing key roles. They were sick of losing, too
"You can’t get down because we lost two in a row,'' Durham said. "We had to get the third one. We have to get the next one, and we have that next-game mentality. We can't hang our hat on if we lose or win. We have to make sure we are ready for the next game that's coming.
Both guards made big defensive plays as well through the course of the game. That helped get them settled in a bit more too, contributing on both ends.
"I really think making plays defensively, it helps,'' Phinisee said. "I feel like once I am blocking up, getting steals, getting blocks like I did tonight, it translates. And going from defense to offense, that's when we are at our best, running in transition and getting guys open.''
Indiana coach Archie Miller was glad to see Phinisee step up. It's never easy getting benched, but the Hoosiers need hm to play well to win.
"Al Durham and Rob Phinisee tonight, both kids played their butts off the us,'' Miller said. "There's a big difference in our team when our older guys, our guys that have been most experienced are playing with confidence like they did tonight. Al shot the ball in tonight and Rob made big plays, including the game-winner. Hopefully that's going to be a trend we can continue to count on, because we're going to need those guys to continue to play that way.
"I think that goes without saying, all of our veteran guys, guys who have played here, are going to have to be at their best for us to be successful. Our team will only go as far as our veteran returning players can take us. That's what this league is about. Guys that have been through the battles, guys who have been through the wars before, those are the guys that have to be able to stand up tall when it is right. I think it speaks for itself.''
Indiana is back in action on Monday night with a home game against Maryland.
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