Indiana Beats Penn State on Late Tip-in, Advances to Big Ten Tournament Quarters
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Even when they weren't supposed to, Indiana has found a way to win a lot of tight games late through much of this season. They did it again on Thursday night, beating Penn State 61-59 on an Anthony Leal tip-in with five seconds to go in the Big Ten Tournament.
The win, their fifth in a row and 19th of the season, keeps their season alive and sends them into Friday's quarterfinal against No. 3 seed Nebraska at the Target Center in Minneapolis. This was Indiana's first win against Penn State in more than two years, having lost four in a row in the rivalry.
They'll face a similar situation against Nebraska, who took down the Hoosiers twice this year. The game is scheduled to start around 9 p.m. ET, following the Ohio State-Illinois game.
No. 6 seed Indiana had to fight hard for this win, with both teams trading punches back and forth throughout the second half. Neither team led by more than six points throughout the final stanza, and neither team led by more than two for the final 4:23.
Leal, a senior and Bloomington, Ind. native who announced last Sunday that he's coming back to IU for a fifth season, played 24 minutes. He will filling in for fellow senior Trey Galloway, who missed the game with a knee injury.
Leal's game-winner came on Indiana's final possession. The Hoosiers called timeout with 24 seconds to go, and coach Mike Woodson set up a play. They whittled the clock down, and then sophomore forward Malik Reneau drove hard to the basket. He missed, and Leal was right there for the tip, putting it back in with three seconds to go.
"Coach Woodson always talks the most during our huddles. It's a good thing,'' Leal said with a smile on the postgame podium. "I know with the shot clock running down and everything that we're going to get a chance to get a shot, but the odds of that shot going in aren't always high. The odds of losing on a tip-in or a rebound is something we talk about a lot on defense.
"If there's a buzzer beater, we've got to be boxing out. So I knew that, if (Reneau) did happen to miss a shot, to go in there and try to make something happen is a possibility. I'm blessed I was able to do that.''
Leal finished with eight points and four rebounds on the night. Kel'el Ware led the way with 18 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks. Reneau had 12 points and eight rebounds and Mackenzie Mgbako had 11.
Leal's teammates and coaches were thrilled for him. The 2020 Indiana Mr. Basketball from Bloomington South hasn't played a lot during his four years at IU, but he's been called upon a lot more in the back half the season with injuries to Xavier Johnson and now Galloway.
"Coming from the NBA and the 34 years I spent there, we call that a pro. A true pro,'' Woodson said. "He has hung in there with me because he hadn't played a whole lot, but in practice he comes to work every day, and he knows everything that we're doing on both sides of the ball.
"So from a coaching standpoint, we feel comfortable knowing, if we throw him in there, he's not going to embarrass us, himself or our team. He's come in and given us a hell of a lift, and tonight he hits the biggest shot of his college career, the putback. So that's beautiful for him, I think, in terms of the hard work that he's put in. I couldn't be more proud of him.''
Indiana did a great job of harassing Penn State shooters in the first half. The Nittany Lions made just 7-of-33 shots — 21.2 percent. But the Hoosiers couldn't take advantage of it, and went to the locker room with just a five-point lead.
They got the ball inside a lot, but front-court stars Kel'el Ware, Malik Reneau and Mackenzie Mgbako combined to miss 14 shots, fading away more than attacking the basket.
The Nittany Lions, seeded No. 11, started the second half well, and took their first lead at the 17:39 mark on a three-point play by Puff Johnson to make it 35-34. They added two more long three-pointers and were suddenly up 42-36, getting a break with Indiana starting just 1-for-7 from the field. The 15-4 Penn State run flipped the script.
But Indiana had a rally in them, too, and took back the lead with a Gabe Cupps three-pointer at the 12:27 mark to make it 43-42. Baskets were hard to come by on both sides. Penn State point guard Ace Baldwin Jr., who destroyed Indiana in the first two games, made just one of his first 12 shots.
''Our first two games, he was really comfortable, operating on the floor, being able to penetrate and make plays for everyone on his team,'' Leal said. "But coming into this game, we challenged our bigs to guard the ball screens differently, and they did a great job of that.
"For wing guys like us, it made it much easier to keep a guy like Ace under corral and under control. So big props to the bigs for being able to execute that game plan.''
Indiana has won five straight games, and it all coincides with the return of Johnson, who missed six games with a wrist injury. He's been a big part of the 5-0 run, and even though he only had four points Thursday, he had five assists and six rebounds and was a pest defensively on Baldwin and others for all 37 minutes.
"He's been in college for a minute,'' Ware said of Johnson. "I feel like X, he brings, of course, the speed. He's also, you could say, a veteran. So just with him being on the court and his experience and just being able to lead us every time we go to a huddle, telling us what we need to do, fixing us if we make a mistake, that means a lot.
"Him just bringing it on the court, I feel like that helped us out today, even the last five games.''
Woodson has always championed Johnson's leadership, and has talked often about how much this team struggles when he's not around. Being out there for nearly every minute on Thursday meant the world to this team.
"Getting him back gives us some stability in the backcourt. Defensively, we've picked it. up and we've been making our free throws. We're sharing the ball. I charted it, and we're No. 1 in the Big Ten in assists (since Johnson's return).''
Penn State had won the two regular season meetings, winning 85-71 on Feb. 3 in Bloomington and 83-74 in State College on Feb. 24. They'd won four straight in the series and Woodson was just 1-5 against the Nittany Lions coming in to Thursday night's game.
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