Penn State Stung in Indiana, Again
Indiana did it to Penn State again.
For the second time in barely two months, Indiana benefited from a bit of unsure officiating to outlast Penn State 87-85 in overtime Wednesday. This time, the Hoosiers, desperate for their first Big Ten men's basketball win, were aided by consecutive pieces of officiating that Lions interim coach Jim Ferry politely found questionable.
With 7 seconds remaining in regulation and his team leading by one, Penn State's Myles Dread was called for a foul against Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis, who made one free throw to tie the game at 80. Then, on the Lions' ensuing possession, Indiana was not called for a foul, though Ferry thought that the Hoosiers' Rob Phinisee impeded Sam Sessoms attempted game-winning shot, or at least prevented Sessoms from landing afterward.
Indiana then won the game in overtime, as Phinisee made a difficult turnaround jumper in traffic with 13 seconds remaining. That negated Penn State's rally from a 12-point deficit with 10 minutes to play, which Sessoms ultimately erased on a jumper with 28 seconds remaining that gave Penn State its first lead of the game.
Perhaps the ending felt somewhat familiar. In late October, Penn State's football team erased a 10-point deficit in the second half, taking the lead with 2:30 remaining, only to fall 36-35 in overtime when Indiana quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. was ruled to have scored on a diving 2-point conversion at the pylon. A booth review ultimately upheld the call.
"Just really disappointed," said Ferry, who engaged in light questioning of the calls after saying that "the Big Ten has the best referees in the country."
"Every play is such a bang-bang play," Ferry said of the no-call on Sessoms' shot attempt at the end of regulation. "I obviously would have liked for it to have been called a foul. And there were two sequences, right? It was the last possession at the other end [where Dread was called for a defensive foul], where I thought Myles got a hand in and stole it. They got to the free-throw line on that.
"I didn't think Sam was allowed his space to land [after the shot] and, I'm not too sure, I didn't look at it closely enough, but I'm not too sure that there wasn't some kind of contact up top. But these guys are really good officials. They work really hard. Just really disappointed."
Penn State (3-4 overall) finds itself in an 0-3 hole in the Big Ten with a grueling stretch of games forthcoming. The Lions face Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan and Rutgers (all ranked teams) in the first 12 days of January after playing just three games in the second half of December.
Ferry considered Sessoms' late attempt the right play, considering the junior guard had given Penn State the lead on a similar shot two possessions earlier.
"He made that shot [earlier] that actually should have been the game-winner," Ferry said.
A few stats stood out from the box score. Indiana outscored Penn State 50-28 in the paint, a season-long concern for a team that allows too much interior scoring.
Further, the Hoosiers shot 17 for 21 from the foul line, making more free throws than Penn State attempted (15). It was another number that underscored Penn State's lack of an inside presence.
As usual, the Lions made their offensive bones outside, shooting 58 percent (7 of 12) from 3-point range in the second half. Four players scored in double figures, with Myreon Jones getting 20 and Sessoms adding 17.
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