CHICAGO — The Penn State men’s basketball team is headed to the championship game of the Big Ten tournament for the first time since 2011 and the second time in program history.
The Nittany Lions held onto the lead for all but 7 minutes and 20 seconds to defeat No. 19 Indiana, 77-73, on Saturday in the United Center.
The Nittany Lions were up by 15 points with just over two minutes left in the game, but the Hoosiers would whittle it down to one point with 33 seconds remaining. Penn State scored three free throws to secure the win.
Jalen Pickett led the way for the Nittany Lions with 28 points — his first 20-plus-point performance of the tournament. Seth Lundy also scored in double figures, finishing with 16 points.
Penn State started the first half a bit sluggish, only shooting 1 of 6, including 1 of 4 from 3-point range by the time the first media timeout hit. Meanwhile Indiana was 6 of 9 from the field and took an early 12-6 lead.
The fortune was quickly reversed as the Nittany Lions went on an 18-2 run over 3-minutes, 29 seconds. Penn State got up by as many as 12 points with 6:32 to go in the first half before the Hoosiers started chipping away at the lead.
Indiana brought it back to a two-possession game twice, but Penn State would lead 34-26 at halftime.
Penn State was slowed down to open the second half as Indiana was making every shot difficult for the Nittany Lions. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers scored on 10 of their first 14 possessions.
The Hoosiers tied the game for the first time with just 10:23 remaining, but Penn State responded with a 21-6 run that gave the Nittany Lions a 15-point lead with 3:26 remaining. Huge 3-pointers from Andrew Funk and Camren Wynter switched the momentum.
But Indiana wasn’t done yet and they rallied back. It wasn’t enough and for the second time this season the Nittany Lions defeated Indiana.
The Nittany Lions connected on 40.4% of their shot attempts, including 34.8% from 3-point range. They held the Hoosiers to 47.0% overall and 14.3% from 3-point range. Jackson-Davis led for Indiana with 24 points followed by Tamar Bates and Race Thompson with 14 and 11, respectively.
Despite Indiana having one of the best bigs in the nation — Jackson-Davis — Penn State grabbed nine offensive rebounds. It scored 12 points on the extra opportunity which helped them to the win.
Key stat
After shooting 62.1% (18 of 29) from the free-throw line the day before, the Nittany Lions shot 88.5% (23 of 26) against Indiana.
Up next
The Nittany Lions advance to play Purdue in the championship game of the Big Ten tournament. Tipoff is set for about 3:30 p.m. Penn State lost both games — 76-63 and 80-60 — against the Boilermakers during the regular season.
