It has been a long season for the Indiana Hoosiers, but they have one last chance to redeem themselves in the Big Ten Tournament. Indiana and Penn State met only once this year, and it was to open Big Ten play in Assembly Hall. At the time, Indiana was 9-4 and had dreams of playing in the postseason for the first time in three years. The Nittany Lions were coming off of a lackluster non-conference season, so the 69-60 Penn State win was a shock at the time.
Afterward, the teams headed in opposite directions. Penn State pulled off multiple upsets over Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Illinois to finish a very respectable 9-9 in league play. Indiana struggled mightily, beating only Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota to finish 3-15 in last place. The Hoosiers have been a solid home team under coach Tom Crean, but it is away from Assembly Hall where they have really struggled. Indiana is just 3-40 in games away from Bloomington since Crean took over three seasons ago. Indiana's Christian Watford leads the Hoosiers at 16 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game. Verdell Jones III also averages 12.7 per game.
Penn State is led by Talor Battle, who earned second team all-Big Ten honors a week ago. He is second in the league in scoring at 20.4 points per game, only a tenth of a point behind Purdue's JaJuan Johnson. Jeff Brooks helps with 12.7 points per game for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State comes in tied for the worst overall record in the Big Ten Tournament, as they are only 6-13 all-time. Indiana is 8-13, but has not won a game since 2006 in the event. Penn State defeated Indiana in the 6/11 two years ago, but lost as the 11 seed to Minnesota last season.