For much of the season, Penn State had been a completely different team on the road compared to at home playing in the Bryce Jordan Center.
This week was going to be a huge test for the Nittany Lions as they had two consecutive road games at tough places to play.
They earned a gritty victory over Rutgers and headed out to Indiana for a massive Saturday matchup and to play in a place they hadn’t won since 2014.
Once again, Penn State would have to compete without their leading scorer [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag], and once again, they were able to pull off an upset win.
This might have been the most complete game the Nittany Lions have played all season, beating the Indiana Hoosiers 85-71.
It started out tough, getting into a 10-point hole about seven minutes into the game. That deficit largely stayed for the majority of the first half, until three-pointers started to fall and they entered halftime down 41-37.
Penn State took their first lead of the game just about four minutes into the second half after back-to-back threes from [autotag]Zach Hicks[/autotag] and [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] to make it 45-43.
Similarly to what they did against Rutgers, once the Nittany Lions grabbed the lead, they never gave it back.
Their defense stifled much of what Indiana could do in the second half and allowed their offense to continue operating at a high level.
Baldwin was spectacular, scoring 22 points on 8-14 shooting while adding eight assists, but it was the role players who stepped up in big way and got Penn State an important Quad 2 victory.
Hicks had his best game in a Nittany Lions jersey. He made four threes on 50-percent shooting, finishing with 19 points, five rebounds and two steals.
[autotag]Jameel Brown[/autotag] lit it up coming off the bench, hitting four threes of his own to score 14 points.
[autotag]Qudus Wahab[/autotag] continues to give Penn State the much-needed size they’ve been missing. Not only did he battle inside, but he was an offensive threat in the post, scoring 14 points, while also pulling down seven rebounds.
Coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] has said he thinks this team is close, no matter how things have looked to begin the year.
It seems like he was right as the Nittany Lions picked up their second consecutive road win.