Indiana Pounces Penn State, 74-57

Wednesday, January 26

Bloomington, Ind.

8:30 PM

Indiana University

15-5,6-4Big Ten

Penn State

8-9,3-6Big Ten

Penn St.

Indiana

1/26/2022 10:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Xavier Johnson has found his elite game.

Check that.

Indiana's junior guard has refined it.

The early rush to mistakes has morphed into poise, maturity and ruthless efficiency.

Consider Johnson's 19-point, six-assist, four-rebound performance Wednesday night that rocked a Penn State team incapable of stopping him.

Consider, also, the Hoosiers' 74-57 victory over Penn State at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, payback for the 61-58 defeat they endured at the beginning of the month in State College, and a bounce back from Sunday's loss to Michigan.

For Johnson, who has averaged 17 points, 4.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 turnovers over the last three games, it's all coming together as it didn't early after his transfer from Pitt.

"My game is to get downhill," he said. "Make plays. That what I did tonight. I made the correct read."

Johnson credited the support of his teammates and his father, who came to Bloomington to visit with him.

"I know my play wasn't as good at first. I was in a slump. I knew I'd come out of it. I was going to keep playing and keep getting better.

"My teammates always pick me up. I'm going to keep believing in them and I know they're going to believing in me."

Forward Race Thompson certainly does.

"He's getting everybody involved, and also getting himself involved when he needs to," Thompson said. "He helps set the pace of the game."

This was what coach Mike Woodson wanted when he brought Johnson into the program.

"The game is starting to slow down for him. The Big Ten is a little different from the league (the Big East) he came from.

"The Big East is a great league. They have great players and coaches but the Big Ten forces you to think about what you're doing.

"He's starting to see things ahead of him and making guys better around him. That's what point guards are supposed to do. He's getting better in that area.

"It's still a work in progress, but he's gotten better. We need him to continue to grow."

Need amplifies after the first-half ankle injury to fellow point guard Rob Phinisee. He was helped to the locker room and never returned.

Add the apparent injury to point guard Khristian Lander, who hasn't played since the Dec. 22 Northern Kentucky game, and the Hoosiers are painfully thin at the position.

"(Phinisee) has to be evaluated," Woodson said. "We've got to get Khristian able to play. We have to get one of them back. I don't know when.

"You know me, it's next man up. We'll mix and match."

For Indiana (15-5 overall, 6-4 in the Big Ten), sometimes lessons are best learned hard.

Sometimes, if you're the Hoosiers, you take Michigan loss misery and channel it for the long term.

And then you hammer Penn State (8-9, 3-6) into submission with the starters setting a tone as they hadn't in recent games.

"We came out with more energy," Thompson said. "You have to bring it every game as starters.

"We talked about it the past two days. We responded.

"We took it personally. It was about energy, calming down, being composed and keying in on what they are doing."

While it's way too early to see if Wednesday night's dominating performance becomes the norm, the first half gave a sign as to what IU can do when it's fully engaged offensively and defensively.

"That was the best half we've put together in the Big Ten," Woodson said. "To do it against a Big Ten team, to do it on both ends, was special."

This was a game to cure all the ills from the Michigan loss, and a lot more. It had the feel of a non-conference blowout rather than a Big Ten game.

IU opened 6-for-6 on 3-pointers while shooting 68 percent from the field and holding Penn State to 12.5-percent shooting.

That's 3-for-24 for those who prefer specifics.

How good was the first half? Besides total domination, freshman guard Tamar Bates, mired in a six-week shooting slump, hit a pair of three-pointers. Those were his first since making one against Merrimack on Dec. 12.

In the second half, Trey Galloway made a three-pointer. That was his first since making two at Iowa on Jan. 13.

IU finished 10-for-13 on three-pointers after going just 5-for-19 against Michigan. It was the Hoosiers' best three-point shooting since making 15-of-19 against Kent State in the Elite Eight of the 2002 NCAA tourney.

"The ball movement was great the first half," Woodson said. "The defense couldn't catch up. We got great looks that way. We got quick strikes."

Penn State needed 13 minutes to reach double figures in scoring. By that point, IU led by 21 points.

The rout was on.

"That's a big part of who we are," Johnson said about the defense. "When we first came in, I know one thing was defense. That's the first thing we worked on. And that's what got us to this point in the season of wanting to win as many games as we can."

Thompson added 18 points and six rebounds for Indiana. Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis had 15 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

Forget previous slow Hoosier starts. IU's go-for-the-jugular opening produced a 12-0 lead that included a pair of three-pointers while defending Penn State into 0-for-6 shooting misery.

Add Johnson's second three-pointer and the Hoosiers had a 15-2 lead in less than six minutes.

By halftime, IU led 46-17 with Jackson-Davis (13 points), Johnson (11 points) and Thompson (10) leading the way.

The Hoosiers held Penn State to 16.7 percent shooting, which rated third best for the season at halftime. They held Louisiana to 11.8 percent and Northern Kentucky to 15.6 percent at halftime in non-conference blowouts.

"We played a great 20 minutes," Woodson said.

Added Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry: "They played great. They were a hungry team. They were a gritty team. They were a tougher team. They were ready to go from the start."

The biggest second-half drama centered on whether the Hoosiers could sustain their intensity.

They couldn't, getting outscored 40-28 in the final 20 minutes, but it didn't matter.

Indiana had its fifth win in the last seven games.

Now IU heads to Maryland on Saturday before getting a week break. Johnson, who is from Virginia, expects to have a lot of family at the game.

"It will be a good environment," Johnson said. "But the main thing is to be with my team and try to win another game on the road."