The Hoosiers held off a late surge from the Nittany Lions to emerge victorious.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t without its nervous moments. But it was a win.
Indiana entered 2025 without any quad 1 wins to speak of and more questions than answers as it looked like a team heading towards falling far below expectations. It responded with a home win over Rutgers and now has its first Q1 win on the year with a victory over Penn State at The Palestra in Philadelphia.
That’s a big deal for a few reasons aside from the metrics.
For years Indiana has faced these physical groups from programs like Rutgers and Penn State. Those teams will punch, hard, and do so first. In almost every prior instance Indiana has flinched and run away.
Now it’s swinging back even harder. For that, it can thank Oumar Ballo.
Centers have become a bit of a specialty for Mike Woodson at the college level. He helped turn Trayce Jackson-Davis from an elite player to one of the best in the country and got Kel’el Ware drafted by the Miami Heat after he came to Bloomington with concerns about his motor.
Ballo is a completely different guy. Jackson-Davis was going to beat opponents with a deep bag of post moves and passing ability while Ware used his sheer length, finesse and an ability to hit shots from deep.
But Ballo? He’s just going to overpower his opponents and wear them down with his sheer strength and physicality.
Both Rutgers and Penn State learned that the hard way. The Big Ten is a physical league, don’t get me wrong, but Ballo is just something else. He’s going to be bigger and stronger than almost everyone he matches up with and he knows it.
To put it in the broadcast’s terms, Ballo was Batman against Penn State.
But if he had a Robin, it was Mackenzie Mgbako.
Indiana can thank Mgbako for its early second half lead and likely its eventual victory. The sophomore hit two big 3s and had a drive to the rim to spur a 12-0 Hoosiers run after a tied ballgame at the half.
He was masterful, going 4-8 from long range and hitting both of his free throws in the closing few minutes of the game to cement a two-possession Hoosiers lead that ultimately held firm.
It’s thanks to those two, Ballo and Mgbako, that Indiana escaped The Palestra with a win.
All things considered, this one got weird. Woodson should get a lot of credit for how he handled this game. When the lead started getting shaky and Penn State sped things up, he called a quick timeout to get the game back under control. He also did a tremendous job managing Ballo’s minutes in the closing possessions when he had four fouls.
Ballo was absolutely essential on both ends. He generated points on offense and was a key presence at the rim to keep Penn State from retaking the lead on defense. Woodson managed to keep him in and effective without picking up that fifth foul.
The one substantial demerit? Kanaan Carlyle.
Carlyle just hasn’t been good enough at all for Indiana this season. He was demoted from the starting lineup and still has yet to figure out his role off the bench. Against Rutgers, he put Indiana in a tough spot with a shove under the basket and then today he had a poor turnover against the Nittany Lion press.
Then, when Indiana was trying to protect its lead, he shot back to back pull-up midrange jumpers without having his feet set. Just not good.
Indiana doesn’t really have any other options for another ballhandler without Gabe Cupps. Carlyle has to be better or he can’t be on the floor if he’s going to play like this.
One way or another, Indiana got the win. It was a good one, but now it has to keep building on this with a matchup against an interesting USC team on deck.