Penn State was riding high, taking an 8-1 record into its Big Ten opener at Indiana on Tuesday night. Head coach Mike Rhoades said the team was excited for the opportunity to face a premier opponent and had a good shoot around leading up to the game. But things went south shortly after tipoff.
“We hit a buzzsaw and we weren’t ready to go,” Rhoades said Thursday. “That’s just how it goes; it’s part of life in the Big Ten.”
Penn State lost 113-72, including a 58-26 halftime deficit. Not only was it the highest point total allowed in the Rhoades era, but it was the most since the Nittany Lions lost to Duke 121-88 back in 1965.
It was also a historic night for the Hoosiers, who had their highest scoring output since 1990. Lamar Wilkerson paced the team with a career-high 44 points, including 10 3-pointers, a program record. Coming off consecutive losses, Rhoades described Indiana as hungry to bounce back, and it did so in resounding fashion, reaching triple digits for the fourth time this year.
“These experiences got to toughen us up, give us some scars, and continue to build and get better,” Rhoades said. “So got a lot of work to do. That’s the fun of all this.”
He pointed to Penn State’s frequent defensive lapses as the biggest concern, something he and the team will work to address. Rhoades’ reaction wasn’t born from anger, though. The veteran head coach recognized that sometimes you have to tip your cap to the opponent and move on.
“You could throw computers off the walls and all that stuff, but the loudest guy in the room doesn’t always get what they want,” Rhoades said. “For me, it’s about learning good experiences and bad experiences. Can you grow from them all? And that’s the key to this, preparing for Michigan State is, can we improve from what just happened?”
For a majority of players on the roster, it was their first taste of Big Ten play, and they were shell-shocked by the speed and physicality. Soon, they’ll get seconds. The Nittany Lions return to action on Saturday against the Spartans in the Bryce Jordan Center, another tough test against a top-10 team.
While the result was disappointing for the team, a grueling Big Ten schedule remains. Penn State couldn’t have asked for a much worse start to conference play, but Rhoades understands that blowout losses can happen in a conference loaded with talent, referencing Wisconsin’s 90-60 loss to Nebraska the following day.
The team got Wednesday off — per usual for the day after a game — but Rhoades said everyone on the roster was either in the weight room or gym and were diligent about their recovery. He expressed pride in their reaction to the loss, turning it into motivation.
“They’re learning being in the furnace, as I call it,” Rhoades said. “So that part of it, it’s just how it goes.”
