Breaking Down Indiana's Defensive Collapse That Led To 18 Penn State 3-Pointers

Penn State tied a school record with 18 3-pointers in its 85-66 win over Indiana on Wednesday. Here's a breakdown of each play, including analysis of Indiana's defensive mishaps.

Jack Ankony | Jan 12, 2023

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Indiana suffered its third consecutive loss on Wednesday at Penn State, another defensive collapse.

The Hoosiers have allowed 84-plus points in each of the last three games and have now lost six of the last nine contests, dropping to 10-6 overall and 1-4 in Big Ten play.

Penn State tied a school record by making 18 3-point shots in the 85-66 win. Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk torched the Indiana defense, each making 7-of-12 attempts from beyond the arc.

Included below are clips of all 18 Penn State 3-pointers with analysis of Indiana's many defensive breakdowns.

17:17 – Penn State 5, Indiana 4: Penn State doesn't do anything special here. Jalen Pickett holds the ball at the top of the key for a moment, and Jordan Geronimo has a foot in the lane to help on a possible Pickett drive. Pickett throws a skip pass to Seth Lundy in the corner, and Geronimo closes out with both hands stretched to the side, allowing far too much space for the 42.6 percent 3-point shooter.

15:21 – Penn State 10, Indiana 8: Trayce Jackson-Davis leads the Indiana fast break as Trey Galloway cuts to the basket. The pass is picked off by Penn State, and it's a two-on-two fast break going the other way. For the second time in the first five minutes of the game, Jordan Geronimo is too slow to close out, and Lundy buries the 3. Jalen Hood-Schifino was guarding the ball, and Lundy was the only other Nittany Lion in position to score, so there's really no excuse for Geronimo to allow Lundy this much room.

11:47 – Penn State 13, Indiana 12: Jalen Pickett turns the corner with a double screen from Andrew Funk and Kebba Njie, leading to a pass to Myles Dread on the right wing. Miller Kopp gets turned around trying to close out on Dread, who takes one dribble but never looks like a serious threat to drive the ball. Tamar Bates over-helps with Kopp way out of position, leaving Pickett open at the top of the key.

9:15 – Penn State 16, Indiana 15: Jalen Pickett's drive attracts four Indiana defenders near the right block. Pickett recognizes this and kicks the ball out to Camren Wynter before it's too late. Malik Reneau was guarding Lundy to start the possession, but he shifts over to Wynter. With Reneau rotating and the rest of the Indiana defense below the free throw line, Lundy is left wide open on the right wing.

8:23 – Penn State 19, Indiana 15: Camren Wynter is guarded by Trayce Jackson-Davis at the top of the key. Seth Lundy, guarded by Malik Reneau, flashes behind Jackson-Davis, pretending like he's going to set a ball screen. Wynter takes one dribble to the left, drawing Reneau's attention away from Lundy. Reneau switches onto Winter, leaving Lundy wide open on the right wing. Trayce Jackson-Davis is too late closing out. Lundy knocks down his fourth 3-pointer within the first 12 minutes of the game.

5:10 – Penn State 24, Indiana 18: Evan Mahaffey sets a ball screen on Miller Kopp for Jalen Pickett. Trayce Jackson-Davis backs off to take away Pickett's option of passing to Mahafeyy on the roll. As a result, Pickett is a step ahead of Kopp and has space to turn the corner. Tamar Bates collapses to the paint to stop Pickett's drive, which leaves Andrew Funk, a 41.2 percent 3-point shooter, wide open on the left wing.

3:19 – Penn State 29, Indiana 20: It's a simple two-man game between Camren Wynter, guarded by Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Evan Mahaffey, guarded by Jalen Hood-Schifino. The two Nittany Lions take turns passing the ball back and forth, driving and kicking until one is open. Once Hood-Schfino commits hard enough to stopping Wynter's drive, Mahaffey is left wide open. Penn State spreads out the rest of the Indiana defense by stationing Jalen Pickett and Myles Dread in the corner and Andrew Funk on the left wing. Jordan Geronimo notices Hood-Schifino is out of position, but he's too far away to have any chance of getting to Mahaffey in time.

2:43 – Penn State 32, Indiana 22: The possession starts with Camren Wynter backing down Jalen Hood-Schifino beyond the three point line. Meanwhile, Kebba Njie sets a screen on Miller Kopp, who's guarding Andrew Funk on the right wing. Kopp makes a perplexing decision to spin toward the basket and go under Njie's screen, leaving Funk, a 42.1 percent 3-point shooter wide open at the top of the key. Trayce Jackson-Davis takes a step forward to contest Funk's shot, but it's too late. There's no excuse for Kopp going under the screen here. Penn State extends its lead to 10 points for the first time, and they didn't look back.

1:55 – Penn State 35, Indiana 22: Jalen Hood-Schifino is guarding Camren Wynter at the top of the key when Andrew Funk comes to set a screen on Hood-Schifino. Funk barely makes contact with Hood-Schifino, instead popping out to the 3-point line. Kebba Njie pushes Miller Kopp toward the basket, taking Kopp out of the play completely. This sets up a one-one-one between Funk and Jackson-Davis on the perimeter. Total mismatch. Funk takes one dribble to get Jackson-Davis on his heels then steps back and drills the 3.

15:22 – Penn State 44, Indiana 36: Here's another example of Indiana selling out to stop Jalen Pickett. As Pickett reaches the paint, he draws the attention of all five Hoosiers. Trey Galloway, Jordan Geronimo and Miller Kopp collapse to the lane, giving Pickett his choice of passing options. Which 42 percent 3-point shooter should he choose? Pickett opts for Andrew Funk, who catches the ball with his defender, Miller Kopp, facing the basket. Pickett had already picked up his dribble, so there's really no reason for Kopp to stray so far from Funk that late in the possession.

14:05 – Penn State 49, Indiana 39: Kanye Clary hadn't scored since Dec. 18, and he averages 2.6 points in 7.1 minutes per game. But coming off a screen from Kebba Njie, he drew the attention of Jalen Hood-Schifino, Miller Kopp and Trayce Jackson-Davis near the left block. Kopp started the possession guarding Funk near the free throw line, but he abandoned Funk to help on Clary's drive. Funk, again, was left wide open at the top of the key. Hood-Schifino and Jackson-Davis were already in position to stop Clary, so there's no reason for Kopp to let Funk free like this.

13:14 – Penn State 52, Indiana 42: This is a heat check from Andrew Funk. He had already buried five 3-pointers, so why not go for six? With his heels on the Penn State logo at half court and Jalen Hood-Schifino's hands down, Funk drained Penn State's longest 3-point shot of the night.

11:29 – Penn State 57, Indiana 46: Penn State made seven passes on this possession, and the Indiana defense was all out of sorts. The confusion started when Andrew Funk caught the ball in the corner and drove to the lane. Tamar Bates, Jordan Geronimo and Miller Kopp swarmed Funk, who kicked the ball out to Myles Dread. Kopp closed out on Dread, Bates ran to Funk, but Geronimo didn't know where to go. Dread swung the ball to Funk, who made the extra pass to a wide-open Kanye Clary on the left wing. Geronimo spun around in the lane and didn't know where to go. Meanwhile, Clary sunk his lone 3-point attempt to give Penn State an 11-point lead. There has to be better communication from Indiana and awareness from Geronimo.

10:40 – Penn State 60, Indiana 48: This is another case of Indiana over-helping on Jalen Pickett. Evan Mahaffey set a screen on Trey Galloway, allowing Picket to turn the corner. Trey Galloway recovered from the screen by the time Pickett reached the free throw line, where he was met by Jalen Hood-Schifino. Dropping down to help on Pickett, Hood-Schifino left Seth Lundy open on the left wing. Lundy buried his fifth 3-pointer of the night. Pickett didn't seem to have much of a driving lane here, so this is a case of Hood-Schifino taking a step or two too far on help-side defense.

9:58 – Penn State 63, Indiana 49: Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry drew up a good one here. Jalen Pickett inbounded the ball to Kebba Njie on the left wing, then ran to Njie for a handoff. While that was happening, Seth Lundy cut across the baseline without his defender, Jalen Hood-Schifino, noticing. Kopp switched onto Lundy, but he was unable to get through Njie's screen in time to deter Lundy's shot. It's possible Trayce Jackson-Davis could have stepped out to contest the shot, but he probably doesn't want to leave Njie open for a roll to the basket with Hood-Schifino as the help-side defender.

7:11 – Penn State 72, Indiana 53: Jalen Pickett drives to the basket off a screen from Kebba Njie and draws all five Indiana defenders to the lane. Pickett makes a one-handed skip pass to Andrew Funk, who is wide open in the corner because CJ Gunn and Tamar Bates collapsed to the lane to help stop Pickett's drive. Gunn sprints to the corner, and Funk's shot fake sends Gunn flying toward the Penn State bench. Funk takes one dribble to reset his feet and drains his seventh 3-pointer of the night to give Penn State a 19-point lead. Between Gunn and Bates, one of them has to stay on the perimeter to guard Funk. Indiana already stopped Pickett's drive with multiple defenders.

5:44 – Penn State 77, Indiana 56: This was a case of Penn State getting the mismatch it wanted. The possession started with Jalen Pickett guarded by Trey Galloway, who did a solid job as Pickett's primary defender for most of the night. Pickett finished with 12 points and entered the game averaging 17.9. Evan Mahaffey set a screen on Galloway, and Trayce Jackson-Davis switched onto Pickett. With Jackson-Davis on an island, Pickett took a few dribbles between his legs and hit a step-back 3 over Jackson-Davis to give Penn State a 77-56 lead. Mahaffey's screen wasn't too hard, so it's possible Galloway could have fought through it to stay on Pickett. Indiana almost always elects to switch screens in this kind of situation.

3:01 – Penn State 81, Indiana 60: Jalen Pickett took a few dribbles and threw a skip pass to Seth Lundy in the corner. Evan Mahaffey had position on CJ Gunn in the paint, and Pickett thought about that option for a second. Banks had one foot in the lane to start the possession with the responsibility to help on the possible pass to Mahaffey down low. Still, Banks was able to rush over to Lundy and make it a tightly-contested shot, especially compared to the many wide-open looks Penn State got through the game. But at this point, Lundy was as confident as he could be and rose above Banks to make his seventh 3-pointer in 12 tries.

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