Indiana @ Penn State

Who will WIN this matchup?

Indiana Hoosiers (6-2)

@ Penn State Nittany Lions (4-3)

Current odds:

Indiana Hoosiers: (+130)

Penn State Nittany Lions: (-150)

• The line for this game is Penn State by 2.5 points.

• The Indiana Hoosiers are holding their breath on the status of top player Juwan Morgan as they prepare for their Big Ten road opener at Penn State on Tuesday. Morgan left Saturday’s win at Northwestern in the final minutes with a lower leg injury and his status remained up in the air as the week began. The senior forward ranks second on the Hoosiers in scoring (16.3 points per game) and leads the way on the boards (8.8) while shooting 67.9 percent from the floor. Freshman Romeo Langford tops Indiana in scoring with 18 points per game and he led the way down the stretch in the 68-66 victory over the Wildcats, prompting coach Archie Miller to say: “He had his best all-around game tonight without question offensively and defensively.” Morgan is questionable for tonight officially.  

• The Nittany Lions took host Maryland to the wire on Saturday before falling 66-59 in their conference opener. Lamar Stevens scored 19 points in the loss and ranks second among Big Ten players with a 22.4 average.

• The Hoosiers have been battered by injuries early on and if Morgan has to miss any time, they will need another scorer to help out Langford. “We’ve battled the ups and downs playing here and playing there,” Miller told reporters. “And at times we’ve had four or five guys not in practice. That’s difficult for any team, let alone a team that’s trying to kind of get better. But I would say the biggest struggle is trying to get that chemistry, that symmetry, both ends of the floor. But, most importantly, offensively right now, especially with some new guys in there who have never been in there before.” Sophomore forward Justin Smith scored at least 11 points in four of his first six games and Aljami Durham and Evan Fitzner are a combined 19-of-40 from 3-point range.

• The Nittany Lions have a similar problem in that they need more complementary scoring for Stevens, who has led the squad in points in all but one game this season and has taken more than 30 percent of the team’s shots.”Defensively, we did enough to win the game,” coach Patrick Chambers told the media Saturday. “But we need another scorer out there. We can’t just rely on Stevens for 20 Big Ten games. That’s unfair to the kid, it’s unfair to our team.” Josh Reaves (11.7) scored 17 points against the Terrapins but all of them came in the first half.

• Nittany Lions G Rasir Bolton has scored in double figures in three straight games following a two-game stretch last month in which he shot a combined 1-of-16 from the floor.

• Morgan had 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 74-70 win over Penn State in the only meeting last season, Indiana’s 10th victory in the last 12 encounters.

• The Hoosiers entered Monday ranked second in the nation in field goal percentage (52.9), while the Nittany Lions were tied for 271st (42.0).