Three Takeaways from Indiana Basketball's 61-59 thriller against Penn State.

The Little Things

One thing that drove Indiana fans absolutely batty this season was the Hoosiers' failure to do the little things. That crept up at times last night against the Nittany Lions, but the fundamentals have improved during this five-game winning streak. Mackenzie Mgbako committed a bad foul late that led to two free throws that tied the game.

Anthony Leal bailed out the Nittany Lions, committing a foul with the shot clock winding down on what was an outstanding defensive possession by the Hoosiers. That said, three areas that plagued Indiana basketball this year have improved during this streak.

Indiana has taken better care of the basketball. The Hoosiers turned the basketball over 12 times last night, which is around their average, but they did not have their notorious long stretch of sloppy offense that usually happens. They are also the worst free-throw shooting team in the conference. Indiana shot 12 percentage points better than their season average (65% to 77%).

If they can continue doing the little things well, they might just survive and advance one more game. They'll have to in order to defeat Nebraska.