The men’s basketball team lost in arguably one of the biggest match-ups of the season thus far Wednesday night at the RBC Center.

After Indiana won the tip-off and put up a quick score, a three by junior forward Scott Wood awakened the fans. After doing so, the Hoosiers answered with a 14-5 run to open the first half of play. A couple turnovers by Indiana and superb rebound would keep State alive.

After a couple baskets by junior forward Calvin Leslie, including an original 3-point play, the Pack would see itself down by 10 points with 14:00 remaining in the half.

Following a turnaround jump shot from junior DeShawn Painter and an Indiana turnover, Wood would come up with the ball and get fouled on a three-point shot and hit all three free throws, putting the Pack’s deficit down to six. Another lay-in by freshman forward Tyler Harris would pull State within four points.

A Wood three would tie the game with 5:44 left in the first half of play. Indiana would go on a 6-0 run with 2:09 left, until a couple blocks by Leslie, who would finish the game with a double-double, including 10 points and 11 rebounds, kept State in the game defensively.

“We knew that they couldn’t stop us on the inside,” Leslie said. “We have to do a better job to realize that, with our guards and our team and take advantages of all the opportunities we have on the court.”

State would eventually sneak back into the game with a bucket from Leslie to take the lead 42-41 heading into the locker room, giving State its first lead of the game.

The second half would be a very similar repeat of the first, with both teams being evenly matched.

A Wolfpack turnover led to an Indiana three to open the half. After a Painter hook shot, a sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown block led to a senior forward C.J . Williams basket, giving State a momentum shift.

The game would eventually be tied with 15:31 left in the game with a score of 50 all. Great transition play from State would give them the lead with 14:49 left. Indiana would once again tie the game as both teams battled back-to-back, exchanging leads until Brown would give the Pack back-to-back buckets.

“We got a little too excited and lit up,” Brown said. “Our big man was setting a good screen and it was easy for me to get to the basket.”

When another Leslie block led to a Wood three, the Wolfpack would once again see the lead up to five points with 8:06 remaining. The rest of the game would go downhill from here on for the Pack.  

After a few missed opportunities by State, the Hoosiers crept back to within three points with 3:37 left in the game. Freshman forward Cody Zeller kept Indiana alive with six straight points to put them ahead of State 73-70 with 3:09 left to play.

The Hoosiers would hit a 10-2 run to end the game as the buzzer sounded with a final score of 86-75 in Indiana’s favor.

Coach Mark Gottfried had great comments to say about the atmosphere of the game.

“It was phenomenal, our fans were great. I wish we would have been able to deliver for them, because their enthusiasm was terrific and our players fed off that,” Gottfried said. “Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of nights like that, and even though we disappointed them with a loss, they’ll see that our guys are going to compete hard and keep improving.”

With the loss, the Pack will move to 5-2 on the season and will face off against Stanford Dec. 4.