A couple hours before tip-off against Purdue on Sunday, the Gophers got a preview of the two teams they'll face off with on this next road trip, as Indiana won a close one at Penn State, 88-82.

Those are going to be two tough tests for the Gophers, who will first get challenged at Assembly Hall, one of the most formidable arenas in the league against one of the best teams in the conference right now. But Penn State will be no picnic either. The Nittany Lions have been playing some good basketball as of late, beating Purdue earlier last week and then scaring Indiana in a game that went down to the last minute on Sunday.

Let's take a look at both sides of that game:

  • Indiana …
    is winning really close games, yes, but the Hoosiers are still without their sixth man, Will Sheehey, who is out with a leg injury and is yet to play in a Big Ten game so far. Even so, it was a bit surprising to see Indiana give up a first-half, double-digit lead.
  • shot 16 three-pointers -- good for 66.7 percent from behind the arc. Uh oh.
  • shot 75 percent from the free-throw line – and more importantly, got there 32 times. Jordan Hulls went 7-for-9 and is 86.7 percent from the stripe this year. Matt Roth, while only making 13 trips, is perfect.
  • scored 88 points, something the Gophers haven't done all season. Minnesota hasn't even scored 80 since the first day of the Old Spice Classic – against DePaul -- down in Orlando.

had sophomore Hulls go off for 28 points with four assists and two steals. The guard had seven three-pointers.

Penn State …

  • might be better than everyone first thought – at least in its own building. The Nittany Lions clobbered Purdue by 20 and never gave up against the Hoosiers, coming back from a double-digit deficit, and making a final push (even after star Tim Frazier had fouled out), pulling to within two with just over 20 seconds on the clock.
  • got a lot of good timing, too, on Sunday. On their own, their stats aren't that impressive. The Nittany Lions shot 45.8 percent from the field but just 30.4 percent from three-point range. They had 28 rebounds. But there's something to be said for making big shots when you need to, and Penn State did that Sunday.
  • uses a zone defense. Uh oh. Enough said.
  • Jermaine Marshall was hard to stop, penetrating the Hoosiers' defense and driving to the basket. He finished with 20 points.

Billy Oliver had more of a normal night against Indiana, but he's shown he can shoot. He had seven three-pointers against Purdue.