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After COVID protocols impacted Indiana for the first time this season cancelling its mid-week matchup with UNC-Asheville, due to an outbreak in its program, IU is back in action on Sunday.

The Hoosiers return to Big Ten play sitting at 10-2 on the season and 1-1 in Big Ten play.

Indiana has defeated Nebraska at home and then lost to Wisconsin on the road. IU was up by 22 points against the Badgers in the first half.

As a 5-5 Penn State program looms, IU head coach Mike Woodson sees another chance to try to win on the road and prove that this team can do so.

"To me, I mean, when you're out on the road, you got to play all the way through," Woodson said. "You can't think that you're just going to win it in 38. It's a 40-minute game, man. We just didn't complete the game against Wisconsin. We got to put a 40-minute ballgame together, period, from beginning to the end."

While the Nittany Lions haven't played since Dec 11 due to a COVID outbreak in its program, the senior leadership it has should provide an easier transition back to the court.

Seven of its eight rotation players are seniors and the leading scorer is a junior.

"They move around. Their pace is probably not that high, but they move the ball around. They try to get up and down and make plays," Woodson said. "They got pretty good point guard play and perimeter play. They got a big guy inside that plays the perimeter and inside as well that triggers a lot that they do."

Despite not a ton of size from its rotation -- averaging just 6.3 feet which is ranked 294th in the NCAA -- Penn State does bring versatility and a perimeter attack to the floor.

Due to the lack of size, Indiana forwards Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson should once again dominate the paint. They will try to be slowed down by 6-foot-9 senior forward John Harrar. He is averaging 11.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game -- ranking second in the Big Ten. He ranks second in the conference in offensive rebounding percent (15.2) and first in defensive rebound percent (32.5).

While size is a factor, the biggest difference in this matchup is pace. Penn State ranks 345th in the NCAA in tempo at 63.5 possessions per game, according to KenPom. Indiana is approaching 70 per game.

"It's not going to change any," Woodson said in game planning against PSU's slow tempo. "They slow it down, we got to get stops in their slowdown offense."

Eight of the last 11 matchups between the two programs have been within five points. One of the three that didn’t was a triple overtime win for IU and another was an eight-point difference.

Indiana looks to get back to its winning ways on Sunday at 4 pm ET at Penn State. With a few very winnable games to start this initial stretch of conference play, it's a game that could trigger a nice winning streak in the Big Ten for the Hoosier.

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