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MINNEAPOLIS - The poor play of Indiana's back court has been a bugaboo for the Hoosiers all season long.

That wasn't the case on Thursday night inside the Target Center.

Playing down a starting guard, something that isn't unusual for this year's Indiana squad, the Hoosiers' backcourt put together one of their most impactful games of the season against the Nittany Lions.

It won't jump out at you in the box score. Indiana's guards combined for 18 points on 6-13 (46%) shooting from the floor. They combined to dish out seven assists and turned the ball over three times.

Again, nothing to write home about.

Despite the pedestrian numbers in the box score, without the play of Xavier Johnson, Gabe Cupps and Anthony Leal, the Hoosiers' season would likely be over.

A big part of Indiana's game plan heading into Thursday night presumably surrounded slowing down Penn State's leading scorer, Ace Baldwin Jr.

Keeping Baldwin quiet after 20-plus point performances in both of Penn State's regular season wins over Indiana would not be an easy task. It was a challenge that both Johnson and Cupps took personally

Baldwin played all 40 minutes against the Hoosiers. For every single second he was on the court, Johnson and Cupps made life on the offensive end of the floor difficult for the VCU transfer.

"Keep him out of the paint," Johnson said postgame when asked what Indiana's game plan was against Baldwin in Indiana's thrilling 61-59 victory. "The last two (meetings), he had really good games against us. Like 24 and 8 type games. That wasn't happening tonight."

Johnson was right.

Baldwin was held to 9 points on 3-15 shooting (20%). He also shot a season-worst 0-7 from 3-point range. Everything the Nittany Lion guard got, he had to work for.

One of the biggest differences between the first two affairs and Thursday night's tilt was the way the Hoosiers defended Baldwin.

"The first two times we played Penn State we dropped, and (Baldwin) just dissected everything that we did," Woodson explained. "The second time we played them, we tried to trap, and they made threes. So we just tried to stay as close to Baldwin as we could. Our bigs were more up, where he actually saw bodies, and we tried to play in to get out."

Johnson, who's collegiate career could have come to a close on Thursday night scored just four points. His performance against Penn State was still one of his best of the season.

Similarly, Cupps -- who made connected on multiple 3-pointers for just the third time this season -- didn't stuff the stat sheet. But that doesn't mean that he didn't leave his imprint on the game.

The third Indiana guard to see playing time against Penn State also had a relatively quite night. That is of course, until the Hoosiers' final offensive possession of the game.

With 24 seconds left on the game clock, the jumbotron dangling above the floor inside the Target Center read 59-59. Indiana had possession of the ball, as both teams broke from their respective timeout huddles.

"We're all kind of collectively sharing words of encouragement, it's winning time, it's time to win this game," Leal said of what the conversation consisted of inside that huddle. "We're going to get this done. Talking about different coverages and what we're executing. I think that we're -- as a team, we're leading together, and there's not just one person who's talking."

As Johnson used a triple screen to dash from the left wing across the floor to the right wing, Malik Reneau flashed free to the top of the key. Reneau shared postgame that he thought about shooting the 3-pointer, but instead elected to drive to the free throw line.

There, the sophomore flipped up a runner that died on the back of the rim before rolling off the right side of the basket.

Awaiting the rebound was Bloomington, Indiana native, Anthony Leal.

"I knew that, if (Reneau) did happen to miss a shot, to go in there and try to make something happen is a possibility," Leal said recalling Indiana's final offensive possession. "I'm blessed I was able to do that."

After spending the entire possession in the right corner, Leal crashed to the rim, where he sent Indiana to the Big Ten Quarterfinals with his game-sealing putback.

In 24 minutes against the Nittany Lions, Leal made two field goals. None were bigger than what his head coach described as the senior's "biggest shot of his career."

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