Instead of using four, five or six passes to get the ball to big man D.J. White, Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson directed his players to take what was being given to them.

"I tell our kids if they're open, shoot it," Sampson said.

For Indiana's Roderick Wilmont, as he launched one of his 17 shots from behind the arc, it was apparent sweeter words have never been spoken.

For the Penn State men's basketball team (10-6, 1-2 Big Ten), this was unfortunate.

Wilmont, who had not scored more than eight points in his previous three games, went for 25 Saturday afternoon in Indiana's 84-74 win against Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Instead of pounding the ball inside, the Hoosiers (12-4, 3-1) were content on taking shots where available.

Twenty-one of Wilmont's points resulted from three-point shots over the Nittany Lions' zone defense.

"Because you shoot a lot of threes against a zone, it's never a bad thing if you've got guys that can shoot them," Sampson said. "When a team zones you, usually they are taking something away, and giving you something else."

The Lions limited the 6-foot-9 White, Indiana's leading scorer, to 14 points, but allowed the Hoosiers to take 34 3-pointers, the most ever by a Penn State opponent since it joined the Big Ten. It was Indiana's ability to make 14 of them that ultimately defeated the Lions.

"When you're playing man or you're playing zone, you've got to find the guys that are beating you," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "That's been the frustrating thing for us, is we've had some games this year where a guy gets going."

Penn State, despite shooting more than 50 percent from the field, led by just one-point at halftime. Wilmont, who finished 7-for-17 from 3-point land, helped erase an early 17-5 Penn State lead and kept the game close with 20 first-half points until the Hoosiers took the lead midway through the second.

That's when Wilmont's teammate and fellow guard A.J. Ratliff came off the bench, and helped the Hoosiers pull away. Penn State led 54-50 with 11:18 left, then Ratliff made three of his four 3-pointers in four minutes, to quickly put Indiana ahead 64-57.

"I guess you could say I was inspired by the way Rod was playing," Ratliff said. "He was hot and I was seeing where he was getting his shots from the bench, and I came in and tried to do the same thing."

The Indiana backcourt accounted for 64 of the Hoosiers 84 points, including all of Indiana's 42 points from 3-pointers, and added themselves to the growing list of guards who have given Penn State trouble this season.

Stony Brook's Mitchell Beauford and Ricky Lucas scored 41 of their team's 59 points. Georgia Tech's Lewis Clinch went for 20 during a 77-73 win. Daryl Cohen of Southeastern Louisiana scored 29 points including a 3-pointer as time expired to give his team an upset victory.

"Indiana has fast players and athletic guys. You've got to find them, and you've got to keep the ball in front of you," DeChellis said. "That's something we worked on for three days, trying to keep the ball in front of us and make them take contested shots."

The Hoosiers were able to find open shots, quite frequently, in part, DeChellis said, because of the Lions inability to secure rebounds when Indiana's shooters did miss.

Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley each finished with 17 points to lead Penn State. Claxton led the Lions with eight rebounds. Cornley, who had six, agreed with DeChellis' assessment.

"The one thing that they did in the first half they kept on doing and you can credit Sampson or whoever you want to credit. They kept on attacking the glass and making sure that they got second shots," Cornley said.

Penn State was only out-rebounded by seven, but it was what Indiana did with the ball when they got it that prevented the Lions from starting the Big Ten season with a 2-1 record.

"When they got a couple offensive rebounds and swing it and bang a three on you, then you kind of get a little demoralized," DeChellis said. "So we didn't take care of what we needed to do. We needed to rebound the basketball and we needed to make a stand somewhere. We didn't get it done."