"Battle Does It Again" » Game Recaps

Minnesota 75 PSU 70

Eric — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:25:54 +0000

Going into the game, I really believed PSU didn’t have a chance. But the Nittany Lions showed some toughness on the road and lost a hard-fought game to a supposedly much better team.

It didn’t look like it was going to be that way at the start. PSU looked dreadful in the first 10 minutes or so of the game as Minnesota raced out to a 21-10 lead. The offense was sputtering and Minnesota was getting further and further ahead. Stephen Bardo, the ESPN color guy, pointed to the foul on a Chris Babb 3-pointer as the turning point for PSU. Talor Battle hit a 3 on the next possession and PSU cut the lead to 5, but what seemed to be forgotten was Minnesota then extended their lead back to 10 at 26-16. I thought Tim Frazier was a huge key to why PSU stayed in the game in the first half. He came in and had 3 pretty assists that set up easy baskets in the half-court offense, something PSU wasn’t able to get before (except for a few long range jumpers from Battle). They went into halftime down only 7, a moral victory considering their play.

But a different PSU team came to play in the 2nd half. The Nittany Lions came out roaring to start the second half, as they hit their first 7 field goals. In the first 7 minutes, PSU outscored the Gophers 17-5 as they jumped out to a 44-39 lead. Talor Battle only contributed 2 of the 17 points. The damage was done mostly by Drew Jones and Jeff Brooks, who were getting great looks inside and finishing. It was exciting and encouraging to watch.

Minnesota weathered the early storm to the half as Hoffarber and Westbrook really started to get going, but PSU wouldn’t go away. Frazier hit a pretty 8 foot floater on a fast break and Battle then hit one of his patented 30-footers. The score was in PSU’s favor at 53-50 with 9 minutes left, when the turnovers came at all the wrong times. Minnesota stepped up the pressure and the Lions weren’t able to handle it, whether it was fatigue, inexperience, or inability to hang onto the rock. They turned it over on 4 straight possessions.

David Jackson did his best to keep PSU in it, hitting a big 3 to tie it at 56, but that’s when a huge swing really killed PSU. First, after struggling with the full-court pressure, PSU finally beat it until Andrew Jones couldn’t finish a contested dunk. That was a momentum killer, as Minnesota grabbed the board, raced down to court, and scored on a putback. PSU beat the pressure yet again, but Jeff Brooks took an ill-advised elbow jumper that he missed. It was a shot that even if he made it, I think DeChellis still would’ve been fuming. Penn State was playing into Minnesota’s fullcourt game, which is exactly what ED didn’t want to do, especially at such a critical point in the game. Jackson and Battle hit some big shots to keep PSU in it, but another turnover by Chris Babb (or should I say he got tripped and there was no call) was killer. It didn’t help that PSU couldn’t stop Westbrook, who scored 29 points (11-16 from the floor). Battle was guarding him most of the night, but it’s hard to be critical of a player’s defense when he had to play all 40 minutes. He’s understandably not going to be able to exert the necessary defensive pressure down the stretch. DeChellis finally put DJ on Westbrook towards the end of the game, but his damage was already done.

All in all it was a very encouraging performance, but the turnovers killed the Lions down the stretch. After making the first 7 shots on their first 7 possessions of the 2nd half, PSU finished with 9 turnovers in the remaining 12 minutes of play. Westbrook and Hoffarber hit some timely threes that put away the game.

College Basketball

Player Bullets

Talor Battle – 40 minutes, 23 points (7-14/5-8), 6 rebounds, 4 assists. Quality game from Talor, but too many minutes prevented him from stopping Westbrook. Or at least attempt to make it more difficult for him.
Andrew Jones – 12 points and 8 rebounds. His best game of the year, but that missed dunk was a big play down the stretch. Hopefully Drew builds off this game after such a lackluster non-conference performance.
Jeff Brooks – 9 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Jeff played well, but I thought he could’ve been a little more assertive. Those are some good numbers for Jeff, but it didn’t feel like he had that great of an impact on the game to me.
David Jackson – 11 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists. I thought David did exactly what we needed him to do. He made big plays down the stretch as he tried to keep the Lions in it. His confidence was rising as he created a pretty 15 foot baseline jumper off the bounce to cut MN’s lead to 2. Didn’t seem hampered at all with the hyperextended knee.
Chris Babb – played OK. He doesn’t have the green light to shoot anymore, as he only took 4 3-pointers (box score says 3, he was fouled on the other). I thought he did OK handling the ball as well, but his turnover (whether he got tripped or not) was killer.
Tim Frazier – played great in the first half to get PSU back in it, but he was credited for 3 turnovers in the 2nd half. It didn’t look like he was slowed down at all from a ‘turned ankle’, but DeChellis only played him for 13 minutes.
Andrew Ott – gave a forgettable 5 minutes. At least Drew got some rest.
Bill Edwards – struggled heavily in his first BT game. He forced the issue quite a few times. He’s an above average ball-handler for a guy his size, but I’m pretty sure DeChellis doesn’t want him breaking a press by himself. He still contributed with 2 big putbacks in the 2nd half. I thought it was pretty telling of the coaching staff’s confidence in him when ED had Bill in there for the last 3 minutes of the game instead of Jeff, who had been playing better.

Always disappointing to lose road games that you had a chance to win in the 2nd half, but this was a great early experience for the team. Despite the loss, there was a lot of good that came out of it. The question now is can the supporting cast build off their performances? If Jones/Jackson/Brooks contribute like they did in this game, this team can win some games in this league. We’ll see if they can break the streak against those damn Bo Ryan Badgers tomorrow.

G-W/American Recaps

Eric — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:22:14 +0000

Happy Holidays everyone! I’m sorry your Christmas wasn’t as special as I’m sure you’ve been waiting for these recaps…

Penn State 104 Gardner-Webb 57

This game wasn’t a contest, obviously. While PSU was resting all week and taking care of finals, G-W was out and about getting killed by Duke and James Madison. On the ESPNU broadcast, they claimed G-W was also fighting the flu bug (despite playing 15 total guys in the game?). They didn’t have the legs to play with the Nits as 4 of G-W’s starters played less than 20 minutes. The Bulldogs never stood a chance, and PSU jumped out to a 30-4 lead.

This was another annual pre-Christmas snoozer that meant nothing. Credit to the Lions, though, for coming out in front of 500 fans and taking care of business. If the Lions can take anything away from this game, its that they remembered how to shoot jumpers. They hit 12 of 26 3PA for 46%, while 4 players hit 2 or more. The bench got some run, as well, as no one logged over 30 minutes but 10 guys logged at least 10 minutes.

NCAA Basketball

Battle scored 21 points on 13 shots in 24 minutes. Tim Frazier had one of his best games with 18 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds. Chris Babb went 5-6 from the field for 12 points (much better than his 35% FG%). Even Andrew Ott had a career-high 12 in 14 minutes (he went 8-9 from the foul line!). So pretty much everyone got in on the action as the Nittany Lions posted their best offensive efficiency on the season (1.4 PPP) and scored over 100 for the first time since December 2006 when they beat VMI 129-111.

Penn State 76 American 57

I thought PSU might struggle with this game, despite the inferior opponent. It was the last game before the players could go home for the first time in 6 months or so (the players apparently already had their bags packed and some literally went home immediately after the game), and they had just played a game on Saturday night. However, American actually had just lost a game 22 hours earlier to UMBC at home (a game that was postponed a day b/c of the Nor’easter last week). American was just as tired, if not moreso, than G-W two days before.

American came out strong as Vlad Moldoveanu scored 11 of American’s first 13 points. Vlad, a recently eligible George Mason transfer, scored 26 points in American’s upset of Depaul. The game was tight in the first half, until PSU opened up a comfortable 11 point lead with a minute left. But they let American creep back in it and the halftime score was 36-30.

Vlad and the rest of the Eagles were out of gas in the second half, as PSU busted the game open. The score was 66-38 with 7 minutes left (PSU going on a 30-8 run). For the second time in 3 days, the Lions were beating down on an over-matched opponent at home.

College Basketball

The stars of the game for the Lions were Chris Babb and Bill Edwards, who started the 2nd half and broke the game open. Frazier and Brooks, who had been struggling, were benched. Babb continued his hot shooting (5-7 from the field) for 13 points to go along with 6 boards. Edwards scored 12 points on 5 shots with 5 rebounds. Battle had 16 points on 9 shots and 7 assists. Andrew Jones had 9 points, but had just as many shots as turnovers.

All in all, neither of these games offered any stiff competition to get PSU ready for the Big Ten season. More to come on the Real Season before PSU’s game @ the Barn on Tuesday.

VT 66 PSU 64

Eric — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:00:50 +0000

It’s a busy time right now as a student at the end of the semester. I really hope you haven’t been waiting for a UMBC recap, because there’s just no point. PSU won the ugly, essentially meaningless game. The only highlight was Brooks’ being SC’s #1 play of the day. I didn’t get time to put up a VT preview, but coming into the game, I was worried about PSU’s ability to contain Jeff Allen and rebounding. I really thought this was a game PSU would win at home.

In such a close game, every possession, missed shot, or mistake is magnified and can be pointed to as the difference in the game. These frustrating losses tend to allow fans to just focus on the negatives and not the positives, which then leads to arguments over which mistake was bigger and cost the team the game. It gets pretty pointless after a while, but here’s a quick list of what I believe were the most important factors to why PSU lost.

Shooting – 39.2% eFG% at home isn’t going to get it done.
Inconsistent Frontcourt – Brooks, thought to be the most consistent so far, didn’t show up.
Dumb fouls – Frazier, Jones, Ott, and Babb with crucial fouls down the stretch
Talor Battle missed 7 foul shots

Each of those four factors contributed significantly to the outcome of the game. If we could eliminate just one of those four factors, I bet PSU wins the game. But the bottom line is PSU played a comparable bottom-tier BCS school at home and lost, despite the fact that Talor Battle was unstoppable and scored a career-high 32 points with 0 turnovers. That is the most troubling issue to me because it doesn’t bode well at ALL for the Big Ten season (that is a mere 2 weeks away).

NCAA Basketball Stats

Looking at the Four Factors, PSU just couldn’t shoot the ball well enough to win. Talor had 12 field goals while the rest of the team had 10 combined. That is not a winning formula. Obviously Battle took more than a fair share of shots (26 FGA), but it’s not like the other guys didn’t have chances (39 FGA for the rest of the team). The only player excluded from ‘the rest of the guys’ category would be David Jackson, who had a solid 12 point, 7 rebound performance (4-8 from the field). The rest of the guys were a glorious 6-31 (19.4%). Someone on this team desperately needs to step up and bring it every night.

Defensively, I thought PSU played OK. Not as great as they have been, but the competition was tougher. PSU switched in some 2-3 zone after struggling a bit to match up with VT’s athleticism inside. Malcolm Delaney was on fire for VT and nearly matched Battle’s output (27 points on 20 shots). Delaney is off to a great start to the year averaging 21 PPG and scored 32 on Temple’s tough defense. I felt like PSU made Delaney earn his buckets, so you just have to live with his production. Jeff Allen posted a double-double (12 and 10), but I didn’t think he was nearly as dominating as he was against PSU as a freshman. The biggest problem defensively were fouls. The Lions didn’t give up a FG to Va Tech the last 8 minutes of the game, but there were too many dumb fouls down the stretch that allowed VT to score their last 10 points of the game from the charity stripe. Tim Frazier had 4 fouls himself, neither of them were necessary. He picked up his first three fouls on breakaways for VT, compounding PSU’s problems. The worst committed by Tim, though, had to be his overaggressive reach on Malcolm Delaney (80% FT shooter) 30 feet from the hoop with 9 on the shot clock. It came at the worst possible time as PSU was trying to get a stop and a chance to tie the game with under 30 seconds left. If Frazier didn’t commit any of his needless fouls, VT scores 3 less points. He IS a true freshmen and these were obviously freshmen mistakes, but how long is that excuse valid? These kind of fouls, especially the last one, prevent teams from winning.

Other dumb fouls:

Chris Babb’s momentum-shifting intentional foul on another VT breakaway. This could be attributed as the key moment of the game. The breakaway was the result of Andrew Jones’ gimme layup being blocked from behind by a VT help-defender. PSU had just regained the lead at 59-58 until this play.
Andrew Jones picking up 5 fouls in the 2nd half. Some of them were unlucky calls, but still. Having to play Andrew Ott at crunchtime is not something DeChellis would like to have to do.
Andrew Ott’s tackling of Dorenzo Hudson on a missed foul shot by Battle. Gave VT two free points with under 2 minutes to play. Ya gotta know when and when not to go after some loose balls.

Player Bullets…

Talor Battle – 32 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and no turnovers. But everyone has been focusing on his 7 missed foul shots and his missed layup at the buzzer. The guy played his heart out again, after coming back from turning his ankle just 7 minutes into the game. When Battle came back in after the injury, I claimed to my friends he wouldn’t come out. He actually did, but on his own accord, for about a minute or two before the under 8 media TO in the 2nd half. Phenomenal game from Talor, and I’m not too concerned about the foul shots. His form is atrocious, but it always has been. With how hard he plays combined with the hitch in his form (he doesn’t even use his legs), I always expect his foul shots to come up short. They did for the first time all year last night.
David Jackson – 12 points, 7 rebounds. Played well defensively as well. Good game from DJ.
Andrew Jones – I thought Drew played better than he has. He was more aggressive, but this team still needs more. He didn’t finish on a couple of decent post moves, and him fouling out in the second half was a big blow. He actually got to the foul line 6 times and converted on 5 of them. Finished with 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Jeff Brooks – Worst game by Brooks on the year. Looked like last year’s Brooks as his body language showed him getting down on himself. The only play he made was a nice alley-oop from Woodyard in the first half, but it could have been a result of Brooks taking forever to get back on D. He got abused on defense and didn’t make any shots he took. 2 points and 1 rebound in 22 minutes. He was benched down the stretch in favor of Andrew Ott…..not good.
Chris Babb – How long is this guy going to have the greenlight? I don’t know if he’s just lost confidence, but Chris continues to put up bricks from behind the arc. He’s now under 30% for the year from 3. He HAS to be able to knock down the open 3 with consistency. Also, not the best time to test your ability to penetrate and shoot with under a minute left in the game. Nice to see him try, but it was just at the worst possible time. He made a fair share of good plays on defense, but he also let Delaney split a double team to get the rock towards the end of the game. His intentional foul wasn’t too smart, either.
Tim Frazier – Continues to struggle. I don’t know if he’s still trying to find his niche, but he needs to become more involved in the motion offense. Missed a few open floaters in the lane and committed bad fouls at the wrong times. He’s got a long ways to go, but you can live with it from the true freshman. But will he remain a starter?
Bill Edwards – Bill didn’t play as well. I would have liked to see him get some more minutes, especially down the stretch. Also, I would’ve loved to see him post up more. He’s shown he can get buckets inside, but when he was in, he floated around the perimeter.
Andrew Ott – He played about as well as anybody could have expected, but he is what he is. A slow-footed backup that really can only contribute 8-10 minutes MAX a game. Jones foul troubles and Brooks awful play let Ott play 16 minutes. He scored 3 points and grabbed 6 boards, but he committed a dumb foul and couldn’t guard Allen one-on-one.
Cammeron Woodyard – Cam continues to log minutes and not affect the game at all. It’s almost like he’s not even on the court. He missed 2 shots, assisted on Brooks’ alley oop, and committed a turnover in 9 minutes.

It’s finals week, so the Lions don’t take the floor until Saturday night against Gardner-Webb. But this loss has a lot of PSU fans worried about the Big Ten season, including myself.

Temple 45 PSU 42

Eric — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:56:43 +0000

It’s been 3 days since this game and I still don’t what to think about it. Was it a bad loss? I have yet to come up with an answer to that question. I don’t even know where to start with this game…

Despite the painfully slow paced game (only 53 possessions), the first half flew by. The main reason for the short first half was because of a strange stretch that led to 9 consecutive minutes of gameplay. From the under-16 media TO (that happened at 15:17) until 6:43, there was just 1 stoppage in play (at 12:52 because of rebound that went out of bounds). This stretch might seem impossible to most, but it really just epitomized how the game was played. Neither team was aggressive on offense and the contest turned into a jumpshooting match.

NCAA Basketball Stats

PSU didn’t shoot too well, but they sure shot better than Temple. Turnovers were a big problem in such a low possession game, none bigger than Bill Edwards’ offensive foul with under 20 seconds left. Rebounding was also a big issue. Penn State played great defense for the second game in a row, but towards the end of the game, they just couldn’t finish off possessions by protecting the defensive glass. It was just a little irritating.

Penn State’s offense once again was in all sorts of disarray. First off, they never, ever attempted to run. If I ever hear anyone claim that DeChellis likes to play fast or up-tempo, I’m going to puke. No up-tempo team plays 53 possession games. What’s funny, though, is the only two times I remember that PSU did run on a break, they scored on layups both times. There’s no doubt in my mind that PSU greatly increases their chances for a bucket when on the break, but they never even try to dictate the tempo. With some of the possessions I saw, PSU would’ve been better off playing VMI-style and just chucking up a shot in less than 10 seconds. Instead, it was dribble away 25-30 seconds of the clock and then chuck up an equally as bad shot. As far as the half-court sets go, I don’t know if the timing was off, if the spacing was bad, or if they couldn’t set good screens, but it was probably a combination of all 3. They looked completely out of whack, so PSU resorted to shooting 3′s and long 2′s.

Player Bullets:

Talor Battle – complete opposite of the Virginia game. Temple did a good job defending him, but once again, Battle was depended upon by the coaches to save the team. He couldn’t. 8 points on 3-15 shooting. Another physically draining 39 minutes. After playing the 9 minutes without a stop, he slipped and fell near the end of the first half. He got up and was holding his groin. The coaches then decided to keep him in for the whole second half. Battle didn’t even have the strength to get up a tying 3-pt attempt at the buzzer. Feel for the guy.
Chris Babb – Chris was one of the few bright spots. He found his stroke, hitting 3-6 of 3-pt attempts. He also drove to the bucket and scored a tough layup. Finished as the leading scorer with 11 points off the bench in 29 minutes. He was playing some good D too, even getting a block.
Bill Edwards – This guy continues to impress, even though he had 4 turnovers including the crucial offensive foul with a chance to take the lead with 20 seconds left. Defensive rebounding was a problem but it wasn’t Bill’s fault. He pulled down 10 defensive rebounds. He also was the only offensive presence in the second half, scoring 3 of PSU’s 6 2nd half field goals. He needs to get healthy.
Tim Frazier – He didn’t make too many plays in the time he was in, but I am absolutely puzzled to why he only played 3 minutes in the 2nd half. That’s a great way to get your freshmen ready for the Big 10. I don’t know if the coaches thought we didn’t match-up well with Temple’s bigger guards, but this was another game where the coaches tried the same thing over and over despite the same negative results. I thought Frazier deserved a chance to be on the floor to help PSU to 1 – get steals (only 2 for the game) and 2 – push the tempo.
David Jackson – Remember when this guy scored 26 points? He’s got to be a leader. He can’t be content with just taking 3 shots in a game. He played well defensively, but he has got to attempt to become a presence on offense. I’d rather see him go 2-10 than 2-3.
Jeff Brooks – Didn’t play well. Just 3 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 25 minutes. This is not going to get it done. He has gotta get underneath and help rebound. He’s 6-8 and this is 4th 1 rebound game this season.
Andrew Jones – I thought Jones played pretty well, actually. He scored 7 points while making some big free throws in the second half. He also did a great job defending Lavoy Allen (who shot 3-12 for the game). He’s gotta help with the rebounding woes, though.

I’m not sure how much credit Temple deserves to holding the Lions to a 79.2 efficiency. I really thought PSU had a poor plan of attack and really were at fault on their own for their woes, but Temple had held St. John’s, Georgetown, and Virginia Tech to similar poor numbers. I’m interested to see how Temple does. They don’t have much depth and are scoring-challenged. Hopefully they have a great season like their previous years, but I’m not sold on them to do well in the A-10. This was a game PSU should’ve won, especially with their defensive effort.

PSU 69 Virginia 66

Eric — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:10:04 +0000

If you missed last night’s game, you can watch the highlights below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHgaRgZCZgk

Talor Battle, with his fresh high-top fade, looked a lot like the Fresh Prince in last night’s second half. The Bubby smile returned for the first time this season, and it was just a joy to watch as always. Talor dropped a career-high 32 points, 28 of which came in the 2nd period when he put PSU (and the Big Ten) on his shoulders and took over the game. His performance brought on the first reference to the new blog title, so I was pretty happy about that. PSU survived a pretty wild last 3 minutes complete with banked threes, absurd officiating, and missed free throws, to hang on for a much needed 69-66 road victory. Penn St came up big in the Challenge for the third year in a row, which is a first in the 11 year history of the challenge. Go us.

NCAA Basketball Stats

I’m just going to break this game down into halves. Penn St actually went into halftime down 27-21. They were having serious problems with UVA’s defense. They shot just 9-26 in the half (34.6%) while only hitting 1-6 from deep. Brooks had 5 points in 8 minutes before he picked up 2 fouls and had to sit for the rest of the half. That hurt PSU’s offense as did Battle really struggling. The few good shots he took, he missed, and he couldn’t get the ball back to the slipping screener (usually Jones) on pick-and-rolls. PSU was settling for too many jumpers and they weren’t making them. My fears before the game were becoming reality. They also weren’t getting many second chances. After coming out with 2 offensive putbacks on the first two possessions, the Lions weren’t able to convert any more second chance points.

While the offense needed some adjustments, I was thrilled with PSU’s defense (which left me encouraged that we could steal this game). Despite our inability to cover talented 6-8 F Mike Scott (who went 6-6 for 12 points in the first half alone), the Lions were playing great team defense. They really did a phenomenal job on Sylven Landesburg and his penetration. I think Landesburg was only able to score on 1 drive the whole game. David Jackson did a good job containing him, but when he couldn’t, the team was there to help. Brooks particularly had a nice helpside swat on a Landesburg drive early in the game. Even Sasa Borovnjak (who only played 1 minute the whole game at the end of the first half) cut off the baseline that forced a bad pass and steal, which led to a Battle bucket in transition set up nicely by Frazier. PSU blocked a few shots, grabbed a few steals, and really contested a lot of UVA’s shots. Like I said, Scott made some nice buckets and took advantage of some mismatches but you knew he wasn’t going to keep making everything.

After the sluggish first half on offense, PSU came out roaring to start the second half. They played the most complete basketball we’ve seen this year for the first 10 minutes, when they went on a 23-7 run to take control of the game. Tim Frazier and Talor Battle were unstoppable. UVA couldn’t handle their quickness, as I suspected. The Cavaliers did a great job collapsing on Battle and Frazier in the first half when they got in the lane, but they were starting to breakdown in the 2nd. Battle and Frazier took advantage and you could just see the team’s confidence grow right there. Frazier was so confident, he pulled up and drained an 18 footer in transition like he was Joe Crispin or Stanley Pringle. Battle then started feeding Andrew Jones on slips to the basket for 2 monster dunks. PSU kept playing tough on defense, giving them opportunities to push the tempo. I noted before the game how I thought it was key PSU didn’t get locked into the halfcourt game. They did in the first half and it was ugly (only 2 fastbreak points on the last basket of the half). But blocked shots and good defensive rebounding allowed PSU to get out more as PSU scored 6 fast break points in the first 10 minutes of the half.

The great run culminated with a Jeff Brooks layup (and a foul) that was set up beautifuly by Battle on a 3-on-1 break. PSU up 44-34 at the under 12 media timeout. That is when Talor Battle really took over the game. The 23-7 run was more of a total team effort, but Battle went on to score 18 of the team’s final 25 points. I personally would have like to see PSU work it inside more and win the more traditionally way on the road -- by getting good shots inside and making them. But when Talor Battle is on fire, you just let him do whatever he wants. He was draining threes and some of them were when he came off screens and moved without the ball. You can really see how great of a complement Tim Frazier is in the backcourt. Both Battle and Pringle last year were scorers. Frazier can score, too, but he has the true PG mentality of distributing the rock. This was the first time all season where I felt Battle really took advantage of having Frazier set up the offense.

Battle’s 5th trey (over 3 guys) put PSU up 55-43 at the under 4 media timeout. Then the game just got ridiculous. PSU has shown their fair share of choke-jobs recently, but this one was coupled with some very, very strange calls. It all started when Battle got called for hooking on a drive to the hoop. Never have I ever seen a call like that, but it cost PSU a possession. A little later on, there was a terrible foul call on David Jackson on a Landesburg drive that consisted of at least 3 steps. Then the officials decided to call all of these weak handchecks after letting some serious physical play go on all game. PSU was fortunate on one possession because I swear UVA earned a 5 second call on Battle, but he got bailed out on a hand check foul. DJ and Frazier got called for ticky tack checks, as well. But then when PSU tried to foul on the last possession, the handcheck wasn’t called. Now yes, Battle should have made a better attempt to make sure the foul gets called (before UVA could put up a tying 3), but his handcheck was much like ones that were called just moments earlier. It was just odd and it really drug out the last 2 minutes. But PSU made enough foul shots to finish off the game they deserved to win. It’s crazy though because not only did UVA actually cut the lead down to 1, they really could have won. Landesburg tanked at the foul line down the stretch. If he shot his percentages, he would have gone 7-8 not 4-8 and the game could have ended tied. Another crazy, nerve-racking Penn State finish.

Big Ten 1 ACC 0. Let’s go Big Ten!

PSU 87 Sacred Heart 75

Eric — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:30:09 +0000

There’s no place like the Bryce Jordan Center for the Nittany Lions. After an atrocious trip to Charleston where Penn State was a frigid 38.1% eFG% from the field in 3 games, the Lions carved up Sacred Heart’s defense for 87 points in a 68 possession game. They shot a blistering 70.2% eFG% from the floor, getting whatever they wanted from inside. That’s right, PSU looked like they had a plan of attack on offense and they were dominant on the offensive end.

Tempo-free numbers:

Teams	Poss	Efficiency	eFG%	OReb%	FTRate	TO%
PSU	68.0	127.9	70.2%	10.5%	53.2%	16.2%
SH	68.0	110.3	60.2%	32.1%	10.2%	25.0%

Those rebounding numbers are awful, especially when you consider the level of competition. But when you take into account the fact that PSU only missed 17 shots all game, it’s not that big of a deal that they only pulled down 2 offensive rebounds. Plus, they put up their best offensive efficiency of the year so far. It was an encouraging performance for a team that looked so anemic on offense in Charleston. Keep in mind, though, Xavier put up 136.4 efficiency and 105 points against the Pioneers just 4 days earlier, so the competition was not good.

The defense was very disappointing, especially in the second half. Sacred Heart hit 8 of their first 11 threes of the second period. They didn’t really do anything special, either. They obviously were a POT team and shot a bunch of threes. There were a lot of ball screens and dribbled weaves that PSU strategized to switch off. But they couldn’t close on SH’s three shooters and they were burned repeatedly. DeChellis sounded frustrated on the postgame radio show. This game wouldn’t have been a contest if the defense showed up. SH did hit a couple of ridiculous shots, but it shouldn’t have become a 62-61 game in the 2nd half.

Player Bullets

David Jackson – How about DJ’s career night? Probably one of the most impressive stat lines from a PSU player, ever. 26 points on just 10 shots (made 8), including a solid 9-11 at the charity stripe. Chipped in 2 rebounds and 4 assists for good measure, as well. The most encouraging part of DJ’s night was that he commanded the paint on offense. He had an assortment of up and under post moves, had a few drives that resulted in trips to the line, and hit a couple of jumpers. I would really like to go nuts over his game, but the defense on him was terrible (6’4″ playground shooter Corey Hassan was guarding him on half his buckets). Probably won’t ever see a game like this from DJ again, but it’s nice to see he can step it up inside.
Talor Battle – Probably one of the quietest, but most efficient games of his career. 19 points on 8 shots (made 6), 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals. Most of his buckets were layups, and he was a beast on the defensive glass, once again. Talor looked much more comfortable with the rest of the team compared to any other game this year.
Jeff Brooks – Last year’s Brooks made an appearance. Jeff was in foul trouble all game and was never a factor. He only logged 13 minutes and had 4 points and 1 rebound. Really lost his composure on a few occasions, most notably his 4th foul after a lazy pass that was picked off on the perimeter. We’ll see how Jeff responds…how fragile is his confidence?
Andrew Jones – Can someone get this guy some post moves going to the basket. While DJ was schooling kids left and right, Jones wasn’t doing diddly. He only took 4 FGA (1 was a wide open dunk) and 2 of them were jumpers. Neither of the 3 attempts were going at the rim. He has got to pick up his game if PSU wants to win, particularly on the road.
Bill Edwards – I love this guy. He has tons of composure for a true freshman coming off his first injury. He never got ahead of himself and showed some quality court vision. He’s not scared to take it to the rack and finish, either. The lefty has a soft touch from the perimeter, as well. He’s just so smooth with the ball in his hands. I cannot wait until he has at 100%. He was a little bit gimpy with the knee and he was noticeably slow. He scored 10 points (all in the second half) in 13 minutes with 2 rebounds and 2 assists. High ceiling for this guy.
Cammeron Woodyard – By far Woodyard’s best game of the season. He had 2 steals and 7 points in 15 minutes. He attempted two shots that were not threes for the first time this year. He had a layup on a steal and run-out and a clean 3. But the biggest play from Cam was a smooth 17 foot jumper with 5 minutes left that put PSU up 3 possessions. Nice to see Cam stepping up with the emergence of Edwards. If Cam wants to stay in the rotation, he has to continue this play. The luxury of having depth, for once.
Tim Frazier – Got the start again and scored 7 points and had 3 assists and 2 rebounds in 23 minutes. He continues to drive the lane with nowhere to go, though. Typical growing pains for the freshmen. He made a lot of athletic plays though and contributed. Will he ever attempt another 3 pointer? He hasn’t since he went 4-5 against Robert Morris.
Chris Babb – Chris came off the bench and hit two big threes that were set up nicely. He also dished out 5 assists in 22 minutes. I’m willing to bet Babb is going to be a much better shooter at home than on the road. All 4 FGA were from behind the arc, as usual. Still have yet to seen Babb penetrate and create.
Andrew Ott and Sasa Borovnjak – Both played 5 minutes in the first half but didn’t do too much. Sasa got rejected a couple of times, and Ott did nothing but score on an easy layup set up beautifully by a TB wrap-a-round pass.

I wasn’t impressed with Sacred Heart but they hung tough with their shooting. The defense has got to improve immensely, but I’m sure the coaching staff is working diligently on it with the team. The Lions hopefully found some new shooting confidence they can take with them on the road Monday against UVA in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Preview forthcoming.

Wrapping up the Charleston Classic

Eric — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:09:29 +0000

Another exempt tournament, another disaster. The Nittany Lions went to Charleston last week looking to pass their first test of real competition. Instead, they were greatly exposed and left looking for answers…

Game 1: UNC-Wilmington 80 Penn State 69

Check this out. Penn State had only 5 turnovers (7.6% TO%), while grabbing 9 steals and forcing 15 (22.7% TO%) on defense. They grabbed 17 offensive rebounds (37% OReb%), while corralling 80% of the available defensive rebounds. The Nittany Lions hit 22 of 27 from the foul line as a team (a very uncharacteristic 81.5%), while putting up 18 more shots than UNCW.

All of those stats are nice and pretty but the game of basketball is about putting the ball through the hoop. Penn State didn’t do that (a theme for this classic) while making it significantly easier for their opponents.

Teams	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	eFG%	Efficiency
UNC-W	27	47	57.4%	10	16	62.5%	68.1%	121.2
PSU	21	65	32.3%	5	21	23.8%	36.2%	104.5

The numbers speak for themselves. Give credit to UNC-Wilmington for making that many shots, but plenty of them were great looks.

This was a pretty frustrating game. Penn State was sluggish throughout the first half and found themselves down 10, 31-21 with 7:00 minutes to go. They made a nice run to cut it down to 33-29 with under 3 minutes to go in the half, but David Jackson got abused inside on defense by 6-8 freshman, Will Ohuaregbe, for a hoop and a foul. After a Battle missed shot on the following possession, UNCW came down the floor and drained an open 3. After working hard for five minutes to cut into the lead, PSU immediately found themselves down 9 again, 38-29. They went to the half at 40-31 with all the momentum on the Seahawks’ side.

But PSU responded coming out of halftime. Four quick points from Chris Babb forced UNCW to call a timeout before a minute had passed in the second half. Penn State continued to hang tough for a while with the Seahawks and it was a 45-42 game. That was until more defensive collapses and an inefficient offense allowed UNC-W to go on a 15-5 run, expanding the lead to 60-47 at the under 8 media TO. It was one of those games where PSU kept trying to mount a comeback, but defensive meltdowns at all the wrong times kept PSU from getting over the hump. PSU made one last run (due to Battle/Frazier penetration that led to numerous foul shots for each player) at the Seahawks. I didn’t start to believe that they could do it until an emphatic alley-oop from Tim Frazier to Jeff Brooks cut the lead to 2, 64-62 with over 2 minutes to go. UNC-W was turning it over against the press and PSU was scoring from the foul line with the clocked stopped. It looked like the comeback was going to happen and PSU was going to escape. But PSU’s defense folded down the stretch, as UNCW got two easy buckets inside to respond to PSU’s run. Chris Babb missed an open 3 (he was 2-10 from 3 land this game), and Jeff Brooks turned it over on PSU’s next two possessions. UNC-W nailed their free throws down the stretch and finally started swatting Battle/Frazier drives instead of fouling.

You can check out the box score here to form your own impressions of how each player performed. Babb and Jones had terrible games, and Brooks was basically ignored the entire 2nd half. The offense was frustrating, but points were being scored. The defense is why PSU lost this game.

Game 2: Tulane 63 Penn State 60

This was an inexcusable loss. PSU didn’t play so well against the Seahawks the day before, but I was impressed by UNC-Wilmington. They didn’t look like a last place team in their conference, and they earned the victory. Tulane was not a good basketball team, didn’t play a good basketball game, but made the plays down the stretch to beat the sleepwalking Lions.

Tempo-free numbers in the 62 possession game:

Teams	eFG%	TO%	OReb%	FTR
PSU	34.5%	17.7%	39.0%	45.5%
Tulane	43.8%	17.7%	25.0%	54.2%

Just a craptastic game all-around. The shooting woes continued, as you can see. Penn State made just 17 of 55 shot attempts and only 4 of 18 from the perimeter. Andrew Jones once again did nothing offensively, scoring 4 points on 8 shots against a Tulane squad that started nobody listed over 6’7″. Chris Babb started again and couldn’t find the touch on his jumper, shooting just 1 of 6 from 3 this game. Battle had a pretty poor game as well, only making 3 of his 13 shots. He couldn’t finish a lot of layups inside that he worked his ass off to get. He also hit just 1 of his 5 three pointers. For the second straight game though, he was able to get to the foul line and convert, going 8-8. David Jackson didn’t attack the rim and shot just 1-5. Jeff Brooks had one of his best games of his career, but he couldn’t carry the Lions to a victory. Jeff was the only one able to mix things up in the paint, scoring a career-high 15 points (6-11 from the field, made all 3 of his foul shots) to go along with 7 rebounds. He was the lone brightspot for the Nittany Lions in this game. I liked that DeChellis used more of his bench in this game (I felt like Highberger should’ve been given a chance against the Seahawks after how much Babb and others struggled from the perimeter). Frazier scored 8 points (6-7 from the foul line) and Highberger added 5.

I wouldn’t say the defense was significantly better this game. Tulane had an offensive efficiency of 101.6, and I really felt it could have been much better. They were missing some good shots and committing unforced turnovers. Tulane had 11 turnovers for the game, but PSU only had 1 steal. Also, the defense really struggled down the stretch, once again. There were a decent amount of fouls this game; PSU got whistled for 22, Tulane 23. Most of PSU fouls came on aggressive hedges that just weren’t necessary. None was more killer than Andrew Jones bumping Kevin Sims, Tulane’s best player, 25 feet from the hoop with only 1 minute left in the game and PSU clinging to a 1 point lead they had just recently earned. Tulane was already in the bonus and the foul gave Tulane 2 free points to retake the lead. It was a boneheaded play from a player who’s been in the program for 4 years and is looked upon as one of the leaders of this team. Frustrating, to say the least. PSU turned the ball over in 4 seconds and Tulane got 2 more points from the foul line to go up 59-56. PSU cut it to 1 on two Battle free throws, but Chris Babb slacked off too much on Sims during the end of Tulane’s next possession and the sharpshooter, who hadn’t scored a point in the season up until the second half of this game, drained an open 3 from the top of the key with 13 seconds left. The shot essentially ended the game.

This game brought back memories of the 2007 Old Spice Classic. Penn State had high hopes heading into that tourney, but lost to South Carolina, Rider, and Central Florida while finishing last. This was the most disappointing game of the trip for me, because it just didn’t look like the team wanted to win. At least not like last year’s squad. We knew Jamelle’s leadership was going to be something that had to be replaced, but I didn’t think the team would look this disinterested. There have been reports of a flu bug that hit the team in Charleston, and the guys did play a game just 24 hours earlier, but those are just excuses IMO. Good teams fight through adversities like that. Bad, bad loss.

Game 3: Penn State 59 Davidson 57

PSU had to desperately win this game and they did, but it was not pretty. The game wasn’t carried on TV, but I listened to Steve & Dick on the radio.

Tempo-Free numbers:

Teams	eFG%	TO%	OReb%	FTR
PSU	44.3%	19.4%	25.7%	28.3%
Davidson	48.2%	21.0%	27.3%	9.1%

This game was a 10 AM tip, so I was concerned how PSU would come out to start the game. It’s gotta be pretty tough to play at 10 AM in front of no one, especially when you consider how poorly the previous few days had gone. But Penn State came out strong and jumped out to leads like 7-0, 20-4 and 28-9. It was nice to feel good about the team again, until they got complacent and reverted back to their original form in this tournament. It took just 11 minutes (over 2 halves) for Davidson to erase that great start for PSU. It was grinder from that point on until the end of the game.

Tim Frazier got his first career start, and Bill Edwards played his first game as a Nittany Lion. Bill has gotten a lot of hype from insiders, and his partially torn MCL was considered a setback for the whole team. He was expected to have a big impact on this year’s squad. Now DeChellis played 9 guys in this game, but two of them, Ott and Borovnjak, only combined for 10 minutes. Edwards and Babb were the only notable contributors off the bench. I think this speaks volumes for the coaching staff’s confidence in Bill’s game. Edwards came back from his injury early, and the coaches immediately threw him into the fire. Bill responded with 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists in 18 minutes. Impressive for a true freshman. The radio broadcasts on both sides were raving about Bill’s play, praising his aggressiveness and willingness to mix it up in the lane.

Jeff Brooks played another good game. He was the leading scorer with 12 points and had some huge plays down the stretch. Talor struggled. 11 points on 14 shots is not going to get it done. It was very disappointing to hear him miss a ‘good look’ from about 10 feet with 20 seconds left. PSU was only up 2 at that point and had an opportunity to really step on Davidson’s throat, but Battle couldn’t convert a good look late. They forced a missed shot on Davidson’s next possession, though, so it’s encouraging PSU won a game with a defensive stop.

PSU 80 RMU 61

Eric — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:56:21 +0000

We know there are going to be nights where Talor Battle can’t score 20+ points. But PSU showed last night that they could score just fine without Talor being the one to put it through the hoop. After a sluggish first half, PSU came out and blew the game wide open with a 29-6 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

At halftime, I was concerned despite a one point lead (thanks to Battle’s buzzer-beating layup). The Colonials were clearly more active, outhustling the Lions on more than a few occasions. They collected 7 offensive rebounds in the first half (41.1% OReb%), including a monster tip jam from reserve Lijah Thompson. PSU was in a dogfight and there was no evidence that anything would change in the second half. Battle was frustrated and he had played the whole first half. So much for my hopes of him getting rest…

But the Lions came out much more focused and energetic in the second half – props to the coaching staff. Robert Morris didn’t know what hit them. Chris Babb was the main contributor in the run. After sitting with 2 fouls again for much of the first half, Babb spotted up for 4 threes in 5 minutes, 2 of them coming in transition. These streaks by Babb are what we know he is capable of. He can score a lot in a hurry, especially with his high release point that makes his jumpshot practically indefensible.

The hot start to the 2nd half really deflated the Colonials, and DeChellis was able to empty the bench. Battle was given 12 minutes of needed rest before the 3 game stretch in 4 days in South Carolina.

Some tempo-free analysis:

Teams	Poss	Efficiency	eFG%	OReb%	FTRate	TO%
PSU	64.0	125.0	63.0%	39.3%	33.3%	21.9%
RMU	64.0	95.3	40.3%	34.1%	27.4%	12.5%

Penn State was lights out again from the floor, hitting 28-54 from the field (12-26 from deep). The Lions were also much more active on the offensive glass, as I expected. The defensive rebounding improved in the second half to overcome the atrocious 41.1% RMU posted in the first half. The defense, though, continues to have the awesome ability of not being able to force turnovers. The Colonials were credited with 9 turnovers in the game and about 3 of them were completely unforced passes out of bounds.

EDIT: They fixed the play-by-play. Well, sort of. Battle is no longer credited with a turnover, and they correctly gave the TO to the Robert Morris player. However, Talor never did get credited for a steal. Weird.

Player Bullets:

Talor Battle – finished with 8 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds. Despite shooting just 2-9 from the floor, he was still able to contribute in other areas. It’s amazing though how much of a struggle it is for him to hit an open jumper. Frazier set him up nicely a few times, and Battle clearly was not used to it as he bricked horribly. He just isn’t a great shooter. He creates his own points. Kudos to DeChellis for getting him 12 minutes of rest.
Tim Frazier – What a night for the true freshmen. In just his second career game, Frazier went off for 19 points on 11 shots and calmly drained 4 of 5 threes from the perimeter. I’m very interested to see how the jumper comes along. It had looked awful up until last night. But he’s a competitor and if he can shoot like this consistently, look out. He also grabbed 2 boards and dished 3 assists. Stud.
Jeff Brooks – An even more impressive performance from Jeff compared to last game. He finished with 12 points on 8 shots (6-8), all of which came from inside the arc. He was aggressive and confident, grabbing rebounds and taking kids to school. The variety of moves Jeff displayed included a step-back 15 ft fadeaway from the baseline, an under control drive from the foul line to the rack, and a nice turnaround floater off an offensive rebound. He grabbed 5 boards in 21 minutes, too, compared to just 1 in 28 min against Penn. Brooks is the x-factor and the early returns on his season are very good.
Chris Babb – Basically ended the game with his barrage of threes, finishing with a career high 15 points (all on treys). Also grabbed a couple of tough boards on the defensive end. He’s gotta stop hacking in the first half, though. I can’t wait to see how much he produces when he’s not in foul trouble. We haven’t seen him put the ball on the floor yet, but he claimed to have developed that part of his game over the summer.
David Jackson – He contributed more in the first half, which is good because the team was struggling. Finished with 8 points (on 4 shots), 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. These are the kind of nights I want from DJ – quiet production. Nothing’s gotta be fancy, just be involved on the floor. He took a charge on defense, as well.
Andrew Jones – A better performance from Drew, but I’m still expecting more. He just didn’t look good a few times when he got the ball in the post, turning it over twice. He scored 6 points (of the garbage variety) and was active on the glass with 8 rebounds. He also blocked 2 shots.
Sasa Borovnjak – Continues to leave good impressions. He only played 8 minutes after the game was well in hand, but he produced. He has good footwork, good hands, and a nice touch around the tin. It’s also exciting that he can shoot foul shots. He hit the deck for another loose ball on defense, as well. Finished with 6 points (3 shots) and 3 rebounds.
Adam Highberger – He’s going to have a consistent role on this team. This is twice now where he has come in cold off the bench and nailed an open 3. That was always a pet peeve of mine about D Mo. He would come in, PSU would work to get an open look for him, and he wouldn’t convert. Highberger is now 3-4 from 3 in 2 games.
Cammeron Woodyard – Not a good game from Cam. Once again Babb sits with foul trouble, and Woodyard is unable to provide a spark. I was surprised DeChellis kept him in after Woodyard turned the ball over with a weak entry pass, took an ill-advised three early in the shot clock, and then didn’t get out a shooter in transition D in successive possessions. Just 3 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 17 minutes. He’s now 2-8 from the floor for the season and all 8 attempts have been from 3-land.
Andrew Ott – Played 7 first half minutes. Grabbed a few boards and played good D, but that’s it. That’s all we need him to do, though.
Billy Oliver – Played 4 minutes of garbage time. It’s nice to see him healthy enough to play. Seems like a very smart player, especially on defense. We’ll see if he ever cracks into the regular rotation.
Steve Kirkpatrick – Nice to see practice players get some run.

Some other notes

Bill Edwards dressed again. DeChellis said in his post-game presser that they’re expecting him back after the Charleston trip. This is encouraging because he’s ahead in his initial 4-6 week recovery prognosis. He will play and probably take some of Cam’s minutes if Woodyard doesn’t step it up.
Jermaine Marshall didn’t play again. A redshirt seems to be the plan.

Overall, a very exciting performance in the second half and lots of potential displayed against a pretty athletic RMU club. The team is now off to Charleston to play UNC-Wilmington in the first round of the Charleston Classic.

PSU 70 Penn 55

Eric — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:50:48 +0000

You gotta love season openers. For many of us diehards, we had to wait a long 7 and a half months. Football tried to fill the void, but failed horribly. A terrible schedule/conference provided undeserved victories, which raised unrealistic expectations for this team, and it just led to disappointment, confusion, and an awkward ‘emptiness’ feeling. This might be the most unsatisfying 10-2 season in the history of football (assuming they win in EL next week, which is a complete toss-up IMO).

It didn’t help that this has been by far the most optimistic I’ve been for a Penn State basketball season since the Crispin era. With the positive end to last season, along with the uncertainty of how this team is going to be this year, I was just a little excited to get the season started on Friday. I was so excited to see basketball that I completely forgot how awful these early games are. It’s not a Penn State thing. It’s evidenced throughout college basketball. It takes a week or two for teams to get into the flow of the season and start playing competent basketball. It really makes you wonder why the hell the Selection Committee puts as much stock in these games in March. It’s all about the body of work, don’t you know.

So I would have to say the Penn game wasn’t too revealing to how PSU is going to play this year. Or maybe it was a significant sign that this is how we’re gonna be and I’m just in denial.

We all knew Talor Battle is going to produce the most, but if he’s counted on to do this much for PSU to win a game, it’s going to be a long season. Talor had a phenomenal game – 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists. He consistently broke Zach Rosen’s ankles with some incredible hesitation steps and some ridiculous craftiness in the lane. Talor could always score in the paint, but the way he did Friday made me think he did really improve over the summer. He did whatever he want against the Quakers and it was a joy to watch. I particularly enjoyed his 1 on 5 drive that put PSU up 61-49, capping off a mini 7-1 run that put the game away with 4 minutes to go.

It was a choppy game, because the officiating crew couldn’t swallow their whistles. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many offensive fouls called in one game. It wasn’t unfair or one-sided, it just really kept the game from getting into any sort of flow. Three of PSU starters picked up 2 fouls in the 1st half – Drew, DJ, and Babb. That allowed for DeChellis to play 11 guys at least 5 minutes each in the first half. It was nice to see the new guys get so much time, but there was little cohesion among the ever-changing lineups. Battle was the only constant during the game.

Some tempo-free analysis:

Teams	Poss	Efficiency	eFG%	OReb%	FTRate	TO%
PSU	63.0	111.1	56.5%	25.8%	31.5%	15.9%
UPenn	63.0	87.3	42.7%	25.0%	45.8%	20.6%

As you can see, PSU shot well and took care of the ball like we did last year. But the offensive rebounding wasn’t there, which is a little unusual for DeChellis’ teams. PSU also didn’t do well getting to the foul line, especially when you consider Penn was whistled for 23 fouls. I thought the pace would be faster, but like I mentioned, I think the number of fouls interrupted the flow.

I was disappointed with the offense. PSU shot 27 threes (made 9 of them). You would think a Big Ten team would be able to getter better shots against an Ivy League team with nobody over 6’9″. I know we are going to shoot a lot of jumpshots from the perimeter, but there has to be some sort of balance. How about this stat; Talor Battle scored 9 baskets inside the arc, the rest of the team scored 8. If a 5’11″ PG is going to be our inside threat, we aren’t going anywhere. Andrew Jones didn’t look like the guy he was at the end of last season. He couldn’t get open in the post and we were never able to get some inside-outside ball movement going on. There were only 11 assists on PSU’s 26 made field goals (42.7%). Talor did most of his damage on his own. This cannot be the M.O. for this season.

The defense was okay. Penn State played straight man all night. I was impressed with Penn, to be honest. They had great spacing and did a good job penetrating and getting great looks. Zach Rosen is a solid PG. He can really dish the rock in traffic. Penn had 12 assists on their 18 made field goals (66.7%). Darrin Smith’s 1-11 performance and Tyler Bernandini’s foul troubles really hurt them. Bernandini actually scored the first 10 points for Penn, but finished with just 12. Penn State did a good job rebounding, but they didn’t really force turnovers (most of theirs were offensive fouls) and posted just a 2.1% Block Pct and a 4.8% Steal Pct.We gotta be more active on defense and create plays that will generate fastbreaks and points.

Player Bullets

Talor Battle – Phenomenal, as previously mentioned.
Andrew Jones – Didn’t play well. Foul troubles limited minutes until he fouled out. Scored 4 points and grabbed 5 boards in 21 minutes. Missed both of his free throws.
Chris Babb – He played just 6 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, but logged 17 minutes in the second half. Took him a while to get in a rhythm, but he hit 2 threes towards the end of the game and finished with 8 points, 4 boards, 3 assists, and a steal. There are going to be nights when he goes OFF.
David Jackson – Looked okay. He was also limited by fouls. He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting, but was steady on defense like always. His shots looked good, he rimmed out a few jumpers.
Jeff Brooks – Second leading scorer with 10 points. He looked comfortable on the court. You gotta wonder, though, how a 6’7″ forward plays 27 minutes and only grabs 1 rebound. He’s gotta be more willing to mix it up inside.
Andrew Ott – He was productive, despite how it looked. 5 points and 4 boards in just 14 minutes, but he also fouled out. The guys have to adjust to how the game is called.
Cammeron Woodyard – He played the majority of the first half because of Babb’s fouls. He hit a pretty three from a feed from Talor, but shot 1-4 from behind the arc. You would like to see more production out of your sixth man who logs 16 minutes. He finished with just 3 points, 1 assist, and 1 rebound.
Sasa Borovnjak – He’s not red-shirting. I get more and more encouraged by his play each time I see. He was diving on the floor and really hustling out there. He logged 13 minutes – scored 2 points and grabbed a board.
Adam Highberger – I’m curious to see how much he plays this season. He’s just 6’2″ and doesn’t have the athleticism to create like our other guards. But his shot is money. Very quick release. He hit two big threes in the first half in his 5 minutes of action. He was also guarding Bernandini for a stretch, and while I found that to be a mismatch, surprisingly, Bernandini didn’t score on him.
Tim Frazier – I thought he would play a bit more, but DeChellis I guess wanted to get his starters some run in the second half. Talor was also playing too well to come out. He didn’t do too much on the stat sheet other than record 2 assists in 8 minutes. Can’t wait to see more of Tim.
Billy Oliver – Nice to see him see the floor. Didn’t do much in his 5 minutes to really form an impression. He did take a three and missed, but his stroke looked good.

Overall, an unimpressive first performance (except for Battle). They shot pitifully from the foul line (9-17), as usual, chucked up threes on offense, as usual, relied on Battle way too much (39 minutes against Penn?), as usual, and weren’t active on defense, as usual. But it is just the first game and I’m probably looking way too much into it. PSU got the W, so it’s on to the next one (Robert Morris, tomorrow).

PS – If you didn’t know, Denzel Washington was at the game to watch his son, Malcolm, who is a walk-on for Penn. I was disappointed that I was denied by the usher to go meet him. He’s the man.

Game Stories

Battle powers Penn State in opener – CDT
Penn State downs Penn 70-55 to win 5th straight season opener – GoPSUSports
Penn short on answers in 70-55 loss to PSU – Philly Inquirer