The first, while expected, should still be a relief to Penn Staters, as Tim Frazier was officially granted his medical hardship waiver (medical redshirt to the rest of us).  After rupturing his Achilles early on in the season’s fourth game, the waiver was mostly just a formality, but as any Nittany Lion fan can attest, the NCAA is not exactly in the business of formality.  With Frazier’s return, Chambers could very well have one of the top backcourts in the Big 10, with Jermaine Marshall and D.J. Newbill ready to slide back to more natural roles.  With graduations and early departures, the duo of Marshall and Newbill will be the top returning scorers in the conference.

With depth seemingly addressed at guard, attention has turned to forward, where the Lions will look to answer plenty of questions both on the floor, and on the recruiting trail.  One of those pieces could come by way of Texas forward Jaylen Bond, who announced last month he would be transferring from the Longhorns.  The rising junior would of course sit out the 2013-14 season per NCAA rules, but would have 2 years remaining after that.  Jaylen hails from the Philly area, and meshes well with Chambers’ stated goal of establishing a PSU presence in the hoops hotbed.  Philly natives D.J. Newbill, and John Johnson have both transferred to Happy Valley, and Chambers has recruited in both Brandon Taylor, and Julian Moore from the the area.  Eric at BSD told me last night that Temple may be the leader, but once you get someone on campus, anything can happen. Bond was slowed by injuries this season, averaging just 3 points and 3 rebounds in limited minutes.

Follow VBR Lead Editor Matt de Bear on Twitter for the latest on Penn State

As frustrating as this past season was for Chambers’ young team, it will pay off for them next season. When you go through the meat grinder that is the Big Ten without your do-everything point guard, the rest of the team is forced to elevate their game and take on more responsible. Even though that didn’t result in many wins, it will only help the players who return next season (which is nearly everyone).

Obviously the two players who had to shoulder the majority of the load once Tim Frazier went down for the season were D.J. Newbill and Jermaine Marshall. At times the duo struggled. But when both were hitting shots and playing well, Penn State was a lot tougher to beat (see Feb. 27 vs. Michigan).

Newbill was also charged with most of the point guard duties, with primary ball handler being his main responsibility. And he’s a shooting guard, not a point guard. So now that Newbill has nearly a whole season of playing point guard under his belt, he has a better overall understanding of the game. And even though Marshall didn’t play the point as much as Newbill, you could say the same about him to a lesser degree. With Frazier back next season, Newbill and Marshall will both play off the ball a lot more and be back at their natural two-guard spots.

Another reason to get excited about Penn State hoops next year is the incoming freshmen class. The four incoming freshmen are Geno Thorpe (guard from Pittsburgh), Graham Woodward (guard from Edina, MN), Payton Banks (small forward from Orange, CA) and Julian Moore (power forward from Ft. Washington, PA).

I’ve seen Thorpe play in person twice and he has impressed me a lot. He is a great on-ball defender, can get to rim and make tough layups. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the other three play in person. I know that Woodward and Banks scored a lot in high school. And even though Moore didn’t fill the stat sheet as much, he was instrumental in helping his team win a state championship. In my opinion, Thorpe might be the most prepared one of the group to contribute right away. But due to Penn State’s need for more production from its bigs, Moore might be the most important down the road.

Another factor to consider for next season is the addition of Pitt transfer John Johnson. Johnson will add more depth and scoring to an already solid backcourt of Frazier, Newbill and Marshall. Chambers seems very optimistic about Johnson and even said this during the press conference:

“What a luxury to have someone off the bench giving you 20.” In 39 games as a freshman at Pitt during the 2011-2012 season, Johnson averaged 4.2 points per game and 1.2 assists per game while playing about 14 minutes per game. I’m not sure what gives Chambers reason to think that Johnson can score like that in a conference like the Big Ten, but hopefully he’s right.

Penn State isn’t going to shock the world and finish in the top three of the Big Ten, but I believe that they have a legitimate shot to win 7-10 conference games next season. Obviously a lot depends on who from the other Big Ten teams decides to enter the draft early (Trey Burke, Victor Oladipo, Deshaun Thomas, etc.).

I’m usually not so optimistic when it comes to sports, but I firmly believe that Pat Chambers will have great success in his third year in Happy Valley. The experience that his team gained from this past season while playing in the best conference in the country without their best player is vital to next season’s hopes. The Nittany Lions are well equipped to make a run at an NCAA Tournament bid in 2013-2014 and I believe that they will do it.

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Mar 8, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions guard Tim Frazier (23) takes a shot in the lane against the Indiana Hoosiers during the second half of the first round of 2012 Big Ten Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeated Penn State 75-58. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The first and most obvious effect of the loss of Frazier is D.J. Newbill’s role.  Newbill was primed to take some of the scoring burden off of Frazier, and form one of the more potent backcourt tandems in the Big 10.  When Frazier went down, Newbill was forced into taking on the bulk of the point guard duties, a spot he had never played, and certainly not against the level of competition PSU was to face in the conference.  While Newbill’s transition to the point has been admirable, it is clear it’s very much the proverbial round peg/square hole problem.  Not only is he not the type of ball handler you need, especially against the aggressive Big 10 defenses on the schedule, it has taken it’s toll on the sophomore transfer.  The strong, aggressive shooting guard looks worn down and has struggled to get to the basket consistently.

With Newbill moving to the point, junior Jermaine Marshall has transitioned to the 2, and PSU’s 2nd scoring option.  Going into the season, Marshall was penciled in as the 3rd guard, and 3rd option on offense.  As Marshall moved up in the lineup, freshman Brandon Taylor was pressed into heavier minutes that the staff would have liked, and is being relied on to provide much more than you would typically want a true freshman to do.  Taylor has shown flashes of offensive talent, but the adjustment to playing defense against Big 10 opponents has been a slow one. Taylor has struggled to stay out of foul trouble with any consistency, taking one of PSU’s precious few offensive threats off the floor.

Entering the Big 10, the Lions had well documented struggles down the stretch of games they appeared to have well in hand, only to be forced to hang on at the end.  Any coach will tell you the key to closing out a game is putting the ball in the hands of your point guard.  Penn State has not had that luxury since the 3rd game of the season.  Newbill is simply not the ball handler, especially against the pressure defenses you see in late minutes of a close ballgame, you would want, but he is the best Chambers has at this point.  As the season goes on, and Newbill’s heavy minutes continue to add up, it would stand to reason this can and will be a bigger issue should PSU find themselves in the position of needing to close out a close win.

Perhaps most importantly is the leadership aspect.  Frazier and Newbill entered the season as captains, with Nick Colella and Jermaine Marshall being named captains in December.  There is no question this is Frazier’s team though.  He is the most talented, and hardest working guy on this team.  I don’t care what any coach says, it is damn near impossible to lead a team when you are at the end of the bench, in a suit, with a walking boot.  Frazier’s efforts are admirable, but there is just no substitute for a guy going out on the floor and working with you.  Do you think that Tim Frazier lets that Northwestern game go down the way it did if he’s running the point?  I didn’t think so.

I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Michigan’s head coach John Beilein Monday evening during his coaches show in Ann Arbor.  I was introduced to him as a PSU fan and alumnus.  His first words were “it’s really too bad what happened with Tim Frazier.  They just aren’t the team they would have been with him.  He’s a huge loss.”  Is some of that coach speak? Of course.  But he could have just as easily said “they’re playing hard” or “Pat’s doing what he can.”  No, he focused on Frazier.  Beilein, and I’d wager all 10 other coaches in the Big 10, know just how much Frazier means to PSU basketball.  It’s too bad more than a few Nittany Lion fans don’t realize the same.

Follow VBR Lead Editor Matt de Bear on Twitter for the latest on Penn State basketball.

Frazier lead Penn State with 21.7 points and 5 assists per game through the first three contests of the season, prior to Sunday’s game.  In addition to being named First Team All Big 10, Frazier was on the preseason watchlists for both the Wooden and Naismith awards.

With Frazier’s absense, the Lions will likely turn to sophomore transfer D.J. Newbill to run the point.  Newbill took over for Frazier on Sunday and scored 20 points, while adding 6 rebounds and 5 assists, but struggled with Akron’s pressure, especially in the 2nd half.

Life without Frazier continues this Friday afternoon when the Lions face Bucknell at 4:30 in the Jordan Center.

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Then junior point guard Tim Frazier emerged as one of the top point guards in not only the Big 10, but in the country, leading PSU in points, assists and rebounds per game.  Now a senior and the unquestioned leader of the team, Frazier will be joined in the backcourt by sophomore transfer D.J. Newbill.  The Philadelphia product transferred to Penn State from Southern Miss, where he earned Conference USA All-Freshman Team honors, with 9.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.  Athletic junior guard Jermaine Marshall also returns, coming off an up and down season where he averaged over 10 points per game, but struggled to put it all together on a nightly basis.

The front court will be lead by sophomores Ross Travis and Jon Graham.  Travis plays bigger than his 6’6″ frame and is tough on defense and the boards.  Down the stretch last year, he also began to emerge on the offensive end.  Graham showed flashes on the offensive end as well, but must become more consistent with his post moves, as well as at the free throw line.  Expect freshman Brandon Taylor to make an impact too.

Penn State opens the season on November 9th against St. Francis in the Jordan Center.  Leading up to the opener, we will take a closer look at the key players, the schedule, and the rest of the Big 10.

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The Big Ten all-conference teams were announced last night on BTN, and I was somewhat surprised to learn that the media named Tim Frazier as a first team player. I knew that Penn State’s Superman deserved to be considered one of the top five players in the conference, but I figured he would get relegated to second team because of State’s status as conference door mat. At least for the media, that was not the case.

The coaches saw things differently and put Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor on the First Team and Frazier on the Second. Although no one outside of Wisconsin is a bigger Jordan Taylor than me, and I thought he should have been named Big Ten Player of the Year last season, Frazier was a little better this year. I know the coaches probably fell in love with Taylor’s leadership and his team’s ability to grind out victories, but they already give out a trophy for best team. If you’re strictly talking about who was the better player this season, Frazier is the clear choice for me.

The rest of the first team players were the same on the media and the coaches side. John Shurna of Northwestern, Draymond Green of Michigan State, Jared Sullinger of Ohio State and Robbie Hummel of Purdue were all named to the first team. Here’s the rest of the Big Ten honors announced last night:

Second Team voted by media

Cody Zeller, Indiana; Trey Burke, Michigan; William Buford, Ohio State; Matt Gatens, Iowa; Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin

Second Team voted by coaches

Cody Zeller, Indiana; Trey Burke, Michigan; William Buford, Ohio State; Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State; Tim Frazier, Penn State

Third Team voted by media

Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan; Keith Appling, Michigan State; Drew Crawford, Northwestern; Aaron Craft, Ohio State; Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State

Third Team voted by coaches

Tim Hardaway Jr., Michigan; Keith Appling, Michigan State; Drew Crawford, Northwestern; Brandon Paul, Illinois; Matt Gatens, Iowa

All-Freshmen Team (only coaches got one of these)

Cody Zeller, Indiana; Trey Burke, Michigan; Aaron White, Iowa; Branden Dawon, Michigan State; Dave Sobolewski, Northwestern

All-Defensive Team (only coaches again)

Victor Oladipo, Indiana; Draymond Green, Michigan State; Aaron Craft, Ohio State; Tim Frazier, Penn State; Josh Gasser, Wisconsin

Player of the Year: Draymond Green

Coach of the Year: Tom Izzo

Co-Freshmen of the Year: Trey Burke (media) and Cody Zeller (coaches)

Also, Billy Oliver was named a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Nominee. Congrats Billy!

I found it interesting that the coaches named Frazier to the All-Defensive Team and not to the First Team. You’d figure they would vote Taylor the better defensive player because his team played better defense just like they voted him a better overall player because his team played better overall. Also, Frazier averaged more points and assists than Taylor, so if he was also the better defensive player, what exactly made Taylor deserve First Team? I know he shot for better percentages, but he wasn’t exactly Mr. Efficiency himself. The answer is clearly that Taylor is surrounded by an intangible aura that magically makes his team win. Otherwise known as having better teammates.

Okay enough bashing of Taylor. He is a phenomenal player and I think if you told me before the season that one Penn State player would make one First Team, but not both, I would have told you that that was plenty. Congrats to Tim Frazier, Billy Oliver and all the other outstanding athletes who were honored!

It’s usually a bummer when both of the team’s seniors are injured and unavailable to play on senior night, but at least in Penn State’s case, having Billy Oliver and Cammeron Woodyard on the sideline allowed some of the team’s future to shine in what looked early on to be a bludgeoning at the hands of Michigan.

Michigan loves to shoot three-pointers, but Pat Chambers did not seem to have his team prepared for the long range onslaught in the first half. The Wolverines came out hot, but Penn State was able to match them at first. Jermaine Marshall hit on his first two three-point attempts and Tim Frazier helped force turnovers on two consecutive Michigan possessions to give State an 11-7 lead early on.

However, Michigan kept firing, and when it wasn’t hitting from deep it was getting easy pick-and-roll layups thanks to some shoddy defense by Jon Graham. For the first half, Michigan shot 7 of 10 from beyond the arc and 14 of 20 overall. Particularly troublesome for the Lions was Evan Smotrycz, whose three-point prowess from the forward position gave Graham fits. Smotrycz would have 12 points at halftime but thankfully only 17 for the entire game.

Penn State only trailed 39-28 after the first half because their 36% field goal shooting was balanced out by 7 offensive rebounds and 4 of 7 three-point shooting. It turns out the offensive rebounds would keep State in the game for the long haul. Despite being outshot for the game 60% to 40%, the Lions only lost by 6 points because of their 15 to 4 advantage in the offensive rebounding department.

The second half would start out with more of the same. On one possession, Penn State grabbed three of its own misses but failed to score. State would get the lead down to 9, but then Michigan rolled off a 12-2 run that culminated with Smotrycz hitting yet another three with 11:24 to go.

Finally, as Michigan’s seemingly bottomless three-point well started to dry up, Penn State’s offense came to life. Marshall and Ross Travis combined for 11 points on a lightning quick 13-0 Nittany Lion run that left the home team down just 56-50 with over 5 minutes remaining.

The magic appeared to be over when Trey Burke saved a completely hapless Michigan possession from disaster by nailing a three-pointer while being fouled. The resulting four-point play stretched the lead up to 10, but then, incredibly, Trey Lewis pulled the same trick for State at the other end. We’ll all watch a lot of basketball before we see four-point plays on consecutive possessions again, and what seemed a few minutes ago like a snoozer was turning into a thrilling basketball game.

Of course, though, things did not end well for Penn State. Marshall hit a mid-range jumper with 2:40 left to bring PSU within 4 points, but after Stu Douglass clanked a three-point attempt for Michigan, Frazier rushed a layup on the ensuing possession and the Lions lost their last chance to draw closer. The teams would trade buckets, but then, with 41 seconds left, Tim Hardaway, Jr. pulled up from 10 feet away and sank a jump shot to make it 66-60. Jermaine Marshall responded with his own leaning 10-footer, but it rattled out and Burke’s next pair of free throws sealed the deal.

Nittany Lion Reviews

It was another game in which Penn State tried really, really hard and still lost. As I hinted at before, though, the game wasn’t without its bright spots. Marshall had a spectacular career night with 27 points on 10 of 18 shooting with 8 rebounds to boot. In the midst of that 13-0 run that gave us so much hope, Marshall drove right through the Michigan defense and threw down a spectacular dunk that would have put the crowd into berserker mode had the student not been on spring break. It was every bit the breakout game I was hoping would come from him and much, much more. I remember Tim Frazier starting elevating his game like this at the end of last year’s campaign, so there’s hope that Marshall reaches a new level next season.

Ross Travis was another dude who played completely out of his mind. I’ve noticed flashes of his potential since he first stepped on the floor, but today with Oliver and Woodyard on the bench and a soft Michigan frontcourt to bully, he really got to shine. Travis grabbed 5 offensive rebounds, which helped lead to 15 points on 5 of 5 shooting. I was also impressed by Travis’s free throw stroke, which was very smooth for a big man. He got to show it off by going 5 of 7 from the charity stripe.

Frazier was really bothered by Trey Burke’s excellent defense the whole game and he went just 4 of 16 from the field with 11 points. Of course, the Lion MVP still managed 5 assists and a handful of great defensive plays that helped PSU stay in the game.

While Travis was shining, Graham seemed to regress with a clunking 1 for 7 performance with 3 turnovers and no rebounds. Despite this and the weakness of Michigan’s frountcourt, Sasa Borovnjak only got on the court for 16 minutes and didn’t really get the chance to do anything. I thought I saw him get good positioning on Michigan center Jordan Morgan a few times, but his teammates were reluctant to pass him the ball.

Regrading the rest of the Lions:

• Matt Glover was surprisingly active with 4 offensive rebounds and 8 total. He even attempted three shots, but they were all no good.
• Trey Lewis played 21 minutes and was called on to defend Burke for most of that time. On offense, he only made one bucket besides the huge four-point play and finished with 6 points.
• Chambers may have finally given up on Collela, who played 8 minutes and did not record any stats at all. Club 8 Trill!

For Michigan, Smotrycz did not do all of the damage. Burke tormented the Lions for 19 points on 6 of 10 shooting, as he continues to be one of the best players in the Big Ten. Hardaway, Jr. added 13 points, but also turned the ball over 5 times. Morgan led Michigan with 5 rebounds, but he did next to nothing on offense and fell asleep during the Marshall dunk play on defense. Douglass led Michigan with 6 assists and also added 9 points. Zack Novak put in 11 points, but fouled out in only 25 minutes.

Next up is the Big Ten tournament. Penn State is the number 12 seed because they lost some sort of tiebreaker with Nebraska despite shellacking it the last time the two teams met. Indiana will be the first round opponent and Jermaine Marshall will likely need to catch fire again in order for Penn State to keep pace with the explosive Hoosiers offense. At least there’s one more game, right?

And for Billy Oliver and Cammeron Woodyard, thanks for the memories!

As has been the usual this season, Purdue was led in scoring by none other than super senior Robbie Hummel. The versatile playmaker shot 8 of 16 from the field and scored 26 points to go with 8 rebounds and a season high-matching 6 assists. The dude has been on an unbelievable run as of late and it’s admirable the way he is carrying the Boilers into the postseason despite the loss of Kelsey Barlow to suspension. Still, it hurts to see Hummel destroy Penn State like this. I felt a little better about it when he gave his grandparents a shout out after the game. They have been to every home game of his for the past five years.

“In the last half of conference play, Robbie Hummel’s been one of the best players in our league,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter. He may be playing like the best period right now.

It was Tim Frazier who kept Penn State in the game for the first 20 minutes. Frazier was hitting on his entire arsenal with runners, pull-ups and even a three-pointer all going in. Of Penn State’s 32 first half points, Frazier scored or assisted on 25 of them. It would be a shame if he wasn’t considered a first-team Big Ten player this season.

In the second half, Frazier naturally regressed and could not continue to connect on every single attempt. It wasn’t long before Penn State was completely out of the game. Still, Frazier finished with 24 points, 5 rebounds and the 6 dimes he needed to tie Talor Battle’s single season PSU assist record of 189.

The only other player in double figures for PSU was Jermaine Marshall, who scored 10, but was 3 of 10 from the field after a run of relatively efficient games.

Jon Graham and Ross Travis could not continue their streaks of improved play. Graham recorded 3 fouls in just 13 minutes and was 2 of 2 from the field for 4 points and zero rebounds. Travis fouled out in only 23 minutes and was 0 for 1 from the field with 2 rebounds. Not a progressive day at all for either of these two. Instead, Sasa Borovnjak picked up the slack with a 4 for 5 night for 8 points in 22 minutes. I’m guessing I will have to wait until next season for Sasa to actually get the ball as much as he deserves it.

During the Wednesday morning shoot-around, Cam Woodyard suffered a fracture in his right foot and PSU learned they would be missing him for the remainder of the season. Woodyard as well as Billy Oliver will be honored on PSU’s senior night on Sunday versus Michigan.

Woodyard’s loss was perhaps balanced out by the fact that freshman Trey Lewis finally returned from his back injury. Lewis was not spectacular, but it was promising to see him go 3 of 8 from the field for 8 points in only 19 minutes. The hard-working Nick Collela continued to shoot poorly in this game (0 for 4 in 17 minutes), so that should open up Lewis for a starting spot in the backcourt next season beside Frazier and Marshall.

On defense, Penn State could not contain the Purdue three-point attack, which has been red hot as of late. The Boilers rippled the nets for 9 of 22 shooting from beyond the arc. D.J. Byrd himself was 3 of 7 from back there are finished with 14 points. Ryne Smith dropped in 3 of 6 for 9 points. Attacking on the inside was point guard Lewis Jackson, who hit on all 6 of his field goal attempts to score 12 points and 5 assists. Slasher Terone Johnson added 13 points and 5 rebounds for the Boilers.

Getting Reacquianted with the Boilermakers

Purdue has won 4 of its last 5 games, including a huge win on the road versus Michigan on Saturday as well as a blowout home victory over Nebraska last Wednesday. In general, the Boilers shoot the ball quite well from three point land (37% in conference play), but for the last two games, they have been hotter than hot. Scalding even. How about 45% versus Nebraska and then 47% versus Michigan? That’s a lot better than the 26% Purdue managed versus PSU in January.

In particular junior D.J. Byrd has been feeling it lately from long range. It’s scary enough that he’s hit 45% of this three-pointers on the season, but when you consider the dude is 54% from that range in his last six games, you get goosebumps. GOOSEBUMPS! That’s not all, though. Penn State will also have to contain Ryne Smith (42% on the season) and of course Hummel (36%).

Speaking of Hummel, he’s another Boiler who’s playing much better than his season averages lately. The unquestioned leader of Purdue has surpassed his season average of 16.5 points per game in each of the last five games, including 29 against Nebraska and 27 versus Northwestern. Sure, those teams are defensive stalwarts, but neither is Penn State. Hummel will probably get more than the 14 he posted during the first meeting.

Two other players worth mentioning are Terone Johnson and Lewis Jackson. Johnson may or may not be a big factor tonight. He’s kind of been up and down all season, but he just broke through with a huge 22-point game against Michigan. He’s the type of guy who will take advantage of his teammates shooting threes and get his work done in the paint. Johnson’s opportunities have increased with the dismissal of Barlow.

It’s also senior night for Lewis Jackson, who is a big reason why Purdue leads the Big Ten in not turning the ball over. At 5’9″ tall, Jackson is even smaller than Tim Frazier, but he’s a very skillful player who has exactly 5 assists in his last four games. Jackson’s season average is 4.2 dimes per game, so you know he is taking advantage of the recent spurt in three-point shooting and is looking to get the ball to his buddies.

 Keys for Penn State

If you assume that Purdue is not going to be completely terrible on offense like they were last time, then Penn State is going to need a lot of points to win this game. Unlike Matt Painter teams of the past few years, Purdue is actually pretty bad defensively with 109.3 points allowed per 100 possessions in conference play. That’s 9th out of 12 in the Big Ten and one spot below Penn State (107.3 points allowed). It turns out that without JaJuan Johnson being a complete monster, it’s much easier to shoot the ball versus Purdue and teams are less prone to turnovers. Of course, Penn State is terrible in general at putting the ball in the hoop, but lately this probably has only been reeling its head on the road… So, this one will be tough for PSU.

Tony Mancuso recently sat down with PSU assistant coach Keith Urgo to discuss tonight’s game. Click on this link or just read my summary below.

• Forwards Jon Graham and Ross Travis have shown great improvement lately. In the loss to Northwestern, Travis scored 10 points for the first time in conference play and also grabbed a career high 9 rebounds. Over his last three games, Graham is averaging 9.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game
• Robbie Hummel is playing much better lately. To contain him, Penn State will use more than one player and try to force him to take contested jump shots
• With improvement by Travis and Graham, the offense is getting better and more is opening up for Frazier. Penn State needs to hit shots early and not fall into a hole on the road like they have a habit of doing.
• Penn State must guard against Purdue’s drive-and-kick strategy as well as make sure the Boilers only get one shot per possession.
• Purdue likes to get out in transition and hit threes. PSU must make baskets to slow them down (also, baskets are worth points!).

Should Penn State pull off a big upset tonight, it could possibly move up to the 11 seed in the Big Ten tournament. As of now, PSU is the 12 and on pace to play Indiana in the first round. Let’s go State!

Wisconsin got red hot in the first half and saw 7 of their 14  three-pointers go in to take a 35-21 lead into the half, but Penn State made sure the home fans got at least a little nervous. Starting with a Jon Graham layup with 11:39 left in the game, the Lions rolled off a 17-2 run that took a 20-point Wisconsin advantage down to just 5 points when Graham struck again with just under six minutes remaining.

The very next possession saw Jared Berggren hit a clutch three-pointer to bring the score to 54-46 and break up the run. Although the Lions would hang on for a little while longer, another Berggren trey with 3:50 left brought the lead up to 9. After Frazier failed to answer on Penn State’s possession, Jordan Taylor connected on a mid-range jumper that proved to be the dagger.

Penn State did some things right in this game. Although they had great difficulty in stopping the Badgers from taking and making three-pointers, the story was different from inside the arc. Wisconsin was only 9 of 25 (36%) on two-pointers, compared to 18 of 38 (47%) for Penn State.

Although the Lions did take too many three-pointers against a team that does not allow open looks from long range, they at least made some adjustments and created opportunities for Jon Graham. Three times during the big run, Graham scored on buckets off of feeds from Frazier or Jermaine Marshall. This kind of skillful passing into the post has been missing from the Penn State offense and is something that should be implemented more often, because even with a guy as clumsy as Graham in the post, the strategy was more effective that jacking up threes. Graham finished with 9 points and 10 rebounds (4 on offense) and would have had a double-double if he weren’t such an awful free throw shooter.

Tim Frazier was really, really good as usual. He put in 20 points with 4 rebounds and 4 assists on 9 of 20 shooting. He would have had an even better day had he not gone 0 for 3 on three-pointers that he had no business taking. However, it’s not as though Frazier had much help. Marshall was the only other Nittany Lion worth much on Sunday. He got his now standard 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting.

Overall, Penn State only turned the ball over 5 times, which is good, but forcing turnovers is not something Wisconsin tries to do. Penn State played into their hands with poor long range shooting and also like most Wisconsin opponents, the Lions did not get to the free throw line often (7 for 11 from the stripe).

The Badgers were led in scoring by Josh Gasser, who finished with 15 points. Nine of those were during a Wisconsin shooting spree that allowed them to pull ahead in the first half. It all happened very fast.

The rally killer Jared Berggren had 13 points and 6 rebounds for himself, while Taylor was held to just 11 points on 4 of 12 shooting with 4 assists. Meanwhile Mike Bruesewitz did his best Draymond Green impression and led the Badgers in both rebounds and assists with 12 of the boards and 5 of the dimes.

Like I said before, Penn State was quite limited in the noteworthy contributors department.  Matt Glover played 11 minutes and no shot attempts. Sasa Borovnjak, who I’m beginning to believe Coach Chambers just doesn’t like, only played 5 minutes and was 1 of 2 from the field. Both players were riding the pine despite Camm Woodyard shooting 1 of 9 and Nick Collela going 1 of 5. What gives?

At least Ross Travis played 23 minutes and went 2 of 3 with 5 points. He had a really nice baseline drive for two during the big run, but only grabbed 2 rebounds on the game. Still looks like he has potential.

Penn State has the rest of the week off. The next game is home against a desperate Northwestern team on Saturday. The Purple Cats will be playing for their tourney lives, so Penn State better bring it.

The first time Penn State played Wisconsin this season, the Lions took a 23-17 lead into halftime, but couldn’t keep Jordan Taylor and Jared Berggren in check in the second half. The Badgers escaped with a 52-46 win. Things won’t be any easier for Penn State now that they have to play in Madison. Wisconsin hasn’t been invincible in the Kohl Center this season (they even lost to Iowa back on December 31), but they’ve been plenty tough enough to handle this Penn State team.

The deal with Wisconsin is that they don’t allow opponents to take quality three-point shots. That doesn’t mean opponents have an easier time inside, though. Despite not having an elite shot blocker on the team, Wisconsin leads all of Division I with 40.4% opponent effective field goal percentage (eFG%). The downside is that they don’t force many turnovers at all, but that doesn’t seem to have hurt coach Bo Ryan’s overall plan on defense.

Penn State fell right in line with the rest of Wisconsin’s opponents when they played the Badgers earlier in the season. The Lions only turned the ball over 9 times, but they were limited to 2 of 10 shooting from beyond the arc, and only 36% shooting overall.

Forcing up a bunch of three-pointers that aren’t open would be a good way for Penn State to get themselves in trouble in Madison. Instead, Chambers needs to make sure his team takes its time to break down the defense. Both Tim Frazier and Jermaine Marshall can attack the basket, but they need to be ready to pass the ball off if they draw too many defenders. Not fouling is also something Wisconsin excels at. I expect Frazier’s smooth pull-up game should be the ideal weapon against the Badgers.

Jon Graham is coming off the best game of his career with 10 points on 3 for 3 shooting versus Iowa, but I’d take it with a grain of salt thanks to Iowa’s poor interior defense. Nonetheless, Frazier and Penn State should still work to get the ball to Graham and Sasa Borovnjak in the post, unless they want the offense to be limited to the guards picking their way between the teeth of Wisconsin’s defense.

When Wisconsin has the ball, Penn State will need to attack star point guard Jordan Taylor and force frontcourt players Jared Berggren or Ryan Evans to do some work on offense. When either of those players have the ball, the Lions need to find the balance between double teaming the post and not leaving Mike Bruesewitz, Josh Gasser or Wisconsin’s other shooters wide open.

Jermaine Marshall will be a key player for Penn State. He’ll need to get his inconsistent defense under control and contain Wisconsin’s perimeter players. On offense, Marshall seems to have gotten more comfortable lately (six straight games in double figures), which is good because Penn State cannot hope for an upset on the strength of Frazier alone.

In Saturday afternoon’s Penn State win, Nebraska never came closer than the 10-point halftime deficit. Tim Frazier played perhaps the best game of his college career with 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting in addition to 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Despite Penn State’s efforts in garbage time, Frazier just barely failed to record a triple-double. He certainly didn’t hurt his Cousy Award chances, though, and if he continues playing like this, Frazier should be a lock for first team all-conference. That is, as long as voters can look past the lousy play of Penn State as a team and realize that Frazier has done as much with less-than-stellar teammates as anyone could have possibly hope for.

Speaking of those teammates, Cammeron Woodyard scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half, and aside from a pair of free throws, everything was on three-pointers. Woodyard was 4 of 7 from the field, 4 of 7 from beyond the arc and 4 of 7 picking up girls at a house party on Saturday night. Two of those stats are true, but all of them make Woodyard seem like a better player than he really is. (more…)

Jermaine Marshall netted 10 of his 12 points in the second half and coach Pat Chambers saw his team battle to within five points of the lead in the second half, but Draymond Green and the Spartans overcame the scare and ended up winning handily. Green proved too quick for Penn State double teams down the stretch and battled through the Nittany Lion defense for two and-one buckets in the final 10 minutes of the game. The senior forward and leader of the Spartans also showed off his distribution skills with a nifty pass out of the low post to find freshman Branden Dawson for a layup and the foul. The conversion brought the Michigan State lead back up to 68-52 and put the outcome beyond doubt.

Green finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists, while Dawson added 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for Michigan State. After the Spartans took a 33-19 lead into the half, they appeared poised to run away with the game after Dawson followed an Austin Thornton three-point jumper with a steal off of a lazy Tim Frazier pass. Dawson cruised in for a layup to put Michigan State ahead by 18 points.

However, Penn State would finally kick their offense into high gear moments later. Nick Collela knocked down a trey from the left wing to get things started and Marshall blew past his defender for a three-point play. Two possessions later, Marshall spun off his man in the post for an easy layup and suddenly Penn State was down by just 11. Michigan State freshman guard Travis Trice hit a jumper to crash the Nittany Lion party, but Penn State would keep the run going until Marshall hit an 18-footer to bring Penn State with five at 52-47. (more…)

Tip-off is at 6:30 PM ET

The last time the Penn State basketball team took the floor, they lost to Iowa on the road 77-64. It wasn’t even that close, though. Penn State was more horrendous than horrendous in the first half and shot 27% from the floor. For the game, the Lions attempted only 7 free throws. Such has been life on the road for Penn State in this season of hardship. While losses have not been hard to come by at home, at least most of the games in the BJC are competitive. On the road, Penn State hasn’t lost by single-digits since Duquesne beat the Lions 66-59 on December 10.

That’s why this upcoming contest versus Michigan State in East Lansing doesn’t exactly look promising. However, even in “winnable” games, Penn State fans would be better served to pay attention to the development of players instead of the performance as a whole. Here’s what to look for from Penn State tonight.

• Any sort of post offense. After scoring 6 points against one of the Big Ten’s top defenders in Meyers Leonard, Sasa Borovjnak has scored just a single point total in his last four games. It really wouldn’t hurt to get him the ball more. Penn State is one of the worst teams in the country at effective FG%, so why not try letting the guy who sets up closest to the basket shoot some more? Jonathan Graham should be encouraged to be more aggressive as well, but please allow me to cover my eyes before he gets the ball.
• More Ross Travis, less Cammeron Woodyard. OK, this is more me just hoping than anything, but it would behoove Pat Chambers to get Travis on the floor more. For one, he is tall and athletic and Penn State needs that to guard Draymond Green. For another, although Travis doesn’t have a real offensive identity yet, he at least has upside, which is more than Woodyard can say. Yeah, I know Woodyard is a senior and everything, but he rarely impacts the team positively on offense and Travis just needs to play more.
• Set fire to the rain of threes. Yeah, an Adele pun. The point is that Michigan State is an elite defensive force and despite my desire for any sort of post presence, Penn State will probably have the ball in the hands of a guard 99% of the time. Scoring inside will be tough, especially if the Lions act like they are allergic to foul shots again. They will probably jack up a lot of three pointers. For any chance of success, Penn State will have to hope that Billy Oliver can shoot like he did against Purdue and not like he did in every other game. Nick Collela should also be spotting up on the perimeter, because I’d rather Jermaine Marshall and Tim Frazier drive inside and try to draw some fouls. (more…)

Tim Frazier, who hit a couple very difficult tear drops to keep Penn State in the game in the final five minutes, was not Mr. Efficiency himself. The hero of the Lions went 8 of 22 from the floor to get 21 points. At least his assist-to-turnover ratio was 7:2. I’m never crazy about a point guard taking that many shots, but Frazier usually stays away from such exuberance. In Tuesday night’s case, the shooting was warranted because PSU had nothing going on otherwise.

For some reason Jon Graham played 26 minutes while Sasa Borovnjak played only 14. This was a game in which Penn State was starving for buckets so why play the better defensive player so much? It’s true that Wisconsin finally started feeding Ryan Berggren inside in the second half, but you can always double team him. There’s nothing you can do on offense right now to make Jon Graham not miss layups or turn the ball over. (more…)

It’s unknown whether the solemn pre-game moment had anything to do with it, but both squads got out to horrible starts in the first half. Neither team could get into a rhythm for long distance, as Indiana went 2 for 7 and Penn State 2 for 9 from three-point land before the break. As has become the usual, Penn State’s hustle and offensive rebounding prowess led to the game becoming closer than the Lions’ opponents probably anticipated. Led by Sasa Borovnjak and the king of intangible Matt Glover, Penn State dove and scrapped their way to an 8 to 3 advantage in the offensive rebound department. That led to a 29-27 PSU lead at the half.

The Lions also did a good job closing out Indiana on the perimeter, but the interior defense was another story. Freshman Cody Zeller continued his remarkable season with 12 first half points thanks to some nifty post moves. Penn State was able to hold Meyers Leonard of Illinois in check during the upset win on Thursday, but Zeller, despite being a year less experienced, is more polished with his post game. He also proved to be an adept defender with 4 blocks on the game to go with 18 total points.
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Penn State scored six straight points to open up the second half to grab a 31-23 lead that it would cling to throughout the rest of the game. Finally, with just under a minute to play in the game, Illinois seemed to grow tired of playing catch-up and star shooting guard Brandon Paul pulled the trigger on a contested three-pointer that rattled its way home to tie the game at 52-52. PSU took the ball back and after a pair of time outs, finally put together the game’s winning play. Tim Frazier used a Jon Graham screen to penetrate into the paint and quickly release a running jumper that went right through the hoop to give Penn State a two-point lead.

With Meyers Leonard having fouled out just a few minutes prior, Illinois was almost certain to try to get the ball to Paul on its last possession, but Penn State did a good job denying him the ball and instead point guard Sam Maniscalco ended up driving down the right side of the lane. He appeared to have a good angle on Matt Glover, but Jermaine Marshall flew over from the weak side and swatted Maniscalco’s layup attempt away to give Penn State the dramatic win.

For the entire game, Penn State alternated between man and zone defense (they played a little more man in the second half), but no matter what they played, they made sure to challenge Illinois shooters. The Illini shot 7 of 22 (32%) from beyond the arc and didn’t fare much better when they took the ball inside. In fact, Illinois only had 10 two-point makes for the whole game and the talented center Leonard had 6 of them. A couple of times Leonard got the ball deep in the post and was able to score easily against easier Sasa Borovnjak or Graham, but for the most part, PSU did a good job and did not allow him to dominate the game. (more…)

Another reason for the difference in field goal attempts was that Minnesota did a lot of their damage at the foul line. Freshman guard Joe Coleman has the best game of his career and shot 13 of 14 from the free throw line en route to 23 points. Joining in on the free throw party, veteran forward Rodney Williams hit on 8 of 11 freebies and finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds. The 44 free throws attempted by Minnesota for the game was one short of a Big Ten record.

Penn State was able to get to the line themselves, as Cammeron Woodyard surprisingly led the team in scoring with 8 of his 22 points coming at the free throw line. Tim Frazier put up 20 points, 5 assists and 4 steals, but only converted 2 of 10 two-pointers on the day (3 of 5 on threes). Jermaine Marshall struggled even worse with his shot and is quickly becoming PSU’s irrational confidence guy who will jack up shots no matter how his game is going. Marshall scored 12 points, but was 4 of 19 from the field. (more…)

However, the Gophers finally go the monkey off of their back on Thursday with a potential season-changing win versus the Hoosiers at Bloomington. With every game now crucial to Minnesota earning an NCAA Tournament bid, there’s no way they fall asleep at Penn State, right?

Well, regardless of how you feel about “trap games” and the like, Penn State has a signature win of their own as well as a bizarre home court advantage that doesn’t seem to care how empty the Bryce Jordan Center is. The big win against Purdue happened two Thursday ago when students were still on break, yet the Lions played like they had an arena full of boisterous fans at their backs.

The good news, says Tony Mancuso of GoPSUSports.com, is that PSU has played well at home this season even when school is in session.

The Nittany Lions have played well on their home floor throughout the 2011-’12 season.  Penn State is 7-3 in the BJC.  The three home losses were decided by a combined 12 points, and the Lions were in a position to win all three games.

Unfortunately, one of those home losses was to horrible Lafayette (Kenpom #260), but the point is that Penn State hasn’t been blown out on their own floor despite playing Purdue and Indiana in their first two conference home games. Not bad. (more…)

David Jones of The Patriot-News is reporting that redshirt sophomore shooting guard Jermaine Marshall has been indefinitely suspended by coach Pat Chambers. Here’s the quote from sports information director Brian Siegrist:

Coach Chambers has indefinitely suspended Jermaine Marshall from the Nittany Lion basketball team for a violation of team rules. Marshall has not participated in team practices since they officially began on Oct. 14 and is not currently with the team. There is no specific timetable set for Marshall’s return to the team. Coach Chambers continues to review Marshall’s standing with the team. Penn State and Coach Chambers will have no further comment on Marshall until his standing with the team has been resolved.

Marshall was a rare contributor off the bench last season and seemed primed to earn a spot in the starting lineup prior to this news coming out. Marshall’s absence will likely open up more playing time for freshman Trey Lewis or junior college transfer Matt Glover.

Meanwhile, coach Chambers has named Tim Frazier, Billy Oliver and Cammeron Woodyard captains for this season. It could not have been too hard to make this decision, as Marshall was the only other returning player with significant playing time under his belt.

Penn State fans will hope that Frazier can continue his excellent play from the tail end of last season while Woodyard and Oliver develop into consistent producers. Oliver in particular was rather lousy last season, but he has reportedly added 30 pounds of muscle over the summer. If that’s true, Oliver should be able to hang out in the paint more often and act like a real forward instead of jacking up ill-advised threes.

Woodyard has recently undergone arthroscopic knee surgery on his left knee. He’s rehabbing it now and will miss another two or three weeks of action. Hopefully we’ll see him out there for the opener versus Hartford on November 12.