Penn State Basketball falls at Home to Ohio State, tournament hopes dead

Feb 14, 2021; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (21) and Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Derrick Walker (13) fight for possession of the ball during the second half at Bryce Jordan Center. Nebraska defeated Penn State 62-61. Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 14, 2021; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (21) and Nebraska Cornhuskers forward Derrick Walker (13) fight for possession of the ball during the second half at Bryce Jordan Center. Nebraska defeated Penn State 62-61. Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports /
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Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports)
Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports) /

Everything that could go wrong for Penn State, did go wrong

Everything great and awful about Penn State Basketball in one game.

Penn State trailed by nine in the first half.  Penn State led by 7 in the second half.   But, Ohio State tied it up just 150 seconds later.

That’s not acceptable.

Would a Jim Ferry timeout have helped?  Who knows. But, just the shortest stretch of bad shots can doom a team.  And that’s what we did.  Up 61-54, here’s what we did:

  • Buttrick had a three pointer blocked.
  • Brockington missed a long contested jumper.
  • Sessoms missed a tough jumper.
  • Jones missed a very long contested two pointer.
  • Lundy missed a three.

None of these were end of shot clock shots either. And not one time did Harrar get a touch in the post, when both the Buckeye center who KILLED Penn State all night had three fouls and his backup had three fouls.

In less than three minutes, Penn State went from up seven to down four.  You can’t have lapses like that against good teams.

Sigh.

Another opportunity falls by the wayside and at 7-11, it’s going to take a miraculous finish to the season.

Penn State heads to #11 Iowa with a great opportunity to get that signature road win.  The game is Sunday at 5:00 pm on FS1.  Iowa routed #21 Wisconsin at home tonight, 77-62 behind 30 from Wooden candidate Luka Garza.  See you then.  Bring your #climbing shoes.  And a trashcan to throw them out when we lose and our bubble is officially popped.