Penn State Basketball gets revenge, takes down Nebraska 86-83
By Evan Smith
Penn State Basketball gets the much needed road win, exacting revenge over the Cornhuskers in Nebraska, 86 – 83
First Half Thoughts (Penn State 39 – Nebraska 38)
This was obviously a mano a mano showdown. Myreon Jones shot 5-8 from beyond and finished with 17 points. And he wasn’t even close to the leading scorer. Nebraska’s Ted Allen set a Nebraska single half record with 28 points. And he only needed 14 shots to do it! He was 3-4 from beyond but was able to score virtually every time he touched the ball.
Penn State Basketball OWNED the glass with a 24-13 advantage. Penn State had 10 offensive rebouds to Nebraskas zero.
The Nittany Lions did turn over Nebraska 8 times but far worse was Penn State’s seemingly unforced 10 turnovers. By my count, Sam Sessoms had four turnovers himself. For a point guard, that is absolutely unacceptable. Wheeler had a few and Lundy had a ball simply go right through his hands out of bounds. Almost all of these turnovers were “live ball”, usually resulting in a Nebraska fast break. Aboslutely unacceptable from the Lions.
Penn State Basketball got zero free throws. That’s absurd. Sure, they shot 17 three pointers, but another 22 shots from two-point land and no free throws? Brock drove a bunch, no call. Harrar, no calls. Wheeler put up a shot as the Huskers were trying to give a foul late, no call. Nebraska only got 6 themselves but come on, that’s simply not good officiating. I know PSU was on the road in the B1G but this was ridiculous.
Nice to see more meaningful minutes from Abdou Tsimbila. 2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 foul is a good line from him to go with an absoutely sick block from behind.
Seth Lundy continues to be compltely invisible. He was 1-3 (on a fastbreak layup), 0-2 from three and committed two fouls. What happened to this Seth Lundy?
Teams traded points throughout the start of the second half, as PSU still didn’t have an answer for Teddy Allen. The Nittany Lions finally pulled away, ironically usually during that portion of the game they forget to score (like Iowa and Ohio State et al.). It started with a Myreon jumper and was followed with a Wheeler three, another Myreon shot (this time from 3) and a Myles Dread 3, causing Cornhusker coach Fred Hoibert to call a quick timeout. Teddy Allen answered with a ridiculous step back three (up to 34 points on the night) putting the Lions up 58-51 at the under 12 media timeout.
Unfortunately, the Lions forgot to play defense for the next four minute stretch as they gave up four three pointers (Cornhuskers were 7 for 11 in the half from beyond thus far), including a bomb from Teddy Allen for his 39th point. Despite scoring 12 points ourselves, PSU gave up 19 (!), forcing Jim Ferry to call a timeout with 6:16 left, the game tied at 70.
A Wheeler three and Harrar baby hook (should have been an and-1) pushed the lead to 5 but a McGowan drive cut it to 3. Myreon was fouled on the floor (actually three times, finally the third foul was called); fortunately he made both ends of the 1 and 1. Nebraska answered with a dunk, Dread forced up a missed three but the Lions forced an offensive foul pressing in the backcourt. 77-74, 3:01 to go.
A Harrar offensive board led to a baby hook from Harrar (another quiet double double with 10 points and 14 rebounds) pushed the lead to 5 but Brockington and Jones weren’t on the same page, throwing the ball out of bounds when Jones was wide open underneath the basket with 1:45 to go. Another late second half lead in the B1G…sound familiar no? Myreon missed a fastbreak dunk after a steal and PSU fouled on the rebound. If you recall in the preview, Nebraska is not a good free throw shooting team! And wouldn’t you know it, Nebraska missed the front end! Teams then traded free throws and PSU immediately turned it over on the inbounds. This was an awful turnover by Brockington. The Huskers got fouled and BRICKED in the front end, ugh, and made the second, 81-78 Lions with 43.2 seconds left.
Myreon made one of two but Nebraska drove on Brockington, who fouled McGowan. Wow. The second super unclutch play by Brockington. Myreon Jones was immediately fouled and made both, 84-81 Lions with 20.2 seconds left. The Lions way too easily gave up a Teddy Allen layup, taking off just 6 seconds on the clock, his 41st point. The Lions ran an inbounds play with all 5 players starting out of bounds but for some reason was drawn up for Jamari Wheeler to receive the ball? The 60% free throw shooter wouldn’t have been my choice but the senior wanted the ball, stepped up and made both. Cluuuuuuuutch. McGowan missed the three pointer on the other end the Lions grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock. Finally…a conference road win.
Myreon Jones rings the VICTORY Bell How can it be anyone but Myreon Jones? He must have heard about my inconsistent comments as he had 17 first half points on 5 threes. He finished with 29 points on just 18 shots. He finished 6-12 from three. He was under control, which was key and didn’t force shots. He also made his free throws (7-8). Great night from “buckets”, our own MJ. (And a quiet kudos to the Teddy Allen for Nebraska, finishing with 41 points…simply unstoppable all night.)
This was a chance at revenge for the Lions’ only bad loss and PSU will take the win against the obviously outclassed Nebraska Cornhuskers team. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but road wins in the conference are fine any way you get them, especially with all of our turnover issues. This won’t move us back on anyone’s NCAA Tournament radar but a win at least didn’t bury us further. We’re back on the court for an odd Friday game, hosting the Purdue Boilermakers at 7:00 pm. Winning that game (and the one after vs Minneosta and the one after at Maryland) would give PSU a chance to dance with a deep run in the B1G Tournament. Until then, #keepclimbing. And check out Lamar Stevens’ game winning dunk from earlier tonight!