Penn State Basketball survived a test against Nebraska to advance to Round 2 of the Big Ten Tournament
It’s never pretty against Nebraska, but Penn State Basketball advanced to the second-round of the Big Ten Tournament, beating the Cornhuskers 72-66.
In a game eerily reminiscent of the Lions’ first matchup vs Nebraska, the average shooting Cornhuskers came out on fire and Penn State Basketball was ice cold from three-point range, and committing ugly turnovers (10).
Nebraska led by as many as 15 in the first half.
Penn State Basketball’s Myreon Jones had zero points (0-3), Izaiah Brockington had zero points (0-1, two turnovers), Myles Dread had zero points (0-4 from 3), and John Harrar added a whopping two points (1-3, two turnovers and two fouls in the last minute … need I say anymore?
Dread missed a wide open three that could have cut it nine in the final minute; Penn State responded by fouling Nebraska into the bonus to trail 37-23 at the half. Cornhuskers shot 46.7% from the floor (35.3% from 3). Penn State shot 28.1% from the floor (13.3% from 3). absolutely pathetic and embarrassing.
A Jones three, Brockington jumper, a Wheeler three, and Harrar layup cut the lead to four points in just 2 minutes and 46 seconds. Nothing like incredible hope following deep despair … Also known as the #ThePennStateBasketballStory.
Penn State Basketball tied it up with 11:38 thanks to Sam Sessoms second set of free throws in the 1-1 and the Lions took their first lead 51-50 with 9:27 thanks to Brockington making two in the last 1-1.
Only bad news was Myreon Jones got called for his third foul and headed to the bench after scoring 11 points to start the second half. Penn State continued to play well and held a small 59-57 lead with 3:53 going into the final media time out.
Dread hit his first shot of the night to push the Lion lead to 4 with 2:49 to go. A missed Nebraska front end of a 1-1 and Brockington made two free throws to push to a game high 6 point lead.
A missed three by Nebraska cause the fouling game to begin. The Lions finished 23-29 (79.3%) from stripe to close out Nebraska. Owning the glass (as I predicted) was huge as well as PSU outrebounded Nebraska 43-28.