3 Key reasons Penn State Basketball upset Indiana … Can Lions build on it?
By Evan Smith
Can Penn State Basketball build on stunning upset?
Usually, when a team hits a bunch of threes, you see an increase in team assists, thinking the majority of threes are of the ‘catch and shoot variety.’
This was not the case for Penn State Basketball on Sunday.
An offense far too reliant on ‘iso-ball’ all year long, the Nittany Lions finished with just seven assists on 21 made field goals (six of them coming on the 11 threes). The Penn State offense is just not confusing defenses and with the snail’s pace the team seems to want to play at, Penn State will struggle to ever crack 70 points in conference play.
It works when you outscore the opponent by 21 points from beyond the arc, but is not a recipe for long-term success.
Turnovers are another reason the Lions are not scoring.
They had another double-digit turnover game Sunday, with 13 turnovers including four from Pickett and two from Cornwall in just 14 minutes of action. Seven players had at least a turnover, showing this is a true team problem and has been all season long.
Bigs not named Harrar must stop fouling.
Jalanni White seems to pick up four fouls almost every game. Lee, moving into the starting lineup for the first time, followed suit with four fouls in just 15 minutes of action.
Together, they played 37 minutes and had six fouls.
Compare that to Harrar who played 29 minutes and only picked up one foul. All three had the task of covering perhaps the best player in the conference (Jackson-Davis) but White and Lee must learn how to defend without fouling like Harrar.