Penn State Basketball struggles offensively, falls to Jamari Wheeler, Buckeyes
By Evan Smith
Penn State Basketball’s offense never quite found its rhythm Sunday afternoon, falling to Big Ten foe No. 16 Ohio State, 61-56 in Columbus
COLUMBUS, OH — Penn State Basketball struggled shooting all night, wasting an opportunity to upset the #16 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus.
Ohio State won 61-56.
The Nittany Lions were led in scoring by Sam Sessoms (15) and Jalen Pickett (11).
The Nittany Lions announced leading Seth Lundy will miss the game just minutes before tip. No reason was given for his absence. He did not travel with the team and tweeted he was watching the game from ‘his bed’ midgame.
The Lions started Sessoms, Dread, Pickett, Lee and Harrar.
Value City Arena is huge and even with the impending storm, the stadium was decently filled. However, the crowd was quite passive and the Nut House could barely be heard, even when the Lions were on offense.
The Lions got off to a 10-4 start behind two Greg Lee jumpers, one from 3 but the Lions followed it up with a scoreless four-minute stretch with three turnovers including two shot-clock violations. A Jamari Wheeler drive gave OSU their first lead, 12-10.
A Greg Lee put back was the Nittany Lions their first field goal in almost seven minutes but Wheeler answered again to push the Buckeye lead to 6 and the under 8 media timeout.
A Sessoms three kept Penn State in striking distance but this was as poor an offensive performance we’ve seen this season. Penn State made just two field goals in over ten minutes of playing time. Penn State elected not to use a timeout at any point despite lack of a cohesive offense, instead forfeiting that timeout going into the half down 27-22.
OSU started the second half on a 5-0 run to go up 10, now a spot deemed worthy for a Nittany Lion timeout. Jalanni White had two wide-open threes to cut the Buckeye lead to 3 but missed and an E.J. Liddell and-1 pushed the lead back to 8. Penn State cut the lead to 5 and the under-12 on a Jevonnie Scott blocked layup that still went in.
The Buckeyes built the to 10 again but a Daillon Johnson three after another timeout kept the Lions alive. A trademark end-of-shot clock prayers fadeaway three from Jalen Pickett cut the lead to 5 again but fouls became an issue as the Lions sent the Buckeyes to the stripe over and over.
White had a chance to cut the lead to 2 but missed a good look from three and then promptly committed his fifth foul with 6:17 to go. Penn State shot poorly all day (39.6% from the field and 27.3% from three) but their ability to slow the game to a crawl and OSU’s seeming unwillingness to make the knockout punch kept the Nittany Lions alive, down just four with under 3:50 to go.
Too many possessions of dribbling for 20-some seconds and missing a contested fadeaway should have ended the game for the Lions but Buckeye missed free throws (19 -30 before making 5 of their last 6) kept them barely alive.
Some confusing defensive possessions where Penn State elected not foul down just two scores allowed the Buckeyes to kill the clock, wasting some valuable comeback time.
The Lions return home Wendesday to play the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 6:30 pm in the Byrce Jordan Center.