Groundhog Day? More like ‘Golden Gopher Day’ as PSU loses another close one
By Evan Smith
Penn State Basketball dropped another heartbraker, in Minnesota to the Golden Gophers, effectively ending any postseason hopes
Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Penn State Basketball faught valiantly only to lose late to Minnesota 76 to 70.
This is Penn State Basketball’s third straight loss and seventh in eight games.
We’ve heard the refrain “if only this team could make shots, they’d win games” for weeks now. Well, they shot over 50% from the field and over 50% from three and still lost to a Minnesota team that got crushed by previously conference winless Nebraska last time out.
Turnovers (13) and far too much reliance on isolation basketball doomed the Nittany Lions yet once more as they continue to need bucket after bucket from either Pickett or Sessoms dribbling all by themselves. At least they were able to get John Harrar more involved, scoring 12 points (on just 8 shots) and 9 rebounds, despite being in foul trouble the entire second half.
Greg Lee did not play despite traveling to Minnesota for the game…not sure why he traveled but didn’t play. Much maligned Jaheam Cornwall did not see the floor either.
Penn State Basketball, starting Johnson, Dread, Harrar, Lundy, and Pickett made their first four shots to take an early first-half lead, but typical cold shooting allowed Minnesota to get right back into the game.
Both teams made runs but neither team led by more than five.
Minnesota capped off the half with a late 7-0 run (HC Micah Shrewsberry continued his first half tradition of refusing to call timeouts to stop opposing teams’ runs, instead losing that timeout after halftime). That run helped the Golden Gophers to tie the game up, 36-36 all.
Penn State shot 60% from the field and 57.1% from three, but eight turnovers allowed Minnesota to take ten more shots than the Nittany Lions.
Minnesota came out of the half fast, hitting three threes and forcing Penn State to call time-out down 48-42 with 15:29 to go. Lundy and Johnson three-pointers helped keep the Lions close, reducing a Golden Gophers 9 point lead down to 5 with 10:30 to go. Despite a fourth foul on John Harrar, a Sessoms layup and Dread three brought the Nittany Lions within two.
A 6-0 run with tough layups from Pickett (the B1G leader in dribbles) and two from Sessoms gave Penn State a brief two-point lead, their first of the second half before Minnesota tied it up with a goaltend, 67 all with 3:20 remaining.
Two poor offensive sets resulted in pure isolation possessions, one by Sessoms and one by Pickett, which resulted in no points for PSU and a Lundy foul on the rebound gave Minnesota a chance to retake the lead. One made free-throw, a Lundy turnover, and another Golden Gopher score gave the home team a three-point lead with 62 seconds remaining, forcing a Shrewsberry timeout.
An inbounds to Harrar was turned over after a tough traveling call, insensing Shrewsberry. Penn State got a stop, blocking a shot late in the shot clock and Pickett was sent to the line shooting 1 and 1. Pickett made the first but missed the second, forcing PSU to foul and Minnesota made both free throws to lead by 4. A Sessoms travel on the next possession all but ended Penn State’s chances.
Penn State returns to the Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday, February 15th at 6:30, hosting the #17 Michigan State Spartans.