Penn State Basketball pulls off B1G upset, taking down No. 17 Michigan State
By Evan Smith
Penn State Basketball picked up a signature victory, knocking off conference foe and No. 17 ranked Michigan State on Tuesday night
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — An unbelievable second-half comeback sparked the most unlikely of Penn State Basketball wins over #17 Michigan State, 62-58 on Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Similar to the Northwestern game, Penn State Basketball hung around long enough and made every shot in the final four minutes to stun the Spartans and their coach Tom Izzo.
The Nittany Lions started Dread, Lundy, Johnson, Harrar, and Pickett. Greg Lee was not in uniform for the second straight game (begging the question of why the team traveled him to Minnesota Saturday).
Penn State Basketball’s offense came out … performing like Penn State’s offense.
Sessoms got blocked multiple times, numerous passes were thrown to no one in particular but Michigan State only led 14-9 with 11:22 to go in a pretty boring first 8+ minutes.
The Spartans’ lead stayed between 2 and 7 points until the Jalen Pickett hit the fifth Nittany Lion three of the half to tie up the game at 22 all with 1:45 to go.
Pickett free throws on the next possession gave PSU their first lead since 3-2. Penn State eschewed a ‘two for one’ opportunity to end the half to allow Sessoms to dribble for the entire shot clock before missing a contested shot.
Fortunately, Michigan State missed two tip-in’s at the buzzer, ending the half at 24-24. Three point shooting (5 for PSU to just 2 from MSU) was the difference in the half.
A few boos sprinkled from the crowd after an 8-0 Spartan run forced Penn State Basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry to call timeout just 137 seconds into the half. A huge odd front rim and in three from Lundy immediately helped stem the tide. A close no foul call in a Harrar resulted in the first technical of the Shrewsberry era as the lead ballooned to 14.
A quick 8-0 run featuring threes from Sessoms and Dread cut the lead to six, sparking life into the Bryce Jordan Center where the previous loudest reaction was a ball getting stuck on top of the backboard off a Lundy three.
This is another familiar theme of this Nittany Lions team as very few opponents have ever been able to land the ‘knockout punch’ in the second half.
A Lundy three cut the Spartan lead to just three with ten minutes to go but a MSU ally-oop slam quieted the crowd. A quick 4-0 Nittany Lion gave PSU a chance to take the lead but Jalanni White was absolutely STUFFED at the rim on a slam attempt, which forced temporarily him to leave the game with a shoulder injury likely due to the impact of the block.
A Harrar slam cut the lead to two with 5 minutes to go and Delco’s favorite answered a Spartan jumper with an and-1 to bring the Lions within 2 after missing the free throw and a Lundy three (his fifth on 12 attempts thus far) answered another Spartan basket making the score 54-53 Michigan State with 2:53 to go, timeout Izzo. Lundy’s three was Penn State TENTH of the night, compared to just five Spartan made shots from beyond the arc.
Good defense forced a Spartan missed three but an ugly prayer end of shot clock heaves by Sessoms changed off.
Fortunately Harrar got the rebound and Lundy drained a contested end of shot clock jumper to give the Nittany Lions their first second half lead and Penn State Basketball forced a Spartans’ shot clock violation, continuing the Lions’ momentum.
Penn State ball, up one with just 1:00 to go … As expected, the Nittany Lions killed almost the entire shot clock before Harrar got his own rebound made the bucket and-1!!! This time he made the free throw, giving PSU a four point lead with 35 seconds to go.
The Spartans got a quick bucket and called timeout with 23.9 seconds left, now trailing by two. They fouled Sessoms, who calmly made both of the 1-1 free throws. Michigan State hit a baseline jumper with 7.8 seconds and immediately called timeout, again trailing by two.
Dallion Johnson was fouled to shoot the 1 and 1. The sophomore, proving Cornwall never should see the floor again, made both, clinching the PSU victory.