Penn State Basketball: How to beat Purdue in the Big Ten Quarterfinals
By Evan Smith
Winning on the glass is paramount
John Harrar, the King of Delco, is a force down low on both ends.
Harrar is averaging a double-double on the season (10.4 points and 10.3 rebounds) and will more than hold his own vs the Purdue bigs.
But, there’s a reason Zach Edey (14.7 points and 7.6 rebounds) and Trevion Williams (11.6 points, 7.3 rebounds) make such a significant impact on this Boilermaker team. Even though they each average under 20 minutes a game, stopping Purdue begins and ends with managing this duo.
The problem occurs for Penn State Basketball when Harrar sits.
Even averaging a career-high 26.9 minutes per game, that’s still 32.5% of the game the Nittany Lions will need to survive without him.
Last time out against Purdue, forward Jalanni White played 19 minutes off the bench in one of his best games in the blue and white (9 points, 3 rebounds). But he has fallen out of the rotation, mostly due to his inability to play defense without fouling. In the last five games, White has played a total of seven minutes (and committed three fouls). And Jevonnie Scott has played even less (his last appearance was six games ago).
So, this must be the Greg Lee game.
Lee’s missed a lot of time this year but has started most games when healthy as the power forward. He has struggled offensively recently, but we’re not concerned about his offense against the Boilers.
Lee must be able to defend Edey and Williams when Harrar sits. He got rolled by Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell Friday night a few times so he must be physical and technically sound tonight.
It will be vital for him to always box out and use his five fouls wisely to prevent them from getting easy looks in the post. If he can, Penn State has a shot.