The Big Ten standings show Penn State is the worst team in the conference. The way the team played against Northwestern shows otherwise.
The Nittany Lions (11-17, 3-13 Big Ten) blew out the Wildcats 79-60 in University Park, Pa., sweeping the season series. Wins over NU (18-11, 7-10) account for two of Penn State’s three conference victories on the season.
“We didn’t come out prepared,” junior guard Michael Thompson said. “Every team in college basketball is a good team.”
Penn State started strong and kept the pressure on. Though the Nittany Lions briefly trailed 6-5, they were able to score at will against NU’s matchup zone, hitting seven of their first nine attempts from the field, while getting offensive rebounds on their two misses. It would take nearly seven minutes for Penn State to have a possession in which it did not score.
The Cats were able to stay close at first because of their 3-point shooting. Their first 18 points came off of six 3s, but it wasn’t a sustainable form of offense.
“Early on, we’re making those 3s,” coach Bill Carmody said. “But you could tell they were fool’s gold. They were end-of-clock, not-really- in-rhythm kind of shots.”
It took NU until the 5:22 mark of the first half to score its first 2-point field goal. By then, the Cats were already down 11, and their lack of an inside presence was already hurting them.
“The entire year on the road, our center spot just hasn’t been able to get any production. Almost none,” Carmody said. “Our only real threat on the inside is Johnny (Shurna), and they were all over him.”
As NU’s hot shooting cooled off, Penn State’s offense kept going. The Cats allowed 49 points in the opening period-more than they’ve allowed in entire games.
“It didn’t matter the personnel that was in there,” Carmody said. “Whatever we were trying to do-man, matchup, 1-3-1, it didn’t matter. We just weren’t able to stop them, which was reminiscent of a few games in the past couple of weeks.”
Penn State went on to shoot 57 percent from the field. Carmody made the decision to become less reliant on playing the 1-3-1 zone defensively before last Thursday’s game against Iowa, because opposing teams had been exploiting it with 3-point shooting. The scheme worked against Iowa, but backfired against Penn State.
The Cats often looked confused, which led to uncontested layups and 7-for-13 shooting from beyond the arc from the Nittany Lions. This was the best any opposing team has shot percentage-wise against NU all season long.
“After a while, they weren’t even running an offense,” Carmody said. “They just kept it spread and were taking our guys individually.”
The game went out of hand in the second half, as a 14-point halftime lead increased to 20 by the 14-minute mark. NU’s deficit grew to 25 points, which put the game effectively out of reach.
“We tried to fight back,” Thompson said. “We just didn’t come ready to play, and we got off to a slow start.”
Much like in the first matchup between the teams, Penn State’s scoring didn’t come from point guard Talor Battle, who leads the conference in scoring and is the only player to average double figures on the team. Battle led the team with 16 points, but David Jackson and Chris Babb were key contributors, nailing 4-of-5 3-pointers.
“It’s more about us,” Thompson said. “For us to be successful, we need to do a better job communicating on defense.”
The loss prevented the Cats from earning a school-record 19 wins, and guarantees that after a promising start, the Cats will finish with a losing record in conference.
“We haven’t been a good road team all year, and the last three weeks our defense has been spotty at best,” Carmody said. “We’re not getting anything inside, and I don’t know what to do.”[email protected]
