Penn State "Trips Up" Against Michigan State
by BSD on Jan 15, 2009 12:00 PM EST
in Penn State Basketball
15 comments
It seemed like it was meant to be. Penn State had come charging back from a 17 point second half deficit. Jamelle Cornley was killing the Spartans inside. Talor Battle was killing them from the outside when he wasn't dishing the ball to his teammates. The 10,270 people in the stands were screaming like their hair was on fire. With 27 seconds to go the Nittany Lions found themselves just down by two with the ball and the #7 team in the country leaning on the ropes. Talor Battle surveyed the defense and thought he saw an opening. He tried to split between two defenders. Goran Suton stuck his foot out and tripped him. Battle went down. The ref choked on his whistle. The Spartans picked up the loose ball and the game was essentially over.
The Good
It was a valiant effort by the Nittany Lions against a team that was much deeper and more athletic. Talor Battle and Jamelle Cornley were sensational in the second half. Cornley poured in 15 of his career high 26 points while Battle put away 12.
Those of you who claim Ed DeChellis can't coach should go back and watch last nights game again. In the second half Ed was switching up the defense on every other possession. They went to the 2-3 zone. Then the 1-3-1 zone. Then the 1-1-3 zone. Then back to the 2-3. Michigan State really struggled to figure out the different zone looks. It slowed them down and allowed Penn State to claw their way back into the game. I really believe Ed is a good coach. He just needs more athletes.
As I mentioned, the crowd of 10,270 was amazing to see after the poor attendance in the Purdue game last week. Kudos to all the fans who braved the cold and the snow to go out and support the team.
Chris Babb looks like he's starting to get it. He only played six minutes, but in that short time he scored two crucial three pointers. He also grabbed a rebound, blocked two shots and got a steal. Hopefully he'll be able to step up and give Pringle and Battle a rest once in a while.
Andrew Ott looked the best he's been since putting on the Blue and White. In ten minutes of play he scored four points, three rebounds (two offensive), an assist and a steal. But he also racked up a quick three fouls.
The Bad
Penn State was outrebounded 41-24. Michigan State grabbed a dominating 17 offensive rebounds. Our lack of depth in the front court is really starting to show now that we're in the heart of the Big Ten season.
Stanley Pringle had his second straight off game. He only scored 8 points on 2-of-11 shooting. If he could have scored his usual 15 points, who knows? He's got to get out of his funk.
Stanley Pringle, Jamelle Cornley, and Talor Battle were all seen limping off the court at some point last night. The physicality of Big Ten basketball is starting to take its toll on this team, and the lack of depth is only going to become more apparent from here on.
The Ugly
I hate to keep harping on the kid, but David Jackson is a complete liability. He only saw six mintues of play last night to close out the first half. He was completely ineffective against covering his man through the screen and Michigan State went on a 15-2 run during that stretch to close out the half. He had one scoring chance where he was standing all alone under the basket, and he traveled. Like I said, I really hate to talk down on college kids, but he shouldn't see the floor until garbage time for the rest of the season. And he better hit the gym and training table hard this summer. He looks scrawny against his competition and needs to put on 25 or 30 pounds.
What was up with the refs not calling the trip on Suton at the end of the game? It seemed like Battle couldn't look at a guy funny without drawing a foul all night and he eventually fouled out of the game. How you don't call a foul on that play is beyond me.
Up Next
The Nittany Lions get a chance to regroup with a winable road game against Indiana on Saturday night (6 PM ET). Then they return home for two winable games against Michigan and Iowa. Sitting at 13-5 you hate to say it's desperation time, but these are three must-win games if Penn State hopes to make the post season.
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Sportscenter's #9
Jeff Brook’s inbound off of MSU’s player for the dunk made Sportcenter’s #9 play of the day.
My good and bad and ugly
The good
Ott’s fouls were just horrendous calls… he was a stud for the brief time he was in. Babb looked good. Battle was awesome and Cornley was GREAT.
The bad
Foul shooting… I mean, really, what the heck is going on there? And Danny Morrisey, three points, bad defense… as usual.
The ugly
The refs were just horrible. I usually harp on the refs because they’re usually bad; last night they lost the game for us. We were playing just as well, if not better than MSU for all the game except for the last part of the first half. MSU couldn’t even inbound the ball because the refs were too busy calling 2 ticky-tack fouls before they did. When the refs finally decided to call a foul on the Spartans, it was because it was so obviously blatant, it was unavoidable. Had MSU been called on the same level as Penn State, there would have been at least three Spartans fouling out.
Good point on the foul shooting
Some things are like a broken record in these recaps. Battle is awesome. Where is the defense? And what’s up with the foul shots?
Though they did hit 19-of-27 last night for a 70% FT rate. Not great, but much better than hitting 55% like usual. They sure give up a lot of points on the line.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
I'll take 70% as a first step.
As for this:
Sitting at 13-5 you hate to say it’s desperation time, but these are three must-win games if Penn State hopes to make the post season.
I think it’s very much a fair statement when you consider the OOC schedule.
BSD
Payback's a bitch, ain't it?
How many free throws did you guys shoot last year?
(For what it’s worth, I thought the refs were calling too many fouls both ways in the second half – it was as if they had been visited by the spirit of Hightower at halftime. Aside from making good defense impossible, it completely ruins the flow of a game.)
it did get a bit frustrating
and reminded me why I’m not a huge fan of basketball. It seems like half the scoring comes off of free throws, and that too large a percentage of the game time is spent with people standing around the key/free throw line. I almost wish there was a 5 (or less) second shot clock or something on free throws. It isn’t like the guys have anyone blocking them…the shot is easy enough.
by The JuggerNitt on Jan 15, 2009 3:16 PM EST up reply actions
I think there is a 10 second count on free throws. I’ve definitely seen one where something happened such that the guy didn’t get to shoot, and I don’t think it was a lane violation because nobody moved. And if you watch carefully (at the game, that is; on TV the cameras usually don’t catch it) you’ll see one of the refs swinging his arm out like they do for the five- and ten-second counts during play.
The referreeing
was absolutely horrendous…early in the game Pringle drove, got decked in the face, and there was no call. Then after a Battle steal, he got punched in the back of the head, and not only did they not call a flagrant, they didn’t even give us the clear path.
I talked with multiple MSU fans after the game and they all reiterated the same point: Battle was fouled at the end there.
it was hard to tell
on the initial play I thought he was fouled for sure. I only recall them showing one replay of it, and it didn’t look quite as much of a foul, though Sutan did trip him, it didn’t look like he stuck his foot out, and just looked like Battle tripped by himself, but that could be due to the slow-motion. Anyone have a vid of this play to review?
by The JuggerNitt on Jan 15, 2009 3:13 PM EST up reply actions
Has anyone else noticed how poor our offensive sets are most of the time?
I’ve watched the majority of our games this year, and was able to attend the first half of the game last night. Its so frustrating to see the following take place:
1. dribble up the floor slowly
2. Make one pass, then back to the point.
3. Point guard (battle or pringle) kills about 10-15 seconds dribbling at the top of the court.
4. EVERYONE ELSE JUST STANDING AROUND
5. with 10 seconds left on the shot clock, battle or pringle making a desparate drive towards the basket
6. on missed shots, no offensive rebounding
We absolutely need to inject some movement into our offense. I don’t think we have the talent to be able to break defenders down one on one every single time. Why not set some screens, make some cuts, and keep the ball moving with quick passing to make the defense work a little?
All in all very frustrating.
Let's Go State
Agreed
We would work and work and scrape to get a bucket after wasting 30 seconds of the play clock doing all the things you described. And then Michigan State would do a long inbound pass to a guy standing at half court. He would dribble up to the point and either dish it to a guy down low or out to a guy at the arc and MSU had a basket with 30 seconds left on the play clock. Very frustrating.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
Somewhat
But when five guys are standing around not moving they are pretty easy to guard.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
Its funny...
how we are talking tournament and he haven’t even been to the NIT in 2 years. That is a definite improvement.
I was out in the trenches, which enables me to paint such a powerful picture, like Apocalypse Now.-Cormega
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