North Carolina Defeats Valiant Penn State, 80-69.
by Run Up The Score on Nov 19, 2009 9:11 PM EST
in Basketball
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Oh, forget it. I don't even have the heart to write the fake "Tarheels Beat Nittany Lions" post. This game was a disaster, practically from the opening tip. UNC-Wilmington (1-2) -- a team that went 7-25 and had a RPI ranking of 273 one year ago -- never lost the lead after breaking a 7-7 tie early in the first half, although Penn State (2-1) whittled the deficit to two points with three minutes remaining. Chris Babb, Andrew Jones, and Tim Frazier combined to shoot 4-28 from the field. Babb was an unconscionably bad 2-10 on his three-point attempts. Despite those awful shooting performances, Cammeron Woodyard couldn't get more than four minutes of playing time -- two more than Andrew Ott received. Talor Battle scored 29 points, but was 8-23 from the field. However, he was uncharacteristically great from the foul line (11-12).
How bad was it? Penn State had nine steals and only five turnovers, and still lost by 11. It was obvious that Ed DeChellis was frantically searching for a winning combination, like an 80 year old man about to bet his Social Security check at the racetrack. Nothing worked. Perhaps Penn State was flat due to playing a game two nights ago and traveling to South Carolina. Maybe it was just one of those games where four guys were ice cold at the same time -- the only two players to hit more than half of their field goals were David Jackson (4-5) and Jeff Brooks (4-6). Except for the unusual amount of made free throws, Penn State looked like the DeChellis teams of 3-5 years ago. Next to no production from the post players, awful perimeter defense, and lots of bricks on the offensive end.
It'll be filed under the "Bad Loss" category come March, if this team turns out to be bubble-worthy again. The Charleston Classic, just like the other in-season tournaments Penn State has particpated in recently, is already an epic failure. This was Penn State's chance to add some quality wins (or hell, some quality competition) to its resume, against teams like Miami, Davidson, or South Carolina. Instead, it's Tulane tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 p.m. No rest for the frigid.
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They just looked flat. I gave up on them in the first half
I don’t blame ED for this one. But we should probably stop playing in these tournaments, I guess.
UNACCEPTABLE!
Like I Said In My FanPost
I don’t have a problem with these tournaments. I have a problem with pinning our RPI hopes on them. Fricking schedule a good basketball team home and home. Hell, go 2 for 1 with someone, idc. At least they’ll always be there, and you’ll get a big crowrd every few years.
God Created the World Out Of Nothing, Paterno Built A National Superpower On Cow Fields...
by Adam Bittner on Nov 19, 2009 10:08 PM EST up reply actions
We learned not to pin our hopes on the Big Ten-ACC challenge
Now we must learn this
UNACCEPTABLE!
by ReadingRambler on Nov 19, 2009 10:23 PM EST up reply actions
Some "challenge"
who am I kidding. I’m just bitter
It never gets to be easy
by chitownhawkeye on Nov 19, 2009 10:30 PM EST up reply actions
Defense
Granted, my only access to the game was Gametracker, so I couldn’t tell whether the defense was better than these numbers indicate, but if you give up 57% shooting and 62% from 3 point range, you’re not going to win too many games.
by mundyscorner99 on Nov 19, 2009 10:19 PM EST reply actions
They made some shots
But the defense was HORRIBLE. They looked like they never played a team game before. I can’t tell you how many times a big-man didn’t rotate on a switch, which led to open 3’s or worse wide open lay-ups. It was disgraceful.
I nearly stabbed myself when Sasa didn’t rotate, and that Tampo guy went up for a layup.
UNACCEPTABLE!
by ReadingRambler on Nov 19, 2009 10:38 PM EST up reply actions
We played better than that on defense (from what I heard on the radio)
defensively, although their % was high, they didn’t take a lot of shots. There was a point in the 2nd half when they only had 2 shots out of like 7 posessions. They would walk, or turn the ball over, we would go down and throw up a brick from 3-point land and they’d get the ball back only to turn it over before they could shoot.
So defensively, from what I was hearing on the radio, we were playing alright. Sure they made the shots they took, but we played aggressive and forced turnovers and walks. Offensively we had a dismal, shameful performance. We really going to miss the LIbrarian this year, his 3-pointers kept us alive in games like this.
"We hugged as grown men do. It was a great moment. Then, it was business as usual." -- LJ Sr.
If they didn't turn it over
And showed a little bit of patience with the pick and roll, they would score. It was bad, bad team defense.
Sigh
I wasn’t able to watch this game because it was on at a crappy time, but man, I wasn’t expecting to lose, let alone lose by more than 10
by The JuggerNitt on Nov 19, 2009 11:01 PM EST reply actions
Conspiracy Theorizing
I know, it’s probably nothing, and was certainly unintentional. But…
As you may know, there is no official game ball of the NCAA, and a number of different balls are approved for use in NCAA action.
The vast majority of schools, including Penn State, use a leather ball made by Nike.
However, the Charleston Classic uses a composite ball called THE ROCK. The complaint with composite balls is that they can become slippery and don’t absorb sweat as well as leather balls. Thought it’s still the same ball, it has a different feel, and shooting can be difficult when you’re used to using one ball and switch to the others.
Of course, UNC-W uses THE ROCK ball. Though it doesn’t explain everything, one or two threes each way and this is an entirely different game. And considering they hit 10 of 16 and us 5-21, who knows?
NittanyWhiteOut.com. Arguably the second best Penn State blog I know of.
yea
I pointed that out in the game thread. You could make a case that it hurt our shooting a little, however it doesn’t explain our sub-par defense.
by scotty2hotty89 on Nov 20, 2009 12:35 AM EST up reply actions
When I played
I actually kind of liked THE ROCK more than other balls, but some of my teammates didn’t. It is a feel thing, but I don’t know if this is anything more than a theory like you said.
I Agree.
Let’s all petition Curley to stop being such a cheapskate and to shell out millions of dollars to bring in Billy Gillispie. Unlike Kentucky, he wouldn’t have to be an ambassador for PSU athletics because Joepa already handles that responsibility. Plus, he’d fit in perfectly with the partying culture up here. What more could he ask for?
http://www.happyhourvalley.com/
They are who we thought they were.
We’re an okay team. Maybe we’ll be in the bubble discussion this year, but probably not.
Schedule whoever you like, when you don’t win enough, it doesn’t matter. If we’re 17-15 at the end of the year but played the hardest schedule known to man, we’re still not getting in the tournament.
by Tailgate Shogun on Nov 20, 2009 5:34 AM EST reply actions
Yep
I figured this was likely an NIT year, and next year could be special.
Still, we have a lot of opportunities to recover from this. Virginia, Temple, and Va Tech are the focus now. Gotta win at least 2 of those. And the Big Ten is loaded this year so if we can pull a couple of upsets we may have a shot at the big dance.
Wasn't giving up 3-pointers
a big problem last year, too? Is it something in the defensive scheme?
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