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Penn State - 60
Minnesota - 65
On the surface you might think, "Great! The Nittany Lions finally played some pretty defense in this game." Afterall, the Lions hadn't held an opponent under 70 points since Purdue five games ago. However, the Gophers have been averaging less than 50 points in Big Ten play. This was an offensive smorgasbor for Minnesota.
Once again the Lions got killed by a sharp shooting guard. Lawrence McKenzie hit five of Minnesota's ten three pointers.
The offense wasn't any better for the Lions. They got the usual 20 points from Claxton, 14 points from Cornley, and 10 points from Morrissey. After that Mooch had 9. Hassell had 2. Bogetic had 5. Walker and Luber had none. Game after game it's the same story.
Let's talk rebounds now. The Lions outrebounded the Gophers 35-31, but they need to do better. Brandon Hassell has 10 defensive rebounds in Big Ten play this year. The dude is 6'11" tall. Guards Danny Morrissey and Mooch Jackson have 20 and 13 respectively.
The Lions get a week off now to regroup and look for some answers. The next game is against Purdue at the Bryce Jordan Center next Saturday. The Lions will try to avenge their 64-60 loss that started this dreadful six game losing streak. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I'll be travelling to State College to watch the game in person. It says a lot about the state of Penn State basketball when the only way I can see a game over the course of an entire season is to drive three hours to see it in person.