Penn State at Purdue Recap

The stage was set for a bloodbath of the Nittany Lions. Purdue coming into the game on a roll, looking for revenge on senior night. Penn State still woefully inexperienced and even more short-handed due to Cammeron Woodyard's broken foot. Unsurprisingly, despite the best efforts of Tim Frazier, Purdue mopped the floor with the Lions in the 2nd half to win going away, 80-56.

Penn State was competitive in the first half thanks to an incredible display from Tim Frazier, who scored 16 first-half points on just 7 shots. However, Robbie Hummel was just as good, scoring 17 points in the half including a big three near the end. Purdue went to the lockerroom up 5 at the intermission. However, it never really seemed as PSU was in the game, and the second half ending up telling the real story. You knew things were about to go south when PSU was shooting 63.5% eFG% in the 1st half and were losing.

Purdue got whatever they wanted on offense, and it only got worse as the game went on when Ryne Smith and DJ Byrd started connecting from 3. They were never able to slow down Lewis Jackson or Terone Johnson when they attacked the rim, Hummel completely abused Ross Travis the whole game, and once those threes started raining and Purdue was in their groove, there was no stopping them. The game was already over with seven minutes left. Purdue had gotten their revenge and their seniors, most notably Robbie Hummel, got to exit on a high note.

Obviously this game was the exact opposite of the first meeting between the two teams. The numbers reflect Purdue's dominance on offense as they put up the 2nd highest offensive efficiency, eFG%, and OReb% numbers against PSU this season. This was also PSU's worst effort on their own offensive glass this year. Hopefully Chambers burns the defensive tape as the young Lions made a myriad of mental errors. Helping out on a driving Ryne Smith to leave Hummel on the perimeter? Going under screens for Smith? Never being in position to help on Jackson or Johnson drives? All in all it was a fitting end to one of the worst road seasons in recent memory.

Tim Frazier was a bright spot as he scored 24 points (on 16 shots), dished 6 assists, and grabbed 5 rebounds and 4 steals. His next assist will break the 189 single-season assist record held by Talor Battle (Battle's record was in 38 games while Frazier has that total in just 30). Jon Graham and Sasa Borovnjak were effective inside (a combined 6-7 from the floor), but Graham was limited by foul trouble and neither of them grabbed a rebound in 35 minutes. Penn State was great inside the arc (60% on 2's), but had their usual 3-point shooting woes (just 22%). While we can point to Billy's and Cam's absences, I'm not sure their road shooting would've provided much of a difference.

Ross Travis, Matt Glover, and Nick Colella combined to go 0-7 from the floor and just 2 points in 66 minutes. Glover hasn't made a field goal in his last 9 games, and Colella has followed up his 10-25 performance in that brutal 5-game stretch by going 4-28 from three (14%) in the next 5. Jermaine Marshall had another inconsistent performance where he would follow up a nice play with a brick or a turnover. He finished with 10 points, but went 1-6 from deep. Fortunately, Trey Lewis looked much more up to speed yesterday than his first appearance against Northwestern. He made a couple threes and finished with 8 points. With Woodyard out now, along with Glover's and Colella's struggles, his offense will be much-needed against Michigan.

Speaking of Woodyard, if you missed the game last night, he fractured his foot on a freak play in shoot-a-round yesterday morning. It's a sad end to a kid who sacrificed a lot his senior year. It's unfortunate he won't be able to finish his career out on the court, but we wish him the best!

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