During a season when continuity is paramount, Penn State brought back a little bit of everything from last season en route to a 98-92 overtime loss to Seton Hall on Sunday.
For the Nittany Lions it was familiar for both the good and the bad. At its height in 2019-20, Penn State was a team that could shoot the lights out of the gym, burying opponents under a flurry of offense from both near the basket and far away. Athleticism and speed coupled with intense defense became the calling card of the Pat Chambers era.
But there were other trends to see as well. Close losses, blown leads and the occasional head-scratching sequences in key moments. To be fair this is how basketball works sometimes. There are only so many ways to lose, and none of them are good.
Equally true, losing a game you were once winning over the course of a 20-30 game season is not always a sign of anything bad, it happens. Subsequently, making mistakes is part of sports and/or life, and a strategic decisions backfiring comes is born from the inevitable truth not every well-intended decision turns out to be the right one.
It doesn’t — usually — mean you’re dumb. It just is what it is. If everyone could just call the right play and win, everyone would do it.
Nevertheless, as Penn State marched out to a 19 point lead with just under five minutes to go in the first half. The Nittany Lions looked like the best parts of 2019-20. They looked poised and confident. They looked like they were having fun. Everything was working and nothing was working for Seton Hall.
Penn State shot 8-of-15 from beyond the arc and just over 50% from the field. Meanwhile the visitors looked slow, tired and while they held a significant size advantage, it didn’t manifest itself in enough ways to take a halftime lead. The Pirates were 1-of-12 from beyond the arc, and just 40% overall from the floor.
All the same, a small Seton Hall run late in the half cut the lead to just 45-34 at the break.
Anyone who has attended a game at the Bryce Jordan Center or had the pleasure of watching on TV knew that Penn State’s good fortune was unlikely to last all 40 minutes. Seton Hall would shoot better, the Nittany Lions would cool.
And that’s what happened. By the end of the night Seton Hall had banged home 54 points in the paint in a game that was set to give Penn State it’s first test of Big Ten size down low. The Pirates and Nittany Lions traded baskets and runs, but Penn State langley survived the initial second half barrage even as it saw its once near 20-point lead turn into a brief deficit.
Despite the first half success, the second half felt less well intended and smooth for the Nittany Lions, all of which came in front of the backdrop of less than outstanding defense. The ball didn’t move as well or as quickly, the shots were less the quality coach Jim Ferry may have liked. Fouls came, turnovers rocked Penn State on a near regular basis, Seton Hall making good on 15 Penn State turnovers, getting 16 points in return, so many of those miscues self-inflicted.
All of this came to a head as Penn State gave up an 8-0 run in just 1:14 late in the game to tie game with 44 seconds left. Both teams would get a chance to take the lead, neither would and overtime was the result.
The extra period was largely reminiscent of the regulation that had just expired. Penn State was less sure of itself, less of a team in the five minute period and more a collection of outfit-matching individuals.
Meanwhile, Seton Hall knew exactly what it had to do, pounding the paint coupled with timely threes from deep. In many ways Penn State lost to the same flurry of offense it had inflicted on Seton Hall in the first half, responding in kind with the same cold-shooting, not terribly cohesive effort Seton Hall had offered up a few hours earlier.
Boiled down to the numbers Penn State will take heart that Myreon Jones looked good with 17 points to his name. Happier still that Myles Dread managed 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Seth Lundy backed up his 30 spot last week with 23 points in the follow-up effort. John Harrar also had a stout night as best he could with 11 points and eight rebounds despite being outmatched inside.
In total six different Nittany Lions scored in double-figures and multiple had big shots at big moments.
On the glass Penn State came away +2 in that department and got 27 points off the bench while shooting 46% from the field.
All told Sunday night was a test for Penn State just a few games before Big Ten play and the answer to whether or not the Nittany Lions passed is a mixed bag. They lost, but also played well, landed punches and took a few of their own. Ultimately there are only so many ways to sugarcoat losing when you once led by 19, but if this team is going to figure out how to win when things really matter, a game like Sunday night’s will go a long way towards that.
At least in theory. I’ve made this assumption before.
