Blowout win over WF is just the latest showcase of PSU's improved depth
The Bryce Jordan Center crowd still buzzing from his emphatic one-handed dunk that punctuated a win over Wake Forest, Izaiah Brockington hopped back down the court, his hands above his shoulders and palms pointed toward the ceiling.
Raising the roof.
Indeed, a big student crowd brought more energy inside the BJC than you might otherwise expect for a game that tipped off at 9:15 p.m. Maybe they were intrigued by the 6-1 Nittany Lion start, or maybe it was the free ice cream and tee shirts.
Regardless, Brockington, Myreon Jones, and the rest of a revitalized Penn State supporting cast treated them to a show.
“I thought the sophomores really stepped up,” Pat Chambers said postgame. “[Jones has] been pretty consistent, but I was proud of [Brockington]. He was a little down but he really responded after New York.”
On a night where Lamar Stevens scored only 14 points in 27 minutes — in the past, a recipe for a disappointing loss — Jones and Brockington combined for 35 points on 13-22 shooting to more than pick up the slack.
With an eight-point lead and 4:49 left in the first half, Stevens went to the bench after picking up his second foul — a scenario that would usually force the Nittany Lions into survival mode.
Not Wednesday, when Jones and four reserves turned a comfortable lead into a blowout before the second half had even ended.
First, Brockington scored on a layup. Curtis Jones then supplied two-straight buckets. Myreon Jones followed with a 3-pointer, and John Harrar finished the spurt with a layup. By the time the first half buzzer sounded, Penn State had turned an 30-22 advantage when Stevens checked out into a 41-23 lead.
“I thought that last four minutes of the first half really set the tone going into the second half,” Chambers said. “...I thought they really held down the fort — not only held down the fort, but increased the lead.”
In Myreon Jones, who scored a career-best 22 points against the Demon Deacons, the Nittany Lions seem to have identified a reliable scoring complement to Stevens.
He’s reached double figures in six out of eight games so far this season, and done so without forcing up some of the bad shots he took as a freshman a season ago.
“When [Stevens is] not in the game, it’s not like I’m the first priority,” Jones said. “It’s just the flow of the game. It’s just how it goes.”
So far, the flow of the game has resulted in a nice 13.6 points per game average for Jones, up from his 4 point per game mark last season.
Perhaps Jones’ growth is simply a product of the typical jump a player might make from his freshman to sophomore season. Or maybe it stems from a more competitive practice environment, cultivated by the same bench players Jones helped lead to that key run at the end of the first half.
“I get furious when our starting team doesn’t win every drill, or every game situation or every segment, but that just tells you how good our second team is,” Chambers said.
But Chambers stopped there to correct himself — “second team” might not be the optimal phrase to describe Penn State’s depth. The Nittany Lions could conceivably start seven or eight players right now, Chambers said.
For a program that, in its recent history, has had little problem finding a star but big problems surrounding him with the right supporting cast, the contrast is stark.
And if the Nittany Lions keep playing like this, Brockington won’t be the only one raising the roof inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
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