Hoops: Trent Buttrick's emphatic dunk punctuates special senior night
Trent Buttrick had played his part in completing Penn State's hard work.
Thanks in no small part to his surprise injection of 10 points, Buttrick and the Nittany Lions had Minnesota well-beaten as Buttrick and Penn State's senior class played out their final sequence at the Bryce Jordan Center.
There was time for Buttrick to have a little fun.
It came in the form of a ferocious fast-break dunk that the senior had held in his back pocket until the closing act of his Penn State career. He took a cross-court pass from fellow senior Jamari Wheeler in stride, rose up and posterized 6-foot-10 Gophers center Sam Freeman, who was whistled for a foul.
"It should be the No. 1 play on the top-10 on ESPN," Wheeler said postgame, trying to hold back his laughter. "That's how much I love it."
"It just felt good to try to go out with a bang — literally," Buttrick said. "I was just trying to put an exclamation point on the win, last game in the Bryce Jordan Center. It feels good, man."
Not a subscriber? Join us with our FREE 30-day premium trial
Buttrick's dunk certainly succeeded in punctuating Penn State's 84-65 win. But it was also an exclamation point on a special night for him.
In just 14 total minutes, he finished with 13 points — tying a career high set in a loss to Alabama in 2019. He also contributed to a totally dominant Penn State performance on the glass, grabbing seven rebounds which also tied a career high.
"I was playing in the flow of the offense, and I felt real confident tonight," Buttrick said. "I felt like my teammates had my back as well, so I think that was just it, trying to play within the flow of the game and try to help our team win."
Buttrick's contributions were part of a big night overall for Penn State's seniors, all five of whom started the game.
John Harrar produced his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 boards — seven of which came on the offensive glass. Wheeler finished with 10 points, five assists and four rebounds, all while holding star Minnesota guard Marcus Carr to a 4-13 shooting performance. Kyle McCloskey tied his highest minute total of the year and came away with two rebounds, an assist and a steal, and walk-on Taylor Nussbaum saw the court for the third time this season.
"It was just great tonight, how our seniors played and how we played for the seniors," Penn State interim head coach Jim Ferry said. "I thought we looked extremely unselfish. We had 19 assists. Guys were really laying it out for each other."
For Buttrick, specifically, Wednesday night was a reward for four years of working in the background. He'd never averaged more than 7.4 minutes per game throughout the first three seasons of his career. He'd never been an important cog in Penn State's offense, either, averaging 1.3 points per game heading into this season.
Finally in 2020-21, following the departure of important post players Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins, Buttrick managed to crack Penn State's rotation. He hasn't played perfectly all the time, but he's become a regular contributor. His performance against the Golden Gophers was a showcase of the work it took to make that happen.
"I would say I had more emotions than nerves," Buttrick said. "Just taking it all in at once, starting off with the ceremony and everything, everyone was kind of emotional so I would say more emotions than nerves. I just felt good, ready to play, ready to get a big win.
"The last minutes when I checked back in to close it out with the rest of the guys, it kind of hit me where I was like, 'Wow, this is it.' I would say that was the point of the game where I started to think about it and I had a little bit of emotion there. It felt good to get the win and close out the game with the rest of my class."
*******
• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated
• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98
• Follow us on Instagram
• Like us on Facebook