Hot start undone in second half as Nittany Lions fall at Minnesota, 75-69

Penn State couldn’t find the bottom of the net in its game at Minnesota Wednesday night.

Again.

Leading the Gophers by three possessions in the early minutes of the second half, the Nittany Lions’ hot start went suddenly, dramatically cold. Unable to get a bucket on 12-consecutive shots, going just 3 of 24 from the floor in the game’s final 17 minutes, Penn State found itself on the losing end of a 75-69 decision at Williams Arena.

“I thought our shooters had good shots. We had good shots. They're not going in right now,” Chambers said. “We gotta keep trusting those guys, keep giving them the green light.”

In the first half, those shooters had that green light and made the most of it.

Knocking down 18 of 30 shots in the first half, including a 5 of 10 clip from beyond-the-arc, the Nittany Lions reversed two games of struggles that preceded it. Hitting just 36.7 percent from the floor in a 72-61 loss at Rutgers and only 32.7 percent in a loss to Wisconsin Saturday, the Nittany Lions (12-5 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) played near-perfect offensive basketball in the first half.

The same could not be said of Penn State’s performance defensively. Collecting two fouls apiece for Lamar Stevens, Izaiah Brockington, John Harrar and Myles Dread, Penn State sent Minnesota to the free-throw line to hit 13-15 free throw attempts in the first half. Worse for the Nittany Lions, Minnesota went to the locker room owning a 22-11 rebounding advantage that included 10 offensive rebounds and 10 second-chance points.

Taking only a 46-44 lead to the locker room in spite of the red-hot offensive performance, the Nittany Lions were able to build on it in the opening minutes of the second half. Shaking off Minnesota’s tying bucket to open the scoring, the Nittany Lions ripped off an 8-0 run thanks to a Myreon Jones layup, four points from Lamar Stevens and a Seth Lundy basket.

The run would be Penn State’s last until the game’s circumstances had changed dramatically. With the Gophers paced by Daniel Oturu (26 points on 8-14 shooting) and Marcus Carr (27 points on 7-17 shooting), Penn State’s offensive production went into a tailspin. Free of committing any turnovers in the first half, Penn State’s first of six in the second half came while holding a 56-49 lead. Offset only by a pair of Mike Watkins free throws at the 15:24 mark and Myreon Jones' free throw with 11:10 to play, the Gophers produced a 16-3 run to go ahead,

At last, a Jones bucket with 5:28 to play broke a streak of 13 misses from the floor with five turnovers and another 22-9 rebounding advantage for the Gophers during a span of 11 minutes, 34 seconds in the middle of the half. Trailing just 64-61 in spite of the avalanche, the trends wouldn’t reverse themselves the rest of the way as back-to-back Oturu shots, a layup and a 3-pointer at the top of the arc, put the Gophers beyond Penn State’s reach.

Lamenting his team’s turnovers, plus Minnesota’s eight free throw attempts and rebounding advantage during the stretch, Chambers insisted that resiliency will be key for his Nittany Lions as they look to regroup for a Saturday matchup with Ohio State back at the Bryce Jordan Center (noon, ESPNU).

“The first half obviously was kind of up and down. The second half was kind of a rock fight,” Chambers said. “I'm proud of my team. I thought we competed on the road in a difficult environment. Obviously, we had some more turnovers in the second half, and offensive rebounding right now is definitely an issue that we have to solve. We'll keep working. We've been saying all year long, the Big Ten is a great league. You just gotta take care of your home base.

“Long season. Long, long season. We've had a lot of quality wins, so somehow, some way, we gotta get together, regroup, try to get a win, and stop this slide. [We need] a little resiliency, a little toughness. If we can do those things, we will come out on top.”

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