Slow second half sends Nittany Lions to loss at Rutgers, 72-61

The crux of the message from Penn State head coach Patrick Chambers was brief in his opening statement Tuesday night in Piscataway, N.J.

His Nittany Lions, off to a 12-2 start to the 2019-20 season and coming off an 89-86 Top 25 matchup win against Iowa Saturday afternoon at the Palestra, didn’t play well enough in the second half in any facet of the game. And the result at Rutgers, then, was a dispiriting 72-61 setback.

“They did a great job in the second half,” Chambers said. “They outplayed us. They played tough. They played physical.”

So too did Penn State, but not to the impact Chambers and the Nittany Lions would have preferred.

Again finding themselves in foul trouble in the first half, starters Lamar Stevens, Jamari Wheeler and Myles Dread combining for just 25 minutes of action with two fouls apiece, a 10-point Penn State lead disintegrated into a 33-28 ballgame heading to the locker room.

Reset with their starters back on the floor to open the second half, the trend for the visitors continued as Rutgers opened on a 7-0 scoring run to take its first lead, 35-33. Held scoreless in the first half, Stevens finally found the box score by quickly sinking a pair of free throws and converting on a fastbreak layup to retake the lead, 37-35.

Trading punches the next eight minutes, Penn State spurred on only by a 10-2 run by Myreon Jones to keep the deficit to a possession in either direction, the Nittany Lions’ competitive balance dried up. Going starkly cold from the floor, connecting on just two of 10 field-goal attempts to close out the game, Penn State simultaneously sent the Scarlet Knights to the free-throw line. Paced by eight Ron Harper Jr. free throws and a layup in a 3-minute stretch as time ticked away, the hosts turned a 3-point lead into a 68-54 advantage capped by an Akwasi Yeboah bucket with 2:13 left to play.

“I thought they played really well. They have a very good basketball team and they're one of the best defensive teams in the country. So we knew that and we knew they played 10 points better here,” Chambers said. “I thought we played pretty well in the first 20 minutes, but we did not sustain it in the second. They had another gear, for sure, and sometimes when shots don't fall, you fall prey to the defensive end.

“They had three offensive rebounds in the first half, they end up with eight in the second half. I think that was the difference. And we got to shore up our fouls. We fouled too much… that's just too many free throw attempts for anyone. And then we shot poorly.”

This, despite what Chambers said were “fantastic looks” for 3-point shooters Dread and both Myreon and grad transfer guard Curtis Jones. Failing to get to the free-throw line when putting the ball in the paint against Rutgers’ packed-in defense, Chambers added that his team understood the baseline for made threes in this game would be eight. The Nittany Lions finished hitting just 6 of 26 from deep.

“Rutgers was crashing glass and we didn't do our job. The first half, we did our job. Second half we didn’t, and sometimes that's due to you missing shots,” Chambers said. “And I always preach that we defend and rebound. That's our identity. That's what we're supposed to do. That can't determine how hard you play on the defensive end if you're missing shots and we didn't do that. The Big Ten is an absolute beast this year and we know going the road, it's going to be very difficult. We got to take care of our home court.”

The Nittany Lions (12-3 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) will get that opportunity when they host Wisconsin (9-5, 2-1) Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center (2:15 p.m., BTN).

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