Led by Jalen Pickett break out, Penn State owns Minnesota in 67-46 win
Penn State guard Jalen Pickett led all scorers with 20 points in the Nittany Lions’ 67-46 win over Minnesota Thursday afternoon.
His stat line for Penn State included a season-best 9-of-14 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers. And through his versatility, backing down Minnesota’s smaller guards, putting up jump shots, and driving to the lane, Pickett did just about anything he wanted offensively.
That wasn’t what stood out to the Penn State senior after the win, though, when asked if it’d been the team’s most complete game of the season.
“This was probably our best game of the year, just with the way we guarded,” Pickett told reporters. “We held them like 20 points under from the last game, so I think we did a great job on the defensive end.”
The reality for Penn State Thursday was a comprehensive dismantling of the Gophers at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Making up a postponed Jan. 19 game due to COVID-19 issues in the Minnesota program, Penn State dropped the first contest between the two teams just five days ago. A 76-70 decision in Minneapolis, head coach Micah Shrewsberry described the Lions’ defense as “playing HORSE” with the Gophers and coming out on the losing end of it.
Jalen Pickett’s role in Penn State’s win
Thursday evening, Pickett was at the forefront of Penn State’s offensive charge in the other direction.
In 31 minutes of action, the transfer guard out of Sienna put on a clinic, particularly in a masterful second-half performance. Helping to build Penn State’s lead from 27-19 at the break to a lead of as many as 27 points, sparked by a 13-0 run at the midpoint in which he was responsible for seven of the Nittany Lions’ points, Pickett left head coach Micah Shrewsberry to laud the effort.
And, maybe more important, he also praised what he viewed as an obvious evolution in Pickett’s command of Penn State’s offense.
“I thought offensively, he did good in terms of getting to the spots he wanted to get,” Shrewsberry said. “But we worked on some things yesterday.”
Shrewsberry, noting the challenges of a schedule that included games Saturday, Tuesday, and again Thursday, said the limited opportunity was one of which Pickett took advantage for Penn State.
“We couldn’t do very much in-between days, but we worked on some things offensively,” Shrewsberry said. “I didn’t call it. I let him call it. This is what you see, this is what you’re looking for, you call it every single time. And I think he was comfortable in what we were doing, what he was looking for, and we attacked it the right way, and he got to his spots.
“He got to his spots and scored, he got to his spots and he hit the big rolling, he got to his spots and hit the guard on the lift. So he kind of did everything. But he was really good. He was struggling a little bit, so for him to break out and have this game was key for us.”
Pickett and Penn State will return to action Monday at Maryland. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. with the broadcast on ESPN2.
