Penn State basketball blasts Texas A&M, on to next round: Hoops Show
On Thursday night, Penn State basketball won its first NCAA Tournament game in over 20 years when they defeated Texas A&M 76-59. The Blue White Illustrated Hoops Show recaps that win on today’s show. If you haven’t yet, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss an episode of the tournament shows.
Penn State takes commanding lead and holds on
The headline performance of the evening came from sharp-shooter Andrew Funk who hit eight of ten three-pointers and helped Penn State balloon its lead over the Aggies early in the game. After the game, point guard Jalen Pickett had nothing but praise for his teammate.
“Yeah, he’s okay. He’s an okay shooter,” he joked.
“He puts in a lot of work in his jump shot. You know, he’s always in there getting extra reps. He’s on the gun a lot. So Andrew’s a great shooter [and] when he gets it going like that, we got to find him. And I think we did a great job of that tonight.”
While Funk was the standout scorer, Pickett was the centrifuge around which his shooters roamed. The All-American finished with eight assists and 19 points. More importantly, his pinpoint passes allowed his teammates to catch and shoot.
But beyond that, Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry thought his defense was the separating factor. That and the number of ways this group can win.
“We guarded people. That was our thing last year. We could really guard people, and probably because that’s all we did in the summer, in the fall, and then practice all the time. But this group is different. This group is different now. We’re figuring out different ways. So it’s just weapons. It’s just weapons,” Shrewsberry said.
Shrewsberry’s team will be tough to beat when they play up to their potential
Bauer and T-Frank discuss all of these factors in the game and how Penn State might have played its most complete 40 minutes of the season. But just because it was Funk going off on Thursday doesn’t mean it can’t be someone else against Texas on Saturday.
“Tonight was fun tonight where he got it going. But Seth has had those games, and he’s going to have for us here in this tournament. Pickett has had those games, Cam’s had those games. Other guys, Myles, and other guys have stepped up. We just have a lot of weapons that we kind of go to and play off of and keep mixing up. And I think that makes us hard to guard.”
Finally, T-Frank and Bauer put this team’s achievements into the context of the season and the bigger picture at Penn State. With Micah Shrewsberry’s future in the balance, they use this opportunity to put his team’s run in context.
