Three takeaways from Penn State basketball's defeat at Minnesota
An efficient offense and a fantastic night shooting the three-ball weren’t enough for Penn State to grab a win at Minnesota, falling 76-70.
With the defeat, the Nittany Lions move to 9-12 overall and 4-9 in Big Ten play. Let’s dive into some of the takeaways from the action.
1. Lions solve one problem, but others appear
Devote too much time and resources to fixing a leaking pipe and it might burst in a few different areas while you aren’t looking.
That’s the metaphor Micah Shrewsberry has used to describe his fears as Penn State’s head coach. Sometimes, when you spend too much effort fixing one issue, other problems tend to arise.
That was what happened to the Nittany Lions on Saturday. Having converted on only 37.4 percent of their field-goal attempts in their previous six games, the Lions shot 54.7 percent against the Gophers — their best mark of the season. They connected on eight of their 15 three-point attempts, too.
But it wasn’t good enough to get a win.
While the Nittany Lions were efficient, they gave the ball away too much. Many of their 13 giveaways came from mental lapses or simple, avoidable mistakes.
And they didn’t defend with their typical vigor, either. Minnesota’s 76 points tied the third-highest total that PSU has surrendered in a regulation game this season.
“Seventy-six points is too much,” Shrewsberry said. “We’ve been one of the better defensive teams in this league last season, and they kind of controlled what they wanted to do and we weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be.”
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2. Penn State’s defensive plan undone by Eric Curry
Penn State, Shrewsberry explained, was perfectly fine with the jump shots Minnesota big man Eric Curry took.
Then he made a couple. And then made some more.
The Nittany Lions never truly got him in check, and it proved costly.
By the time the game was over, Curry had 22 points — a new career-high. He even mixed in his first three-pointer of the season. Curry was more reminiscent of a certain NBA guard that bears the same surname than a forward averaging a modest 8.2 points per game.
The Nittany Lions sagged off Curry for the entire game, preferring to devote their attention to Payton Willis and Jamison Battle, who combined to average 33.7 points per game entering Saturday’s action.
That duo managed 26 points on the day, slightly below their standard, but Curry provided the extra scoring punch, and then some. He connected on 10 of his 19 field-goal attempts.
“He played great, and he made those shots that we were willing to give him,” Shrewsberry said.
3. Late-game execution goes awry for Nittany Lions
Sam Sessoms provided a creative finish at the rim with 3:45 remaining to put Penn State ahead 67-65, capping off a six-point PSU run.
The Nittany Lions did not score again until 24 seconds remained in the game, when Jalen Pickett split a pair of free throws.
Penn State turned it over twice between those two landmarks, with Seth Lundy going out of bounds on the baseline and John Harrar traveling as he caught an entry pass over the top.
The frustrating late-game script for the Nittany Lions is nothing new.
Now losers of six of their last seven games, Penn State has been within touching distance in four of those defeats, only to see its efforts undone in the final moments.
“We put ourselves in position, and we gotta be able to finish late in games,” Shrewsberry said.
