Penn State 'stuck in the mud' in loss at Nebraska
Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades didn’t need a long description of what’d just taken place. Disappointed in the wake of a lopsided 68-49 loss at Nebraska on Saturday afternoon, his Nittany Lions could point to one deficiency in particular for the letdown.
“We didn’t make any shots,” Rhoades said. “Just disappointing.”
Rhoades’ sentiment was well-founded. Without leading scorer Kanye Clary, who didn’t make the trip with the team for unspecified reasons, Penn State produced its worst offensive scoring output of the season.
The Nittany Lions were led by Zach Hicks’ 13 points and 10 chipped in from Ace Baldwin. But, nothing from the Penn State attack resembled efficiency from the floor on beyond the arc.
At 18 of 54 shooting from the floor with a 5 of 23 mark from deep, the Nittany Lions’ 33.3 and 21.7 percentages were their third- and fourth-worst efforts of the season. Like the others, this one resulted in a loss.
Confounded by the inability to knock down open looks, Rhoades told Penn State’s radio broadcast team how the issues built upon one another.
“I mean, we had some early ones that were inside outside threes and it sort of compounded. Just not enough firepower in the first half and that didn’t get us going,” he said. “We missed free throws. We have been shooting the ball pretty well from the free throw line. I said, 5 for 23 from three, 8 for 16 from the free throw line, with 14 turnovers, I don’t care who you play, that’s a tough one.”
Despite the scoring conundrum, the Nittany Lions managed to stay within striking distance. And they did so against a Nebraska team that has been particularly good at home. Limiting the Cornhuskers to 44 percent shooting and only 19 percent from beyond the arc, Penn State kept it to a 6-point deficit at the half.
But, in sustaining a 10-2 run at the start of the second half, even a late push was too much to overcome as the deficit ballooned to a high of 22 points midway through.
“Even though it wasn’t going our way, we hit a couple of threes late, we cut it to 12. Then we give up a layup and we give up a wide open three,” Rhoades said. “We didn’t apply enough today of what we needed to do. And when we did we got open shots, we didn’t knock them down. Got some good drives.
“We just thought we could get to the foul line more against this team and we didn’t do that. Just too much stuck in the mud today.”
Penn State returns to action Wednesday evening when it hosts Illinois at Rec Hall. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast by BTN.
