Why Penn State basketball's offense struggled against UMass
UMass hit Penn State basketball with a wrinkle on Monday night.
It came in the form of a three-quarter court press, something the Minutemen hadn’t turned to in either of their first two games of the season.
The look gave the Nittany Lions fits. Penn State shot 37 percent from the field, turned the ball over 14 times, and was put away by the halfway point of the second half in an 81-56 thrashing on the road.
“They played the three-quarter court press, which they hadn’t done all season. So now that slows you down,” coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “I thought we were just clunky in how we played, in terms of starting our offense, in terms of starting what we needed to do.”
It’s a tactic that will be familiar to Penn State fans. Former coach Pat Chambers and then Jim Ferry deployed something similar across the last decade of Nittany Lion basketball.
Their version proved more aggressive, often pushing for steals in a way the Minutemen did not. The UMass defense thrived on disruption, sometimes eating away a third of the shot clock before allowing the Nittany Lions to truly get into their offense.
Penn State responded poorly. That 37 percent success rate from the field reflected an inability to generate quality looks. Penn State’s offense presented very little rhythm.
While UMass caught fire from three-point range at the other end of the court, the Nittany Lions mustered only four triples on 15 attempts.
The Minutemen switched on all of Penn State’s ball screens from the one-through-four spots on the floor, Shrewsberry said. They also pushed the Nittany Lions out with an aggressive half-court defense, forcing Penn State to catch the ball in suboptimal shooting areas.
RELATED: Micah Shrewsberry vows lessons to be learned after blowout loss
The Nittany Lions didn’t respond assertively enough for Shrewsberry’s liking.
“We were catching the ball, but we weren’t aggressive,” he said. “They knocked the ball out of Seth [Lundy]’s hands one time. We were slow dribbling the ball up the sideline and maneuvering it from side to side. We weren’t aggressive. There were a couple of times where John [Harrar] had a guy buried at the rim where he had an opportunity to really catch in there and score.”
Penn State’s guards rarely found him.
Shrewsberry hopes the turnovers offer a learning opportunity for Penn State’s backcourt. He noted that George Mason defended ball screens similarly in a behind-closed-doors scrimmage. The Nittany Lions struggled with it then as well.
Penn State’s offensive struggles bled over to the defensive end of the court. The Minutemen shot 48 percent from the field and made 13 of their 29 three-point attempts.
“Our defense kind of gets set based off of how we play offense, Shrewsberry said. “I didn’t think we played offense very well.”
It’s an early speed bump for Shrewsberry — perhaps a bit larger than anyone expected. There will be more. Penn State’s success will be defined by how it handles them.
“It’s all a learning experience,” he said. “Early in the year, these games are hard. Winning’s hard at any level, but for a new team, this is something we have to use as a learning experience.
“If we don’t come out playing with our hair on fire on Thursday, then this game’s for naught.”
