3 takeaways from Penn State men’s basketball’s win over No. 4 Maryland
Penn State men’s basketball took down No. 4 Maryland Tuesday night in a game that could dictate how the Nittany Lions fare this season. The team’s 76-69 win at the Bryce Jordan Center was the program’s first over a top-five team since 2016.
Let’s take a look at what we learned from the win and Penn State’s play thus far.
1. Penn State’s defense is among the country’s best
The Nittany Lions smothered Maryland in Tuesday’s game, and it was far from the first time they’d done so this season. The Penn State defense has been one of the best in the country this season and it shows on the court and in metrics. The Nittany Lions are No. 22 in the country, according to Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency, a metric used to determine how many points a team would give up to an average Division 1 team. The team’s ability to force turnovers and wreak havoc is the clear hallmark of the Nittany Lions’ defense. They rank No. 11 in the country in block rate and No. 13 in the country in steal rate, two keys to a defense that prides itself on disruption.
Those metrics shine through when you watch Penn State play. Led by disruptive guards Izaiah Brockington and Jamari Wheeler, the Nittany Lions make life difficult for opponents on several levels. Brockington and Wheeler are high-level athletes who play defense with intensity and intelligence. They can stick on the hip of an opposing ball handler, strip drivers from the weak side of the court, and use their instincts to deflect passes. Penn State’s defense is top-notch and it’ll keep the team in most games it plays this season.
2. The Nittany Lion offense isn’t dependent on Lamar Stevens for scoring
Penn State found out it Tuesday night what has been made clear all season. The Nittany Lions don’t need Lamar Stevens to lead the Big Ten in scoring to be a good offense. In fact, he doesn’t even have to score at the same rate he did last season. Stevens averaged 19.9 points per game last season and is down to 16.6 through 10 games this year. The Nittany Lions relied heavily on isolating Stevens and giving him the reins of the offense in the past, sinking or swimming based on how he performed.
Now, that isn’t the case. Stevens still has the ball in his hands more often than any other player on the team, but doesn’t need to get a bucket every time he gets a touch. He can defer to several other scorers on the team who have enough ability to create offense on their own. Even when Stevens is attacking, the Penn State offense is shifting around him and giving him plenty of options to defer if he needs to. The rise of sophomore guard Myreon Jones has give Penn State another scorer who can do damage at all three levels of the court with or without the ball. Throw in Mike Watkins’ post presence and Brockington’s ability to attack off the bounce and cut with ferocity and suddenly Penn State has a unit capable of scoring, even without its star player.
3. An NCAA Tournament appearance should be a given
It was common to peg Penn State as a potential March Madness participant before the season began. With Stevens returning, the Nittany Lions had a chance to enter the NCAA Tournament as a team just off the bubble and in with a sliver of comfort.
A third of the way into the season, the discussion should shift. Penn State is a top-25 team according to KenPom, sitting at No. 23 in the country with an 8-2 record and a win over KenPom’s No. 9 team. Five of the team’s eight wins have come against teams in the KenPom top 100 and the Nittany Lions will have plenty more to add when they continue their Big Ten schedule in January. Only one of the team’s 18 remaining Big Ten games comes against a team outside the top 100.
If Penn State can earn eight more wins in the Big Ten, a tournament appearance will be a given. Pomeroy currently projects the team to win 10 of the 18 conference games. If that comes to fruition, Penn State goes from a potential No. 8 or No. 9 seed to entering the discussion for a No. 5 or No. 6 seed. A top-six seed has gone from a hope for Penn State to a reasonable outcome after a great first-third of the season.
