3 takeaways from Penn State basketball’s 75-69 loss to Minnesota
Penn State’s losing streak extended to three games Wednesday night. The Nittany Lions fell on the road to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 75-69. The loss drops the Nittany Lions to 12-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten.
Let’s look at three takeaways from the game.
1. Penn State’s shooting struggles continue
The Nittany Lions continued their cold spell from beyond the arc Wednesday night. They only made 6-of-20 shots from beyond the arc in the game, continuing their streak of poor-shooting games to match their losing streak. That’s not a coincidence. Penn State needs to make its open looks from beyond the arc to win but hasn’t done so of late. The lack of makes wasn’t the only issue Wednesday. The Nittany Lions forced too many looks and it led to an extensive scoring drought in the middle of the second half. The Nittany Lions should live with open looks not falling. Taking bad shots, however, should be unacceptable.
2. Seth Lundy should see more playing time
Penn State head coach Pat Chambers made two changes to his starting lineup for this game. He replaced redshirt senior center Mike Watkins with junior center John Harrar and replaced sophomore wing Myles Dread with freshman wing Seth Lundy. Harrar and Watkins still saw a relatively similar split of minutes that they usually do at center, but Lundy saw a massive increase in minutes and it paid off for the Nittany Lions. He played 27 minutes in the game compared to his usual average, 9.6, and scored 15 points compared to his usual average, 3.5. His 15 points tied sophomore guard Myreon Jones as the team’s leaders against Minnesota. Lundy shot the ball well from beyond the arc making 3-of-6. His shooting is much-needed on the court while Dread and others continue to shoot poorly from deep.
3. Saturday’s game against Ohio State is an important one
Penn State needs to get back on track Saturday in the Bryce Jordan Center. It’s going to be difficult for any Big Ten team to win on the road this season, which makes home wins crucial for every team in the conference, including Penn State. Home teams are 36-6 in Big Ten games this season and the Nittany Lions will have to add to that win total against Ohio State. If they lose to the Buckeyes, they’ll need to find two conference road wins along the way to finish 10-10 in conference play. A win means they’ll just need one to get back on track to .500 in the Big Ten. If they can finish the regular season with 10 conference wins, the Nittany Lions shouldn’t have to sweat out Selection Sunday and should comfortably make the NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 7:30 AM.
