Penn State men’s basketball falls to 1-1 with 81-56 road loss to Massachusetts
Penn State men’s basketball lost for the first time in the Micah Shrewsberry era Monday night. It fell to the Massachusetts Minutemen, 81-56, on the road in Amherst.
The Nittany Lions. and Minutemen played tightly in the first half of the game, with neither being able to pull that far away from the other in the early goings.
Penn State struggled from the floor in the first half, making only 10 of its 27 field goal attempts in the game’s first 20 minutes. By contrast, Massachusetts made 14 of its 26 attempts, including six of its 14 attempts from beyond the arc. That shooting disparity allowed the Minutemen to go into the second half with a 37-33 lead, despite Penn State’s 18-10 rebounding advantage.
Part of the reason the Nittany Lions stayed so close was that rebounding advantage and their ability to get to the free throw line.
They made 11 of their 13 free throws in the first half, including 10-of-11 from Sam Sessoms, Seth Lundy and Jalen Pickett. Sessoms led the way in scoring at the halfway point with 10 points.
Those differences didn’t matter as much in the second half when Massachusetts was able to build a 20-point lead.
The Minutemen came out of the second half on fire, scoring 20 of the half’s first 24 points and did it thanks to more efficient shooting from the offense and more inefficient scoring from the Nittany Lions.
Former Nittany Lion Trent Buttrick, who spent four seasons in Happy Valley, led the charge for Massachusetts. He scored 12 of the team’s 20 points during that 20-4 run to start the second half, including making two shots from beyond the arc.
That push all but sealed Penn State’s fate Monday night, with the Nittany Lions being unable to come back from the big run.
Lundy finished the game as the leading scorer for Penn State as the Nittany Lions lost for the first time this season.
Player of the game
Massachusetts F Trent Buttrick: Trent Buttrick was a role player in his time at Penn State but has been much more than that in his first three games at his new program. The former Nittany Lion played well in his first game against some of his old teammates and was the most effective player on the court Monday night. Buttrick was effective as a scorer, finishing the game with 19 points on 12 field goal attempts, including 3-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. He got to the free throw line as well for the Minutemen and was aggressive defensively, netting three steals and pulling down nine rebounds.
Turning point
Massachusetts opens the second half on a 20-4 run: The Nittany Lions didn’t stand much of a chance once the Minutemen opened things up. They came out and struggled on both ends of the court to start the second half, missing open shots and allowing the Minutemen to get open shots from beyond the arc and fouling them near the rim. There were some shots during that stretch that would have been difficult for any defense to stop, but there were still plenty that Penn State could have done a much better job of contesting. Instead, things went poorly rather quickly and put an end to the program’s hopes of starting the season 2-0.
Quotable
Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry on the team’s defensive struggles in the game:
“I didn’t think we brought it at the energy level we needed to guard these guys. That’s on me. These guys got beat by 20 in their last game. If we don’t know that they’re gonna come out with a little bit more fire, that’s on me to have these guys better prepared and better able to function. Our defense has to be our backbone. ... That’s something we have to work on. We have to lean on that in tough times. We have to get stronger defensively and not weaker.”
Up next
vs. St. Francis Brooklyn: Penn State returns home for its third game of the season when it takes on the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers Thursday in the Bryce Jordan Center. The Terriers are 0-2 to begin the season and already have taken on a Big Ten opponent. They played the Wisconsin Badgers in their season opener and lost the game, 81-58.
The Nittany Lions are not Wisconsin, but they should be able to extend their home record to 2-0 on the season after defeating Youngstown State in the home opener last week and get back on track after Monday night’s loss to Massachusetts.
