Penn State men’s basketball defeats Northwestern 74-70 for first road win of season
Penn State men’s basketball went on the road Wednesday night and took down the Northwestern Wildcats 74-70 to earn its second Big Ten win of the season and bring its record to 7-5 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
The Wildcats got off to a hot start from beyond the arc, scoring its first nine points from 3-point range. Penn State was able to hang around thanks to senior center John Harrar’s work inside the paint. He scored the Nittany Lions’ first seven points, six of which came from in close.
Northwestern was able to build a 17-13 lead, but junior Seth Lundy scored the next five points to give the Lions the lead. However, the Wildcats fired right back to continue their hot start from deep. They connected on seven of their 13 three-point attempts to continue the barrage and counter every punch the Penn State offense had in the first half.
That resulted in a 34-29 Northwestern lead at halftime on the back of those seven made 3-pointers and 10 points from Boo Buie, who made two of his own made 3-pointers in the first half. Harrar and Jalen Pickett led the way for Penn State with nine points each in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Buie continued his good scoring night by opening the second half with two 3-pointers to open his team’s scoring. He kept up his work from beyond the arc the rest of the second half, finishing with 22 points as the Wildcats’ leading scorer.
The Lions were able to claw back into the game thanks to Pickett, who turned the heat up by scoring nine points in the second half to finish as Penn State’s second leading scorer, and Lundy — who finished as the team’s leading scorer and scored 15 in the second half — as they outscored Northwestern 26-13 in the game’s final 8:50.
They helped the Lions close out the 74-70 win, earning the first road win for Penn State this season.
Player of the game
Penn State senior guard Jalen Pickett: Every time Penn State needed a bucket Wednesday night, Pickett found the ball in his hands. The senior guard made tough shot after tough shot with the shot clock winding down and when his team needed him most. He finished as the Lions’ second leading scorer with 18 points and did it efficiently on 13 shots from the field in the game. Pickett has played plenty of minutes this season and that continued in Evanston, with the senior guard playing 36 against Northwestern. He’s been at the top of his game of late and Wednesday night’s performance was a continuation of that. Penn State will need him to keep playing well to continue being competitive in Big Ten play the rest of the season.
Stat of the game
41: That’s how many points Pickett and Lundy combined for in Wednesday night’s game. That’s 55% of the entire team’s points and many of those came when the team was in dire straits in terms of the shot clock. Pickett especially led the charge late in the game, but it was Lundy who made the biggest shot of the game for Penn State. With less than a minute left, he pulled up from the wing with the score tied at 63 and sent home his fifth 3-pointer of the night, forcing the Wildcats to rush their shots and foul the Nittany Lions the rest of the way. That moment, combined with a four-point play earlier in the second half, went a long way in Penn State earning its first true road win of the season.
Up next
vs. Purdue: Penn State will head back home for its next game, taking on the Purdue Boilermakers in the Bryce Jordan Center Saturday at noon. The Boilermakers are the No. 3 team in the country and bring multiple layers of intrigue in the matchup.
The game will be Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry’s first against the program he left in March to become the Nittany Lions head coach. Purdue has several high-level players, including guard Jaden Ivey — one of the best perimeter scorers in the country — and 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey — one of the most imposing post presences in the country on offense and defense.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 11:24 PM.
