Penn State men’s basketball earns home win over Rutgers, 66-49
Penn State men’s basketball bounced back from its Saturday loss to No. 3 Purdue and defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 66-49 Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Neither team was able to score early with senior guard Jalen Pickett making the first bucket 2:13 into the action. He helped the offense get going, scoring four of the team’s first six points and using his off-beat pace to create space for himself and score.
The Nittany Lions were stingy on the other end of the court, locking down the Rutgers offense and forcing the Scarlet Knights to take low percentage shots. That led to the team’s best player, Ron Harper Jr., missing his first four shots.
Penn State maintained that defense when junior college transfer Jevonnie Scott made his team debut with 10:47 left in the first half.
The Lions’ strong start saw its first pushback late in the first half when Rutgers found its first sustained defensive success. The Scarlet Knights went on a quick 8-2 run to make it a 23-16 lead with 3:34 left in the first half. Harper Jr.’s first made look was a 3-pointer that helped spur that run and helped his team close the gap.
Penn State was able to get the lead back to eight, going up 27-19 at the half. The Lions were lead in scoring by Pickett with 11 points, while the Scarlet Knights were led by Clifford Omoruyi with four points.
The offensive struggles continued into the second half with only four points scored by each team in the half’s first four minutes. Neither group could generate consistent enough offense to pull away, in Penn State’s case, or close the lead, in Rutgers’ case early in the second half.
Both sides played physical defense and made it difficult to get open looks around the rim.
The Nittany Lions essentially locked down the Scarlet Knights’ two leading scorers for the majority of the game, holding Harper Jr., the leading scorer on the year, to seven points, and Geo Baker, the second leading scorer on the year, to seven points.
Penn State maintained its edge the rest of the way, closing out the victory to move to 8-6 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten.
Player of the game
Junior guard Seth Lundy: Penn State has leaned on Lundy to guard the opponent’s best offensive player more often than not this season and that was the case again Tuesday night when he went toe-to-toe with Harper Jr. for most of the game. Lundy used his size and length to disrupt Harper Jr. When the Scarlet Knights tried to rise up from deep, Lundy had his hand in his face. When he tried to get to the rim, Lundy cut him off and contested his shots from in close. The junior wing has been important to Penn State’s solid defense and did it against one of the conference’s most difficult matchups in the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Harper Jr. He added 10 points on offense to go with his tight defense.
Stat of the game
5: That’s how many points Rutgers’ two leading scorers had at halftime. Penn State didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard offensively, but the team’s efforts on defense helped the Nittany Lions maintain their lead throughout Tuesday night’s game. Those efforts were led by Lundy, but the team effort contributed to holding both Harper Jr. and Baker to those five points in the first half. The team’s guards were able to dig in from the perimeter when players drove to the rim and the big men held firm in their position, making it difficult for both players to attack the basket.
Up next
at Ohio State: Penn State will have its first rematch of the season Sunday at noon when the program heads to Columbus. The Nittany Lions will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes after falling to the Buckeyes in December’s Big Ten opener, 76-64.
Ohio State entered the week No. 21 in KenPom’s rankings with a 10-3 record overall and a 4-1 record in the Big Ten. The game will be Penn State’s third Big Ten road game of the season and seventh conference game overall.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 8:38 PM.
