Nittany Lions face tough test against No. 5 Spartans

The Penn State men’s basketball team has adopted a boxing analogy to handle the momentum swings of every game this season.

The Nittany Lions, coach Patrick Chambers said, want to stay off the ropes. And when they are on the ropes, they have to counterpunch.

That’s what Penn State did against Minnesota on Tuesday night. The Nittany Lions trailed by eight with less than six minutes to go after a seven-point Golden Gophers’ run. Penn State responded with a 16-point run to seize control and earn their first Big Ten win of the season.

“We know how to counterpunch,” guard Shep Garner said after the Nittany Lions’ win Tuesday night. “That’s our big phrase now — counterpunch. We’re gonna get punched. We’re in the Big Ten. There’s a lot of good teams. We got to counterpunch. So I think now we’re getting better at counterpunching. It showed tonight.”

Penn State (10-6, 1-2) hosts No. 5 Michigan State (15-1, 2-1) at noon Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Spartans are third in the Big Ten in scoring at 79.6 points per game and rank among the best teams in the nation defensively.

Michigan State is second in the nation in field-goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 35.6 percent shooting. The Spartans are 11th in the country in scoring defense (60.9 points per game) and fifth in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (26.6 percent).

And Michigan State leads the country in rebounding margin — outrebounding its opponents by 13.9 per game — and assists with 21.3 per game.

Chambers expected the Spartans to be among the nation’s top teams coming off their Final Four run last season.

“I always thought they were the best team in the league and I thought that they would be at the top 5 at this stage of the season,” Chambers said on a teleconference Friday. “I thought they had a lot of guys back, a lot of really solid pieces.”

The Spartans could get star guard Denzel Valentine back from injury Sunday.

Valentine has been out the last four games after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told reporters after the Spartans’ win over Illinois on Thursday that Valentine could have played and wanted to play after practicing Wednesday.

Valentine leads the Spartans with 18.5 points per game, 8.3 rebounds per game and 7.1 assists per game. The 6-foot-5 senior recorded triple-doubles against Kansas and Boston College in November.

Chambers noted Michigan State’s depth was on display against Illinois.

“Michigan State played 10 guys in the first 10 minutes (Thursday) night, I think they’re playing fresh bodies and keeping fresh bodies,” Chambers said Friday. “And I don’t know if we just have that luxury right now. They got a lot of depth.”

Chambers mentioned that depth as he discussed 3-point shooting defense.

It’s been an issue for the Nittany Lions this season.

Penn State allowed a combined 25 3-pointers on 55.6 percent shooting to Michigan and Minnesota in its last two games.

Chambers said he’s focused on the team’s fundamentals at practice heading into the matchup with Michigan State.

“We got some bad habits,” Chambers said. “So we were trying to just stay sharp, remind ourselves how we rotate, how we close out, how we play ball screens.”

The defensive breakdowns gave Minnesota the momentum at times in the second half.

Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy was left alone at the top of the key and drilled a 3-pointer to give his team an eight-point lead with more than 16 minutes to play. But the Nittany Lions closed the gap, and neither team could gain separation going into the final eight minutes.

That’s when the Golden Gophers made another run and built an eight-point lead after Joey King’s wide-open 3 from the left corner.

But Penn State counterpunched.

“We were on the ropes often until the end,” Chambers said after the Minnesota game. “We stayed in the middle of the ring and battled and competed and it was nice to see that occur.”

Notes: With Valentine out, Michigan State guard Bryn Forbes is averaging 18 points in the last four games. Guard Eron Harris is averaging 17.8 during that stretch. Forbes is averaging 14.0 points and Harris is averaging 9.7 for the season. ... Michigan State was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Polls for four weeks this season. The Spartans’ lone loss was to Iowa. ... Sunday is Coaches vs. Cancer Day at the Bryce Jordan Center, and $4 from every single-game ticket sold will be donated to the charity. It is the 20th year of the Penn State chapter of Coaches vs. Cancer.

This story was originally published January 10, 2016 at 10:08 AM with the headline "Nittany Lions face tough test against No. 5 Spartans."