Nittany Lions looking to get to foul line against No. 4 Iowa

This season, Penn State’s Brandon Taylor has gotten to the foul line nearly as many times as he did the past three years combined.

As a freshman, sophomore and junior, he attempted 111 free throws. Last season, he took 30 foul shots in 32 games.

During his senior campaign, he’s taken a team-high 108 attempt from the line.

Taylor said his ability to get to the line can relieve the pressure on himself if he’s missing shots while also drawing the attention of the defense.

“Teams will have to start doubling down, and then that opens up the floor for everybody else,” said Taylor, who leads the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game.

Taylor and Penn State (12-13, 3-9) will take on No. 4 Iowa (20-5, 11-2) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Nittany Lions are coming off a loss at Nebraska, where they attempted just nine free throws, shot 38.2 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from 3-point range.

Penn State had similar trouble in a blowout loss to Iowa two weeks ago as the team attempted 12 free throws, shot 30.4 percent from the field and 5 percent from 3-point range.

Against Nebraska, Penn State got to the charity stripe just once in the first half.

Nittany Lions forward Julian Moore knocked down a pair of free throws with 16:24 left in the half, and Penn State didn’t return to the line for nearly 25 minutes.

When Taylor stepped to the line with 11:28 left, Nebraska held a 16-point lead. Taylor’s free throws ended a five-plus-minute scoring drought.

The Nittany Lions went 0 for 6 from the field during that span.

“We got to get to the free-throw line, and that stops the bleeding,” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said. “We didn’t get there. We only shot nine free throws. We got to drive the ball with toughness and go up strong.”

Chambers said Taylor could get to the line even more.

The senior has attempted 34 free throws in Big Ten play, an average of 2.8 per game. He averaged 5.7 free-throw attempts per game during the non-conference slate.

“I don’t think he’s getting to the free-throw line nearly enough as he could,” Chambers said. “He’s getting whacked in there, and they’re not calling it. I’d like to see some other guys try to get themselves to the free-throw line.

“Other than maybe Brandon Taylor, it’s really equal opportunity. I think a lot of guys are getting opportunities to get shots or make plays.”

But they haven’t produced consistently.

Taylor was the lone player to reach double figures in scoring in the losses to Nebraska and Iowa.

And they haven’t always made the right plays.

“I think there’s times when we need to drive the ball and we don’t,” Chambers said. “We settle for 3s. And then there’s times when I want us to shoot a 3 and we drive the ball.”

After watching the 73-49 loss to Iowa, Chambers said the game plan was fine. His team had opportunities.

The Nittany Lions just didn’t make shots, going 1 for 20 from beyond the arc.

“Their length probably distracted us a little bit,” Chambers said. “But I thought we had good shots and I thought we had some layups we could have made.

“Again, I’d like to see us get to the free-throw line, that would really alleviate so much pressure (and) stress on some of the 3s that we’re shooting.”

Notes: Iowa is in first place in the Big Ten, ahead of Maryland (10-3) and Indiana (10-3). … Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff is second in the conference in scoring with 18.8 points per game and leads the league with 3.0 blocks per game. … Hawkeyes guard Mike Gesell ranks third in the Big Ten with 6.3 assists per game. … Since beating Penn State, the Hawkeyes beat Illinois and Minnesota and lost to Indiana.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 8:31 PM with the headline "Nittany Lions looking to get to foul line against No. 4 Iowa."