Penn State’s Palestra win shows blueprint for B1G success
Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades reveled in the moment of his program’s comeback win over Michigan on Sunday afternoon. Turning around a double-digit halftime deficit at the Palestra, the Nittany Lions’ trip to Philadelphia was capped by a 79-73 win.
In the process, it brought Penn State back above .500 for the season (8-7), returned it to .500 in Big Ten play (2-2), and most importantly, served as a sign of resiliency. “Shellacked” at Michigan State on Thursday night, the Nittany Lions responded with a defense-forward effort to secure a win.
Balancing the pleasure of the outcome against the tale of two halves within it, though, Rhoades maintained his sights on the reality in front of the Nittany Lions moving forward this season.
“You always hope a win like this and the excitement of the win can propel you. But you also got to be cautiously optimistic,” Rhoades said. “Without a doubt, you still gotta get better. You saw the beginning of the game. We still have too many moments where we just shoot ourselves in the foot. We just have too many moments where it’s a bad play, it’s a miscommunication, letting a guy wide open.
“We’re growing as a team. What I’m most proud about today is the response from the other night when we got shellacked. Let’s call it as it is. We could have made every excuse and still been bummed out and made that loss beat us twice. We found something, especially late in the first half and in the second half that. All right, there are some signs of this team that we’re capable of doing some things. It doesn’t guarantee you’re gonna win the next game, but let’s see if we can build on this.”
Examining the performance within the context of Penn State’s season, and what’s next, this is where the Nittany Lions stand coming out of their showcase Palestra win on Sunday:
Has to improve for Penn State
Penn State won a game in which its opponent shot 50 percent from the floor for the first time this season. That breaks a trend, given the success those opponents have had in the Nittany Lions’ losses simply making shots.
Beginning with Texas A&M’s 89 points to send Penn State to its first loss of the season, the Aggies, Butler, VCU, and Bucknell all hit 50 percent or higher from the floor. Michigan State’s 56.3 percent on Thursday followed suit. And, as Rhoades alluded to, the Nittany Lions’ defensive mistakes and miscommunications have proven critical and consistent in those efforts.
Creating 19 turnovers, and scoring 23 points off of them, Penn State was able to counteract that shooting proficiency by flat-out accumulating more shots than Michigan. Taking 62 attempts to the Wolverines’ 52, with six more free throw attempts, the Nittany Lions had, at least for one game, an elixir to the punch of a solid shooting performance from a team that exploited Penn State’s half-court defensive deficiencies.
On the other side of the floor, the inverse problem also remained. Finishing shooting 7 of 23 from deep, the Nittany Lions managed 30 percent, right at their season average. The issue, of course, is that average is among the worst in college basketball this season, now tied for 299th overall.
In the first half, designed looks for Puff Johnson and Zach Hicks went a combined 2-8, with Kanye Clary, Ace Baldwin, D’Marco Dunn, and Jameel Brown combining for another 0-5. That 15 percent clip didn’t get it done and, in a game of miss or make, had everything to do with the Nittany Lions’ 37-27 deficit going into the locker room.
“We had some wide-open threes to start the game. We got to make them. You got to make them,” said Rhoades. “It gives you momentum. We’re not making enough open threes this year. And I thought we would. I really did.”
Aside from an outburst against Ohio State in December, hitting 41.7 percent, the Nittany Lions have taken a ton of 3-pointers (25.3) and not made enough of them (7.7). Integral to Rhoades’ design of the roster, that volume is going to stay high. Penn State just needs to hit more of them on looks that are, for this level, plenty good enough.
Getting better
The way Rhoades described it, Penn State’s defensive pressure isn’t even necessarily about the numbers. On Sunday, those numbers were 19 Michigan turnovers, with no fast break points. Michigan one-off head coach Phil Martelli said they told the story of the game.
But, listen to Rhoades, and the Nittany Lions’ defensive havoc is as much about what teams end up believing they’re seeing as opposed to what’s happening. A mind-manipulator as much as anything, when Penn State executes and asserts itself defensively with the press and its variations, success can be found.
“This was the cumulative effect of our defense today. We got turnovers, we pressed them, and we caused some problems. We didn’t get points out of it (in the first half). But if we stuck with it, I felt the cumulative effect is going to take hold. And, it did,” Rhoades said. “You saw in the last 10 minutes of the game, we had some turnovers that led to baskets… I thought Kanye and Ace’s disruption on the ball, even when we didn’t get steals, had a huge impact in the game.”
Throw in Michigan’s proclivity for forcing quick shots at the end of the press, something Rhoades described as “a shooting turnover” when they start missing, and Penn State was also able to capitalize in transition. In a game where the Nittany Lions were out-rebounded, 39-31, Penn State limited Michigan’s offensive rebounds to eight and saw a clean 31-21 split on defensive rebounds aligning with a 10-shot advantage.
‘Overachieving spirit’
After the A&M game on Thanksgiving day, Rhoades lamented the 50-50 balls that didn’t turn up in Penn State’s favor. He said Penn State had to “show crazy toughness” against teams that are more physical than his. They needed to get on the floor, run through somebody, and get your hands on the ball.
A work in progress for this Penn State team this season, Rhoades zeroed in on what could prove to be a differentiating factor. For this collection of Nittany Lions, one leaning largely on experienced players, with some size disparity, the tie-ups, and loose-ball rebounds are critical to success.
“We’ve been working on rebounding and eating the basketball. We’ve gotten killed on the glass this year. And we got out-rebounded, but I thought we got some big rebounds today and some loose balls,” Rhoades said. “We have to have an overachieving spirit this year. I don’t think we always have that. And we have to get loose balls. We’ve got to come up with a one-on-one, weak-side rebound. We got to get a point guard in there, rip a rebound, and draw a foul. Stuff like that. We got a couple of those today. We got on the floor, created some jump balls and we have to have that.
“That’s the overachieving mentality we have to have. That’s who we are. Because there’s times we’re just, we’re a little bit out-manned. And so, how do you overcome that? Hopefully, the press, getting deflections, getting turnovers. But then coming up with a 50-50 ball that you don’t think we can get, or we didn’t get earlier in the year, that’s huge.”
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