Instant Recap: #15 Oregon survives at Penn State 82-81

Oregon was back in action Sunday afternoon for it’s second straight road contest. The Ducks are playing at State College, PA to face the Nittany Lions, who are a Quad 1 opponent. Penn State enters this game unranked at 12-4, on a two game losing streak. KenPom has the Nittany Lions as the No. 50 team in the nation, while the Net rankings have them at No. 51. A key this afternoon for Oregon will be to play at their own pace and not let Penn State speed them up. Penn State loves to go with an up-tempo offense, and the offense ranks just inside the top 50 offenses in the country.

Penn State has several player either ruled out of questionable for this contest, including Ace Baldwin Jr, and Puff Johnson. The Nittany Lions did get Xavier transfer Kachi Nzeh back for their last game against Illinois, but he is rotational big and doesn’t have a major impact on the game.

Ace Baldwin is averaging 13.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game this season. Baldwin’s assists per game are 4th best in the country. He has been a very inefficient scorer this season however, shooting 37.1% from the field, and 28.6% from deep. Puff Johnson is Penn State’s 5th leading scorer at 10.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.

First Half:

Ace Baldwin has now been ruled OUT for this matchup, ahead of tipoff.

Penn State will start the game with a lineup of Freddie Dilione V, Puff Johnson, Nick Kern Jr, Zach Hicks, and Yanic Konan Niederhauser. Oregon makes no changes to the starting lineup, Shelstad, Bamba, Tracey, Angel, and Bittle.

Jackson Shelstad with a three pointer cuts the deficit to 3 points. Penn State leads 8-5 early.

Now Nate Bittle connects on a three, with the Shelstad assist. The next transition possession Bam Tracey drives and gets a quick bucket. Ducks are ahead 11-10 with 15:18 left in the first half.

Keeshawn Barthelemy knocks down a deep three to give Oregon the lead back, 14-12. Jackson Shelstad hits a transition three giving the Ducks a 7 point lead.

Keeshawn Barthelemy hits ANOTHER three and the Ducks lead extends to 10. 28-18 after the Penn State timeout with 9:24 left in the first.

Oregon is on a 30-10 run over the last 9:45, before Penn State hits a much needed three. Media timeout with 7:28 to play in the first, the Ducks lead 32-21.

Brandon Angel picks up his second personal with 5:05 left in the first half. Supreme Cook follows the Shelstad miss, goes up and is fouled. Cook makes 1/2 to give Oregon the 39-27 lead.

Oregon has lost focus and let Penn State back into the game. Ducks still lead 41-34 to end the first half. Horrific final two minutes.

Second Half:

Penn State has gone to a zone, and it is certainly impacting the Ducks offense. Oregon ahead 49-42 with 15:14 remaining in the game.

The game is tied now, Oregon doing nothing on offense and surrendering easy buckets on defense. Now 13:49 to play in the contest.

Shelstad just made a shot from Eugene to give Oregon the lead back, and TJ Bamba is able to draw a foul in transition. Bamba is able to knock down both, Ducks lead 54-51.

Penn State again retakes the lead, and now leads by 3, 56-59.

Penn State is controlling everything right now and leads 66-59 over Oregon while being on a 15-5 run. 6:34 to play in State College.

Jadrian Tracey with a huge drive and 1. He converts it and the Penn State lead is cut down to 5.

Tracey would get another big bucket but on the ensuing possession Freddie Dilione V would hit a big three. He’s up to 20 points now, and a career high. Ducks trail 68-74 with 3:43 remaining.

Keeshawn Barthelemy hits a massive three, lead down to 3 points. Now it’s Tracey hitting a huge three pointer, 2 point lead for Penn State. Kwame Evans Jr has tied the game and there should’ve been a foul call too. Kwame Evans Jr again ties the game, this time at 78. Jackson Shelstad hits a CLUTCH shot to give Oregon the 80-78 lead, 47 seconds remaining.

Jadrian Tracey at the free throw line, it’s a 1 and 1. Tracey knocks down both, it’s a two possession game. 4.3 seconds remain, Penn State with possession. Zach Hicks hits a very contested three pointer and its a 1 point Oregon lead. Nittany Lions call timeout, 2 seconds left. The Ducks are able to get the ball in, through the hands of Bittle but the game is called. Oregon is able to survive, 82-81.

Postgame Thoughts:

Oregon has to be better going forward at giving effort for an entire game. Throughout this game, Oregon failed to show full effort again, especially from the two minute mark in the first half until around 4 minutes left in the game. I would like to note some positives from this game however. First, Jackson Shelstad is on a heater, and he is more than capable or carrying this team into March. Second, Jadrian Tracey and Keeshawn Barthelemy have continued to step up in big moments this season. Finally, Kwame Evans Jr is legit, he must see the floor more through the rest of the season. For now that is all I will say here, but I’ll add a bit more detail in the AP Poll story tomorrow.