Three takeaways from Penn State basketball's blowout loss to Nebraska
Penn State basketball suffered its worst loss of the season on Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center in a 93-70 setback to a Nebraska team that came into the game with a 1-16 conference record.
With the defeat, the Nittany Lions fall to 7-11 in the Big Ten and 12-14 overall.
Let’s get into three takeaways from the loss.
1. Defensive despair
Penn State’s calling card all season has been its ability to defend.
The Nittany Lions have relied on it to stay in games, playing slow, methodical basketball to be a factor despite an obvious talent discrepancy against many of their opponents.
None of those traits showed on Sunday.
Having held opponents to 49 points or fewer in full games three times this season, Penn State allowed Nebraska to reach that total by halftime.
It was a defensive performance devoid of intensity, conviction and composure.
“Nebraska played harder than we did,” Penn State guard Myles Dread said.
And the result was ugly.
In total, the Huskers dropped 93 points on Penn State in a game PSU needed to win. Nebraska shot 58.2 from the field, the highest field goal percentage the Nittany Lions have surrendered this season. Bryce McGowens’ 25 points marked a game-high.
“We didn’t have it tonight, and that’s on me,” Micah Shrewsberry said. “I did a terrible job getting these guys ready to go.”
2. Penn State’s rebounding woes
On the rare occasion that the Nittany Lions did get a stop on defense, the Cornhuskers swarmed the offensive glass.
With a sizable starting lineup that included two players listed at 6-foot-9, Nebraska held a 34-22 advantage in the rebounding column. The Huskers also turned 10 offensive boards into 14 second-chance points.
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But, much like the defensive issues, the rebounding discrepancy can be attributed to the overall flatness with which the Nittany Lions played this game.
Penn State was second to just about every loose ball. It lacked the focus to put a body on the Huskers. Nebraska’s ability to drive into the paint at will moved Penn State’s bigs out of rebounding position as they moved to help.
These were all ingredients to a bad outcome, and the result was an embarrassing defeat for the Nittany Lions.
3. Greg Lee returns
Possibly the only positive to be taken from this drubbing was the return of Penn State big man Greg Lee.
The fifth-year forward missed the last six games for the Nittany Lions with an ankle injury.
He returned to play 12 minutes for Penn State in the defeat.
He finished the game with two rebounds and five points, cashing in two of his five field-goal attempts.
