Three takeaways from Penn State basketball's dominant win over Minnesota
Penn State Nittany Lions basketball trounced Minnesota, 67-46, Thursday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The win moves the Nittany Lions to 11-12 overall and 6-9 in conference play.
Let’s get into three takeaways from the win.
Defensive redemption for PSU
This was a defensive performance that looked like it stemmed from a determination to make amends for a poor showing in Minneapolis last week.
The Gophers scored 76 points against the Nittany Lions in a loss on February 12, shooting 48 percent from the field.
On Thursday, Penn State granted the visitors no room to breathe and no time to think.
They were more aggressive than usual, forcing Minnesota into uncomfortable spots, and they held the Gophers to 32 percent from the field.
“I hope there were a lot of people watching, and I hope there were a lot of people who turned it off like, ‘man, I can’t watch this,'” Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry said.
“That’s who we are. We know who we are. We know how we defend. We’re gonna make you earn every single thing.”
Notably, Eric Curry, who lit the Nittany Lions up in the first meeting, scored just one point.
The majority of the offense Minnesota was able to generate came from leading scorer Jamison Battle.
The Golden Gophers turned to ball screen sets to force Penn State stopper Seth Lundy to switch off Battle, and had some success in doing so. Ultimately, though, his 16 points weren’t enough to make the difference.
Jalen Pickett the maestro
To say Jalen Pickett ran this game would be a dramatic understatement.
He was involved in everything Penn State did offensively, orchestrating the ball-screen action on just about every possession. The Nittany Lions used him in isolation situations, too.
The result was 20 points on 9-14 from the field, four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
A truly complete performance.
“I thought offensively he was really good in terms of getting to the spots where he wanted to get,” Shrewsberry said.
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Shrewsberry added that he gave Pickett more freedom to do what he wanted within the offense. They worked on it Wednesday in the facility, and put what they did into practice Thursday.
“I didn’t call it,” Shrewsberry said. “I let him call it. This is what you see, this is what you’re looking for it. You call it, every single time.”
Penn State commands the paint
Minnesota is a team that lacks a true rim protector, and Penn State exploited the painted area repeatedly on its way to a victory.
Pick-and-roll action between Pickett and John Harrar proved effective all game.
Following a career showing against No. 19 Michigan State, Harrar finished Thursday’s contest with 10 points and 10 rebounds — not bad at all for a second act.
Collectively, the Nittany Lions outscored Minnesota 40-12 in the paint, using pick-and-roll looks and isolations to get the ball into that area at will. These weren’t contested finishes. A lot of them were simple layups.
Minnesota coach Ben Johnson felt it was clear from the beginning that his team didn’t have the legs to keep up with Penn State’s aggression on offense.
“We didn’t have a lot of resistance,” he said. “Whether it was guarding the post, guarding the pick-and-roll, we didn’t have a lot of resistance.
“Penn State did a good job playing on the attack and being the aggressor, but we didn’t do our part. We didn’t provide any resistance.”
