Penn State pushes through drought, tops Minnesota, 76-69

Penn State suffered no misunderstanding about its situation entering Saturday night’s tilt at Minnesota. Flatly, winning was a must, and against a last-place Gopher team that has continued to compete this season, the Nittany Lions would need to fight throughout.

The sentiment proved true in every respect.

Led again by Jalen Pickett, Penn State secured a 76-69 win at Minnesota. The win improved the Nittany Lions to 16-11 on the season with a 7-9 mark against Big Ten competition. Just as important, it also gave the program its second true road win of the season.

Here is a look at what went into Penn State’s crucial win:

‘Weathering the storm’

At times through the first half, Penn State built leads that appeared to be on the precipice of lasting. Against a Gopher team that featured the return of Dawson Garcia from injury, though, that wouldn’t hold in the game’s opening 20 minutes.

Rather, runs defined a back and forth that saw Penn State’s lead grow to 5, and evaporate, then 6, the same, and eventually 10. In all, Minnesota produced a 9-2 edge, Penn State went 10-2, Minnesota came back with an 8-2, and Penn State again notched an 11-2 before the end of the first half.

“Those guys, hats off to Ben Johnson, what he’s doing, how he’s got these guys competing,” Shrewsberry told Penn State’s radio broadcast team. “You got to come in here and fight if you want to win, and that’s what our guys did.”

At the forefront of that effort, Pickett continued his dazzling season with a particularly electric week. Building off a 41-point effort Tuesday night in a win over Illinois, the fifth-year guard put up 32 in Minneapolis to pace Penn State to the win.

While Garcia was similarly dominant for the Gophers, sending home 23 points and seven rebounds in his return to action, Pickett’s play on both ends of the floor proved essential for the Nittany Lions.

“He guarded Dawson Garcia for most of the game and battled. He’s battling on both ends of the court and he’s doing what you need him to do,” Shrewsberry said. “This is the time when you need your best guys to step up. And he is stepping up to the plate.”

Second half setback

To get there, the Nittany Lions would have to overcome a dispiriting first eight minutes to the second half, though.

Taking a 45-35 advantage to the halftime locker room, Penn State’s bugaboo at times this season again reared its head. Unable to connect on any of its first 11 shots from the floor over 7 minutes, and 30 seconds, the cold shooting spell was matched by a burst from Minnesota out of the gates. 

In all, the hosts needed less than five minutes to eliminate their deficit. 

While Pickett was the game’s clear star, however, the Nittany Lions found much-needed production when it counted in other places, though. Whether battling on the interior with Mikey Henn and Kebba Njie against a tough matchup in forward Pharrel Payne, or crucial points from Cam Wynter and Andrew Funk, Penn State found its footing in time to reverse its slumping trajectory.

“They came in here and fought and we got contributions from everybody. Everybody that played, I thought. did something good for us. We weathered the storm with them getting to the line and hitting some shots,” Shrewsberry said. “And then some timely buckets Pick, timely buckets Funk, timely buckets Cam, I thought he was big. All those guys stepped up to the plate.”

Penn State’s last push

Erupting for a Pickett-led 11-0 run, the Nittany Lions built back their lead to set up a tightly contested finish to the game. With Payne unyielding in the post, Penn State and Minnesota traded buckets and free throws, the Nittany Lions again managing to get into the bonus early in the second half.

Working the ball between Pickett and Funk, eventually, a Funk 3-pointer with 1:20 to play served as the final dagger to the Gophers. Boosting the Lions’ lead to 74-66 with the make, in the wake of two missed free throws from Garcia, the sequence was game over for Minnesota.

“At the end, when he just slips out like that, it kind of caused some confusion for him,” Pickett said. “And Andrew Funk is a great shooter, so you know you can’t give him that much space, especially at the end of the game like that. Night, night.”

Despite starting the second half 0-11 shooting, the Nittany Lions finished hitting 48.3 percent of their shots from the floor and again sent home 10 3-pointers, including eight in the first half. 

Penn State, Minnesota postgame notes: 

– Though he played 35 minutes and was charged with keeping Jameson Battle in check defensively, Seth Lundy was admittedly not himself on Saturday night. Shrewsberry explained why in the postgame, noting that Lundy, who still scored nine points but finished just 1-of-7 from the floor, had been sick this week.

“Seth has been under the weather for the last couple of days. He hasn’t felt good,” Shrewsberry said. “He’s been out working, he’s been out practicing, but you can tell he’s not himself. He’s just not feeling good.”

– Penn State’s back-to-back Big Ten wins are the group’s first since winning at Illinois on Dec. 10, then topping Iowa on New Year’s Day upon the resumption of Big Ten play.