Led by Seth Lundy, Penn State cements outcome with game-winning plays

Northwestern coach Chris Collins detailed the missing ingredients in his program’s 74-70 loss to Penn State Wednesday night.

The Wildcats’ second loss at home in as many tries, what’d been a 10-point lead transformed down the stretch. And in the face of Penn State’s late surge, Northwestern’s leader identified the differentiating factors in the loss.

“We gotta make the plays. You gotta find a way,” Collins said. “If you want to have a successful season, the teams that do that win the close games. You gotta win more than you lose. 

“For us, you gotta get the stops when you need it, and you gotta make what I call the winning plays. Free throws, loose balls, step up and make the big shot, and then obviously get stops.”

To that end, Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry understands the point intimately. 

Improving to 7-5 on the season with the win, the Nittany Lions also improved to 2-2 against Big Ten opponents. A reversal of two of Penn State’s prior losses, a 68-63 overtime decision to LSU at Thanksgiving, and a 63-58 loss to Miami six days later, the Nittany Lions made plays the plays Northwestern didn’t.

“How our guys played, what they did to respond down the stretch,” Shrewsberry told Penn State’s broadcast team afterward. “To be down, come back, make some big shots but get some big stops. We switched what we were doing defensively at the end to try and take those threes away and I thought they did a great job of adjusting, doing that. 

“It’s hard to win on the road. It’s hard to win on the road. No matter where you go, it’s really hard.”

At the center of the effort, junior forward Seth Lundy’s contributions were critical. 

Finishing the game with a game-high 23 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the floor, including a 5 of 9 clip from deep, Lundy’s second-half performance proved particularly effective. 

One of the catalysts of a comeback that saw Penn State claw back from a 55-45 deficit with less than 10 minutes to play, Lundy scored 10 of his points in the game’s final 2 minutes, 25 seconds. At that stage still a decision in doubt, the Nittany Lions taking a 63-61 lead on his top-of-the-arc, and-one 3-pointer, Lundy’s flair for the dramatic emerged. 

While Northwestern would immediately respond to again even the score at 63-63, Lundy’s step-back 3-pointer, bolstered by a heads-up, full-court pass layup off an in-bounds, helped cement the win for Penn State.  

“The last media timeout, I was sitting there and we all were just looking at each other like, we got this. We’re gonna get it rolling. I just looked at Jalen (Pickett) and he was like, Yo, I need you to step up,” Lundy said. “That’s what I did. When I got the ball, I was just looking to score because I had a really quiet game in the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half. I just felt like they were loose guarding me because I wasn’t really shooting the ball a lot. So I just took control of the game and that was the outcome.”

Part of an effort that has lifted Lundy to the top of Penn State’s scoring chart through 12 games at 14.8 points per outing, it has garnered the attention and praise of Shrewsberry. 

“What he is doing, the way he is shooting the basketball but attacking the basket. He’s making passes when it’s there,” Shrewsberry said. “He had two assists, but one turnover tonight. That’s huge for Seth. Sometimes he plays a little too fast. He was under control the entire night and he was locked in the entire night, and that’s when you see the 8 of 13, the 5 of 9 from three.

“His effort defensively, guarding Chase Audige in terms of what he did, the way he’s playing offensively, that’s what big-time players are supposed to do.”