Penn State coach Jim Ferry wrote four words on the board for his team to see.
“We’ve been here before.”
And he was right. No matter how you slice it, the Nittany Lions — facing No. 15 ranked Virginia Tech — had been there before. They had been on the road. They had been expected to lose. They had been coming off a difficult loss. They had been leading at halftime by a big margin. They had seen that lead evaporate into a deficit and an eventual defeat.
They have been there and back again.
Just two days removed from a similar game, one in which Penn State rolled out to a 19-point lead against Seton Hall only to fall in overtime, Tuesday night opened with the same blistering shotmaking and stout defense, this time leading to an even more impressive 42-23 halftime margin.
But Penn State had been there before, and it hadn’t always enjoyed the results.
So it was not lost on anyone the lessons apparently learned as the Nittany Lions went from Sunday’s loss to a 16-8 run that opened the second half on Tuesday. Where Penn State saw its lead shrink against Seton Hall, this time it ballooned to 29 points with just over 13 minutes to go in regulation. The Nittany Lions matched the Hokies shot for shot, rebound for rebound en route to a 75-55 win.
Where individual play stood just days earlier, it was replaced by teamwork on Tuesday. There wasn’t going to be a letdown this time.
“Jamari [Wheeler] and John [Harrar] are in the huddle saying ‘This isn’t happening [blowing the lead] we’re doing it. We’re staying together, we’re defending and continuing to defend,” Ferry said after the game. “Our guys really responded.”
By the time Penn State cleared its bench there were still three minutes to play, but the game was all but over.
It continued a trend of showcasing the Nittany Lions’ depth. Seth Lundy, who had scored over 50 combined points in the past two games, went 0-for-4 from the field, instead replaced this time in the box score by Izaiah Brockington, who went 10-for-14 from the field to lead the way with 24 points and eight rebounds.
Myreon Jones went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc while Myles Dread continued to look revitalized from deep, hitting three of his own for 14 points. Sam Sessoms rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points to round out a complete team effort.
So far this season seven different Nittany Lions have scored 11 or more points and while there may not be a Lamar Stevens or Tony Carr on this team, the value of lacking a singular force might be the simple fact someone is always bound to be hot when someone else is cold. No individual is a required asset any given night.
If anything, Tuesday was a reminder that the Nittany Lions were ranked in the top 10 last year for a reason, and many of those reasons are still roaming the Bryce Jordan Center.
Whatever the case might be, Penn State’s road ahead is unkind in a Big Ten packed to the brim with top 25 and top 25-hopeful teams. In a conference where there truly are no nights off, they will be no easier this time around in an already unrelenting 2020.
“You have to play one day at a time,” Ferry said. “OK, we just had a great win, and now we’ve got to go out and play Michigan. So that’s your reward. So you’ve got to just really be focused and whatever happens in these games. When you get to Big Ten play, whatever happens, whether you win or you lose, you have to be ready to move on to that next game.”
That next game comes Sunday in Ann Arbor. A place Penn State has been — and won at — before.
