Penn State couldn’t overcome a cold second-half shooting slump and early foul trouble, losing to Minnesota, 80-66, Sunday afternoon. Cammeron Woodyard led the Nittany Lions with 22 points and Tim Frazier added 20 more during a game where Penn State struggled from the field, shooting only 30 percent.
Minnesota, led by Joe Coleman’s 23 points, fell behind early to Penn State by as many as eight but stormed back to take a 33-31 lead into the half.
While normally an effective offensive team within the walls of the Bryce Jordan Center, the Nittany Lions struggled to find the basket in the first half, shooting 34 percent from the floor. Woodyard and Frazier kept Penn State in the game as Matt Glover and Sasa Borovnjak were the only other Nittany Lions to score in the first 20 minutes, registering two and one point, respectively. The Nittany Lions’ struggles are something coach Pat Chambers takes the blame for.
‘They played Minnesota basketball better than we played Penn State basketball,’ Chambers said. ‘We miss shots, everybody puts their head down, we’re working tirelessly in practice and it’s not coming into the game and I’ve got to figure out how to change that. That’s on me, not the players. Need to figure out a way to get them to compete in a game the way they compete in practice.’
An early second-half Minnesota run was sparked after a flagrant foul was called on Glover, who had rebounded the ball and used his elbows to clear space around him, clipping a Minnesota player in the process. Two free throws and a dunk by Rodney Williams opened up the game from 38-33 to 42-33 in one possession. It was a four-point swing Penn State was unable to recover from.
Jermaine Marshall provided Penn State with a much-needed second-half boost, scoring 12 points, but shot 4-for-19 from the field, which limited his effectiveness during Penn State’s offensive struggles. Minnesota was able to capitalize on the Nittany Lions’ struggles, opening up an 11-point lead at 44-33 with 16:43 remaining in the game.
Penn State was able to climb back into the game, closing Minnesota’s lead to 46-41 with 11:12 left, but an intentional foul called on Ross Travis during a Gopher fastbreak led to a five-point possession for Minnesota and an eventual 14-point lead.
‘We played hard, but reckless,’ Chambers said. ‘I talked to [the referee] and he said they were overly aggressive. We’ve got to be smarter. The refs didn’t have anything to do with this game. It was all us. It’s about us every time we come out; we need to do a better job.’
The Nittany Lions were able to cut the Minnesota lead to five in the final minutes of the game, but foul trouble kept Penn State from ever getting closer.
Penn State falls to (9-10,1-5) on the year and will face Illinois at 9 p.m. Thursday. The game will air on ESPN2 and is the final home game before Penn State plays four of its next five games on the road.
Game notes
- Minnesota’s 33 free throws marked a Big Ten opponent record against Penn State, eclipsing the 32 made by Indiana twice, the last time on Jan. 5, 2002. The 44 free throw attempts for the Gophers were one shy of the Big Ten opponent record of 45 shot by Northwestern in 2003.
- Tim Frazier posted his Big Ten-leading ninth 20-point game of the season (20) and 17th double-digit scoring game.
- Cammeron Woodyard scored a career-high 22 points and went 8-8 for a career-high on free throws.
- Woodyard’s previous career high was 14 points, posted twice this year against Hartford and Mount St. Mary’s.
- The Nittany Lions shot 23-for-28 (82.1 percent) at the foul line and have now shot above 80 percent in free throws in three games on the year.
- Penn State committed a season-high 29 personal fouls.
- Trey Lewis did not dress for the game. Battling a back issue that will be evaluated over the next several days. No timetable for his return.
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