Penn State men’s basketball won a rock fight Friday night, beating Maryland 55-50 for the fifth-straight win at home against the Terps and Penn State’s fourth win in six games as the Nittany Lions’ postseason hopes continue to live on.
The game itself was somewhat unremarkable, both teams struggling to hit shots for much of the first half as Maryland worked out a nine point lead almost by accident in the process. The Nittany Lions responded late in the half with a 9-0 run to tie things up a 23-23 heading into halftime.
It was an almost identical second half as both teams managed to make it an entertaining game despite being largely unable to make shots. Penn State’s offense did find itself just enough, in part because of a great rebounding effort by John Harrar (nine points, 12 rebounds) and three different makes from beyond the arc by Jamari Wheeler, the two seniors not far from the end of their respective careers. Izaiah Brockington joined Wheeler in double-figures with 13 points on a struggling 4-of-11 shooting night.
Nevertheless it was Penn State’s defense that leaned hard on an equally cold Maryland team, the Terps shot just over 30% from the field on the night and were able to hang around at the free throw line but did not make a basket for the final 6:03 of regulation.
“For us to win like this, I think it’s a credit to our guys,” Penn State coach Jim Ferry said after the game. “We didn’t flinch, we got down at Wisconsin, we didn’t make shots and it impacted our defensive mentality. But that didn’t happen [tonight].”
Maryland would claw within reach as Penn State led by as many as seven, but a three by Myles Dread with just over four minutes to go pushed the lead back out to five points. Two clutch free throws late in regulation by Wheeler, coupled with defensive stops down the stretch kept the Terps from getting over the hump, in turn the Nittany Lions enjoyed a surprisingly stress-free waning moments despite the final score.
Harrar continued his own arc yet again, going from the good-job-good-effort story to a legitimate big man threat in the paint on both ends of the floor. Penn State dominated on the glass 40-29 picking up 11 second chance points in the process to Maryland’s four. The Nittany Lions also got 18 points off the bench to the Terps’ eight and a perimeter focused offense only scored 28 in the paint against Penn State’s usually porous interior.
The real story here though is Penn State’s NCAA Tournament chances. At 7-8 on the year with seven regular season games to go the Nittany Lions can build an unconventional resume during an unconventional season with the toughest strength of schedule in the nation. Penn State already boasts two different Top 15 wins as well as boosts from unranked Big Ten victories, the Nittany Lions standing as No. 33 in the NET ranking – the NCAA’s magic quality formula – will only improve when updated in the morning.
The exact formula to get Penn State into the postseason is not etched in stone, but with winnable contests remaining the Nittany Lions will have plenty of chances to add to their metrics. And probably will.
The first opportunity up, Tuesday’s road trip to Michigan State.
“We gotta play well, or maybe not even play well, jus play good enough,” Ferry said with a laugh. “I’m not saying it’s a must win, but we wanna win one in the league on the road. To answer the question, I did not feel [tonight] was a must-win and I don’t really believe in that stuff.”
This brings us to the most Penn State basketball thing possible. The Nittany Lions making the tournament that never happened in 2020, only to make the tournament nobody could go to in 2021.
If that sort of misery is truly in charge of the world these days then Penn State is almost a certainly a lock to make it, the Nittany Lions enjoying a run of historic success that nobody can actually enjoy in person.
What strange times we are living in, but just another day in the strange purgatory that is Penn State men’s basketball.
