Penn State Basketball Falls 80-72 At Purdue

Penn State basketball lost to Purdue 80-72 on Sunday afternoon in the kind of game nearly anyone who might stumble upon this story between NFL Playoff games has seen before.

The Nittany Lions – coming off nearly 20 days of COVID-related rest and/or break and/or quarantine – looked the part of a team both parts rested and rusty. There was energy, John Harrar leading the way yet again with a career-high 14 points and 14 rebounds, trying to prop up an interior defense that has been the weak point for an undersized but feisty Penn State roster.

The shots were open, but that is only half the equation as Penn State managed to shoot 32% from the field and – save a handful of last-gasp threes by Myreon Jones [23 points, 5-13 from three] – the Nittany Lions were a largely ineffective 10-of-39 from beyond the arc.

All the same, Penn State trailed just 33-32 at the half and found itself managing the size and confidence of Purdue well enough to hang around.

But the Nittany Lions are who they are. They are a team without any real answer inside and with fire-hot or ice-cold outside shooting – their main remedy for their main weakness.

So it was not all that surprising when Purdue was able to pull away, building a 17-point lead with just under 10 minutes to play.

It was also not all that surprising that Penn State was able to slowly chip away at such a lead. The Nittany Lions are flawed but they are not without talent, they are imperfect but they are not without fight. Those two things, coupled with a middle-finger-to-the-sky edge can sometimes turn a game on its head.

Suddenly it was seven point game with 1:39 to go and while Penn State would get its looks to cut into that lead even further, they wouldn’t fall. A Myreon Jones three would cut the game to just four points with 17 seconds to go but the death rattle had already begun. When the buzzer finally rang out the Nittany Lions headed to the locker room having lost a game that should have ended far sooner but didn’t because of Penn State’s own gumption. A small consolation prize, but not one that shows up on the team’s now 3-5 record.

As a program, Penn State is not going through the motions, but from the observer’s perspective it is hard to generate much heavy-handed commentary about what this team is or isn’t. Much like Penn State football, the Nittany Lions are who they are. They are flawed, undersized and somewhat inconsistent. These things will not change between now and the end of the season.

But they are also a team with a tremendous amount of fight that is able to shoot the lights out of the gym when the stars align. For all the achilles heels the Nittany Lions posses, they have the shooting to dip themselves all the way into the river Styx on any given night.

It is admirable in a way. One would be hard pressed not to enjoy watching John Harrar bang around in the paint, overmatched each game but no less the warrior for it. His 14 points and 14 rounds a testament to that as much as anything else.

Attitude indeed.

But beyond that there is uncertainty. The transfer portal, a coaching search and the general landscape of college athletics makes the future of Penn State basketball unknown, in turn, it’s difficult to get overly worked up about the Nittany Lions’ various flaws. If everyone leaves, does it really matter how good a team’s interior defense is in a league nobody expected them to win during a season nobody is really watching?

In a sense the unknown of what lies next for Penn State basketball is far more interesting than the present it currently inhabits. It’s no small feat the Nittany Lions have gotten to the point where having a chance to win every game feels like a forgone conclusion. Nobody is particularly surprised when they play well, nor all that shocked when an upset happens. And losing, well yes that’s on the menu too, always has been.

All told Penn State basketball has long been the champion of losses you can feel good about – but they are still losses.

In truth though that’s not a crown without some value, a value that could increase if what lies ahead amounts to a cold restart of the past decade’s worth of progress.

In the here and now Penn State will probably win a few Big Ten games because it is not really playing all that poorly it just isn’t playing well enough. Subsequently it will probably lose more as well.

Jim Ferry – who is forced to be referred to as Interim Head Coach at every turn as if to remind him not to get too comfortable – may or may not be retained and that may or may not result in any kind of mass departures across the Bryce Jordan Center both on the roster and in the team offices.

Whatever happens, the offseason will open the door to a very real possibility #TheClimb will begin all over again. And while Sunday’s loss is another loss, at least it was a game worth watching.

Something not to be taken for granted.