Penn State Falls 77-52 to No. 21 Purdue
Penn State men’s basketball suffered a 77-52 conference loss on the road in Indiana to No. 21 Purdue on Saturday. Penn State (11-9, 3-4) hoped to earn a win on the road after suffering a devastating home loss to Indiana the week before, but Purdue’s dominating performance was no match for the Nittany Lions.
In the first half, Penn State controlled the opening seconds of play but Purdue’s first half performance included a 15-0 run against the Lions and Boilermakers Caleb Swanigan and Carsen Edwards lead the team with nine points in the first half and Penn State went into halftime trailing 41-23.
The second half was no different for Penn State as Purdue (16-4, 5-2) started the half with an 8-0 run to lead the Nittany Lions by 20 points. “I was looking forward to seeing how we would respond,'' Chambers said after the game. ''We responded early to their first run, but we never responded again late in the first half. We knew Purdue was one of the toughest teams in the league. We've known that for six years.''
Josh Reaves was the offensive leader for Penn State scoring 12 points while Tony Carr stepped up on defense with 6 rebounds. Overall, the Nittany Lions were outsized throughout the game and struggled offensively, shooting only 31% from the field compared to Purdue’s 56%.
Junior guard and leading scorer Shep Garner failed to find his rhythm during the game which hurt the Nittany Lions. Garner shot 3 for 9 from the field and missed all five 3-point attempts.
'It's not Shep's favorite place to play,'' Chambers said. ''They did the same thing last year, and that's my job to work on getting him open. But give the guards from Purdue credit.''’
Up next for Penn State is another game on the road against No. 17 Wisconsin on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. in the Kohl Center.
In the first half, Penn State controlled the opening seconds of play but Purdue’s first half performance included a 15-0 run against the Lions and Boilermakers Caleb Swanigan and Carsen Edwards lead the team with nine points in the first half and Penn State went into halftime trailing 41-23.
The second half was no different for Penn State as Purdue (16-4, 5-2) started the half with an 8-0 run to lead the Nittany Lions by 20 points. “I was looking forward to seeing how we would respond,'' Chambers said after the game. ''We responded early to their first run, but we never responded again late in the first half. We knew Purdue was one of the toughest teams in the league. We've known that for six years.''
Josh Reaves was the offensive leader for Penn State scoring 12 points while Tony Carr stepped up on defense with 6 rebounds. Overall, the Nittany Lions were outsized throughout the game and struggled offensively, shooting only 31% from the field compared to Purdue’s 56%.
Junior guard and leading scorer Shep Garner failed to find his rhythm during the game which hurt the Nittany Lions. Garner shot 3 for 9 from the field and missed all five 3-point attempts.
'It's not Shep's favorite place to play,'' Chambers said. ''They did the same thing last year, and that's my job to work on getting him open. But give the guards from Purdue credit.''’
Up next for Penn State is another game on the road against No. 17 Wisconsin on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. in the Kohl Center.
