Inside Yolk

Yeah, that headline is asking for the worst. It’s asking for Penn State to win the rest of its Big Ten games and then lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Although come to think of it, that would include a Big Ten regular season title and tournament title, so eh not bad. Still, the headline is asking for trouble, but just the fact that we’re a day after Valentine’s Day and talking about Penn State as a lock for March Madness is incredible. I don’t really care about jinxing anything anymore.

But maybe I should keep talking about how this team is bound to lose sooner than later (would a loss to Northwestern at home this afternoon be THAT surprising?). After I predicted a loss at Purdue this week, the Lions went out and shot 14-for-26 from beyond the arc, led wire to wire, and held off a late Boilermaker run to win 88-76. If Penn State had not beaten Michigan State on the road the week prior, it would have been the most impressive result of the season.

I can’t help feeling like it was a little fluky, though. Purdue defends the three well. Penn State has not shot it well until recently. And while I think Seth Lundy, who shot 6-for-9 on threes in the game, is a legitimate shooter who will boost the offense going forward, getting three-point bombs from guys like Jamari Wheeler and Izaiah Brockington is something that can’t be counted on in the future.

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Wow. Penn State has now won six straight basketball games after it beat Minnesota on Saturday while I was in Canada celebrating my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday party. I was able to watch a decent chunk of XFL action because they get the big American TV networks up there, but they don’t get Big Ten Network, so I followed Penn State via text messages. It sounds like we got out to a big lead early on and almost blew it in the second half due to a scoring binge from Minnesota’s Marcus Carr.

That was me right after I found out that Myreon Jones would miss the game due to illness. Also working against the Nittany Lions was their lack of a solution to Daniel Oturu, who was responsible for half of Minnesota’s field goal attempts while scoring 32 points with 11 rebounds and three blocks. That should have spelled doom for Penn State, but Lamar Stevens carried the team with a season-high 33 points on 9-for-17 shooting. He’s peaking at the perfect time, as the offense really needed that kick in the rear with Jones out. In the two games since I said Stevens wasn’t scoring enough, he’s combined for 57 points. Good job by me.

Anyway, Penn State will face an even tougher test tonight as it heads to Purdue. The Boilermakers are 7-6 in conference, but they are ranked one spot ahead of PSU in KenPom due in part to their outstanding three-point defense and offensive rebounding. Plus, they’re hitting their stride with three straight victories. Purdue doesn’t have a reliable scorer like Penn State’s Stevens, but it has gotten balanced efforts in its last two wins over Iowa and Indiana.

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I sure didn’t think it would happen, but Penn State beat Michigan State on Tuesday night for its first win in East Lansing since 2009. The win moved the Nittany Lions within one game of the Big Ten lead, and they’ve already got a victory over first-place Maryland. I thing I did know was that for Penn State to win, it would need to play great defense and get a great performance from either Lamar Stevens or Myreon Jones.

I figured “great defense” meant containing Cassius Winston, but he went off for 25 points and nine assists, including a couple of ridiculous three-point shots down the stretch that almost sunk Penn State. However, it turned out that “great defense” meant holding every other Spartan under 10 points and forcing 15 turnovers that turned into a bunch of transition buckets.

It also didn’t hurt that BOTH Stevens and Jones stepped up big time. The former was rocking the mid-range game all night and finished with 24 points on 9-for-20 shooting. Jones pitched in with 20 points on 6-for-8 three-point shooting and five assists. That game against a Michigan State defense that has only allowed opponents to shoot 28 percent from beyond the arc this season.

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Penn State plays at Minnesota tonight at 9:00 p.m. on Big Ten Network. I’m going to watch, but I’m not too excited about it. That’s what happens when your team plays well enough in November and December to earn its first top 25 ranking since 1996 and then loses two straight games to mid-tier Big Ten teams.

Yes, the entire conference is a middle tier right now, but the Rutgers and Wisconsin games were still YUGE opportunities for the Nittany Lions to rack up quality wins. Since they lost both games, their KenPom ranking has fallen to 37th and they are projected to finish 19-12 (9-11 Big Ten), which is right in bubble hell.

Winning tonight would be a great way for Penn State to get back on track for the Tournament, but Minnesota has been lethal at home. The surprisingly competitive Golden Gophers have already taken down Ohio State, Northwestern, and Michigan in The Barn this season.

Just like that Penn State team that won the NIT two seasons ago, Minnesota is led by a trio of sophomores. Daniel Oturu has taken a big step forward after an encouraging freshman season, but the real surprise is Marcus Carr, who has become one of the Big Ten’s best point guards after transferring from Pitt. Considering that Micah Potter just tore up the Penn State defense, I’m thinking the Lions will have their hands full with Oturu. Perhaps Pat Chambers should mix in some zone, as three-point shooting isn’t a strength for the Gophers.

Considering how Penn State has played in its last two road games (at Ohio State and at Rutgers) it’s a little surprising that they are only getting 2.5 point from bookmakers.

That sums it up. Your No. 20 team in the whole damn country just lost a very ugly game to mediocre Wisconsin at home. We might have to wait another two-and-one-half decades for Penn State to be ranked again.

Figuring this team out is like plugging holes in a sinking ship. A new problem just pops up in every game. Today we got some nice strong drives to the hoop by Lamar Stevens (19 points, 13 rebounds) and Izaiah Brockington (15 points off the bench), but Mike Watkins was a complete non-factor and scored zero points in 15 minutes. Plus, Curtis Jones — whose shooting was huge in that win over Iowa — and Myles Dread combined to shoot 0-for-13 from the field. John Harrar played 20 minutes and somehow ended up with no shot attempts and three rebounds.

At this point, we expect Dread and Harrar to be duds, but Jones forgetting how to shoot is a major issue. Somehow, it was Jamri Wheeler who led the team in three-point shooting with a pair of bombs in the first half. I don’t think that’s something we can count on going forward, but it’s a good sign. Either way, freshman Seth Lundy has shown potential and needs to be rotated in. I don’t know how Pat Chambers can justify playing him just two minutes when Dread is struggling so badly and the team is shooting 33 percent.

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