Lions clobber Nebraska
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UNIVERSITY PARK -- After its stunner over Michigan a week ago, Penn State wanted to show that the home conference win was no fluke by playing a game that was uncharacteristic to this point of the season Tuesday night.
The Nittany Lions trailed twice in the game's entirety, but not after three minutes of play in a 95-71 win over Nebraska in Big Ten men's basketball.
The 95 points are most scored by Penn State in a Big Ten game.
The teams split the season series with the Cornhuskers winning 70-64 in Lincoln in early January.
"I'm really proud of my team, and they're getting better," Penn State coach Pat Chambers said. "We were getting better in late January -- I could see it -- but just not getting the results that we wanted. I knew if we kept improving and kept creating and building and sustaining our identity, the wins were going to eventually start coming for us."
It was evident early that the Nittany Lions would be able to do much of what they had wanted whether that was from beyond the arc or in the paint.
Penn State matched Nebraska's highest-scoring streak of four on four separate occasions with its highest being 10. In fact, it was during that streak that Penn State had gained control of the lead for good.
The Nittany Lions also played solid defense throughout, keeping the Cornhuskers' 3-point game at bay in the first half.
Even with the Cornhuskers playing a cleaner game in the second half, the Nittany Lions' lead was just too much to overcome. Nebraska didn't get within 14 points of Penn State in the second half.
Seemingly everything was falling for the Nittany Lions on the night -- even if it didn't come at first with them racking up 20 second-chance points including 13 off rebounds.
They did a great job of taking advantage of the open guys behind the arc, scoring 11 3-pointers. However, they weren't limited to that, finding a great number of open lanes and driving straight to the hoop. That enabled them to score 36 points in the paint.
"I wish I could tell you (where the offensive performance came from). I thought we shot the ball well in practice over the last few weeks, but we just haven't seen the ball go in as much as I would have liked," Chambers said. "Again, our offense, we're moving the ball, we're sharing the ball, we're putting pressure on the paint. So, when you're doing those things, guys get in rhythm shots."
Lamar Stevens led the Nittany Lions with 29 points. That performance fell one point shy of matching his career high. He accounted for a pair of the Nittany Lions' 3-pointers and had a solid night at the free throw line, going a near-perfect 5-for-6. His signature moment came in the second half when he got an uncontested dunk in.
Rasir Bolton also had a memorable night, finishing with 21 points and he went 2-for-2 at the line.
"Lamar has been very consistent all year with and I think we'd all agree with that. We just need a Robin to the Batman," Chambers said. "We need somebody to help him out, and sometimes, we don't have that. But when we're able to shoot like that, it just opens up everything else."
And, though, his final stats didn't quite compare to Stevens' or Boltin's numbers, Josh Reaves had a night he won't forget as he finished with 10 points, and just as he drained a 3-pointer of his own late in the second half, he tallied his 1,000th career point as a Nittany Lion.
"I'm incredibly proud of Josh," Chambers said. "A lot of people think he's a defensive player or defensive stopper, so, this can put that all to rest. He can also score the ball a little bit. He's been very consistent over his four years. He's showed up, defended, rebounded and tried to play Penn State basketball."
The Nittany Lions also took advantage the free points, draining 14-of-16 free throws on the night (87.5 percent) as a team.
Penn State (10-16, 3-11) travels to Illinois Saturday.