I won’t be back from church until roughly halftime. So you’re on your own until then.
For any early birds out there, here’s a Penn State pre-game perspective on the game, courtesy of a pretty optimistic Crispin and Cream.
February 1, 2009 by kj
I won’t be back from church until roughly halftime. So you’re on your own until then.
For any early birds out there, here’s a Penn State pre-game perspective on the game, courtesy of a pretty optimistic Crispin and Cream.
Over/Under: 11.5 turnovers.
Why so early on Sunday? Well, I’m recording the game on my dvr, and plan to read live chat along with recorded game later. can’t wait to read live chat!!!
Hope Allen can make some shots today.
Definitely over on the 11.5 turnovers. A better number would have been 14.
TMad: If it’s under, we win big. Our offensive rebounding makes us ridiculously efficient on offense when we don’t turn the ball over.
Uh-oh. I heard the announcer say something about Hightower. Be prepared for ugly basketball.
Ummm goaltending? Lucky we put that back.
Summers, time after time.
That fast break was so quick the cameramen didn’t catch it. I love watching us run the break. Now if we could just rebound on the defensive end …
Those alley-oops haven’t worked all year. Why do we keep trying them?
Those alley-oops didn’t work last year either… Why do that with so many offensive threats? I guess if it goes down, the crowd is in it.
Hopefully Lucas won’t wait until the second half to get going.
Away-from-the-ball foul negates a potential steal and fast break. Thanks a lot, Hightower.
Ed “off-the-ball-cheap-hand-check” Hightower.
Got the shooting stokes going. Defense now.
Our transition game is absurdly good.
That should’ve been a foul on Walton.. He was kinda mauling him.
Return of Chris Allen? I saw him playing some good defense, too.
Allen’s hit two already (one inside the arc from the baseline). Is the slump finally history? *crosses fingers*
The Allen love is working.
Air ball! Air ball! Air ball! Air ball!
Delvon! That’s the move we’ve been waiting for.
That was a phenomenal fake by Roe.
That better not be a shooting foul – there was no attempt to shoot whatsoever (although that might have been because Green flipped over him). Think the refs were pointing to the baseline, though, so the announcers may have just gotten it wrong.
Roe is doing a great job on Cormley.
That was a bizarre sequence – Lucas nearly gets tripped and there’s no foul, then Pringle gets a reach-in.
Summers is making good decisions – looking for good shots.
Here comes the Thornton burst.
Thornton sighting! Too bad he turned it over right away after the board.
Thornton rebound!
Roe is playing well on both sides. No stupid fouls, please.
Pringle a little eager with his hands… zing!
We’re on a Roe.
3 fouls on Pringle, and a 17-3 run.
Lot’s of standing around on offense.
What happened to the perimeter defense?
PSU going nuts from long range all of a sudden. Even Walton can’t guard Battle – that guy is good.
Defend the perimeter, maybe?
True, Battle is making some nice shots.
Alright, I’m here. Glad to see the boys have played pretty well despite my absence.
There we are, Dan. Finally an alley-oop goes down.
Get them out of their seats, Q.
Hey, an alley-oop that worked!
Close the first half on a strong run, kj.
Great swat, but it doesn’t matter if the ball goes right to a guy who has a wide-open layup.
Traveling? Gray didn’t even move!
Apparently, we’re better off if I’m not watching.
Talor Battle is simply phenomenal.
PSU 7 for 12 from behind the arc. We’re 2 for 12. That’s just nuts.
Gray switched his pivot foot.
So.. 10 good minutes.. 10 awful minutes … disappointing.
I suggest we focus on limiting Battle in the second half. That lead evaporated in no time.
Note to Michigan State: Talor Battle can shoot. If he keeps this up, he will have another BTN commercial featuring him against Michigan State.
Maybe we should switch to the green uniforms and pretend we’re on the road.
Looks like 3-point shooting has been the key stat so far.
7-13 for them.
2-10 for us.
That has to narrow some, right?
Tough to stop Battle if he’s going to shoot from 5 feet behind the line, though.
I have no idea how we’re up but our team just has that special feel to it. While we’re shooting lights out, Pringle hasn’t even gotten started yet, and we turned the ball over A LOT for our standards.
You guys still hold the clear talent advantage. You’re just bigger, faster, stronger. Won’t surprise me if we breakdown in the second half, but I’m not betting against our team anymore. Battle is just remarkable.
Lucas. Every time.
Kudos to Penn St and their clutch shooting.
Second forced timeout on an inbounds play. We’re not pressing much, but it’s worked really well. (Then again, that one was probably more attributable to nobody on PSU realizing they needed to come back for the inbounds. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a timeout forced by a one-man press before.)
Time to turn up the D. 56% shooting from PSU is unacceptable.
Ha. The infamous one-man press. Alright, a big run to get this half going.
Uh-oh. You can’t get on Hightower’s bad side.
Ed was a little quiet. He needed some TV face time.
What is it with particular refs always calling Ts on the same people? Cornley’s gotten one two games in a row by Hightower, Izzo always gets one when Maracich is involved.
That may be the turning point sequence.
Did Cornley start talking some trash and get the T for that? Bad idea. Very bad idea. He got his team fired up against Iowa with a T, but I think he got us mad this time. And he’s not going to like us when we’re angry.
Man, far too many times have we played good defense for 30 seconds just to bail them out with a last second foul or easy basket.
How about we not throw the ball away, guys?
I’m getting really sick of guys suddenly hitting halfcourt shots all game long when they play us.
Green, Lucious, and Allen on the floor at the same time is not the answer. Why all three at once?
Gotta make the free throws, Lucious. Seriously.
Oh…the lineup got even worse. Gray, Green, Allen, Walton, and Lucious. Another example of no reasoning behind Izzo’s substitutions.
Shades of Northwestern. Nittany Lions are way too confident right now.
“Shades” of Northwestern, kj? This is an exact repeat, right down to the H-O-R-S-E shots that are falling every blasted time.
I believe PSU has made all 8 shots in the 2nd half, 11 straight baskets, and 16 of the last 18 shots since being down 29-16.
23 point turnaround. Desperately need a run. Get some stops.
I’d say we look like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off, but that’s probably more organized than we are right now.
This thread gets a little too negative at times….
Over and back, anyone?
Aptly negative.
crappy… MSU going to lose back to back home games to NW and PSU
Sometimes there isn’t much you can do when the other team is knocking down just about everything they throw up….banked three? That’s a definite defensive breakdown…
This game is all about Talor Battle. End of story.
Izzo wasn’t even upset when he called that TO. He knows there’s nothing the guys can do against Battle right now.
KJ – they can’t stop some of those shots by Taylor Battle but they can respond by making shots of their own and not turning it over. They’ve done neither. He should be mad. They’re playing poorly on the offensive end.
Maybe they can’t stop Battle, but we need some baskets to get some momentum going.
We need to start pressing. It’s worked a couple times already on the inbounds.
Alright… A Summers three… Get this crowd going.
No way I agree with fouling with 4 minutes to go.
We’ll be stretching the game out from the free throw line. Need Penn St. to miss some.
I like the pressure…Now we have to hope that Penn State doesn’t make all their free throws.
Umm. I’d much rather PSU have to make 2 FTs with little time run off the clock than have them waste 3 seconds and hit a ridiculous 3 pointer every posession for the next four minutes. Without fouling MSU has no chance in this game. Plus – I think Izzo is just trying to get them into the bonus now.
Four on Pringle, finally – he got his third halfway through the first half.
It’s a 5 point game with 2:30 left. Even with a team 64% FT%, we should just play good defense.
Two front-end misses in a row for PSU, plus a bricked layup, and now Pringle is out and Lucas is on the line.
Pringle’s out.
One-possession game.
That was a bad no call.
Hightower made a call in our favor???????
Great save by Walton. Let’s get this.
Lucas needs to drive and see if he can draw the foul.
Could have really used that 3 by summers….
Another front-end miss! But you have to get the board.
MSU has certainly had theri chances.. just haven’t been able to capitalize.
Lucious, you can’t run the guy over – especially if you’re guarding the one guy that we don’t want at the stripe.
Just get this to OT
Never mind. He missed both. Penn State is doing their best to throw this one away.
Serves Battle right that he missed both FTs. He grabbed Lucious and fell backwards on the foul call.
Lucious got screwed there.. Battle hooked his arms… karma kicked in though.
SpartanDan…take another look. Battle grabbed Luxious and faked the foul.
It has to be all Lucas. We deserve one to drop for us after all the prayers PSU hit earlier.
Lucas to the line.
Would have loved Allen to hit a big one, but he can’t be the one in crunch time.
DAmn.. so many chances blown.
Well, they made it close in the end and still had a chance to win it. It wasn’t in the cards today.
Two Big Ten losses, both due to absolutely ridiculous shooting by the opponents from a mile away. Can’t do much but tip your hat to Coble and Battle for making shots that simply should not go down as often as they did today.
Need to let this one go and get a win against Minnesota. Wednesday is a big test for the guys.
What SpartanDan said.
I’m going for a run.
SpartanDan – You are exactly right. You can’t get too mad about these losses. You’d like to see the team hold on to leads and come up with clutch shots at the end, but some times teams have great nights. It just happens that two traditionally bad teams that are better this year had great individual performances in the Bres from their stars. With the Morgan illness and the effort at the end of the game, you just have to realize that you’re going to lose some games in the conference.
A run sounds like a good idea.
A free throw away…When you’re down by 12 and finish out the game on a 12-1 run, end up at the line with a chance to tie the game with 12 seconds left…who do you put at the line?
Lucas. 8 for 8 up to that point.
But…dang. And what was that last shot? Off – balance, hanging midair from fifteen feet?
Two chances to tie right at the end, both missed chances. I feel like I just watched a Tigers game.
We had our chances. Lucas missing a free throw to tie. Multiple shots in the aire to tie or go ahead. Crazy shooting by PSU.
Still, this game is another example that we’re not going anywhere without a healthy Morgan. We’re a lot easier to guard when he isn’t around. We also don’t guard or rebound as well.
We’re halfway through. Tied with Purdue, with PSU, Minny and Illinois lurking. Time to buckle up.
Morgan now reported to have walking pneumonia.
Ouch.
And I hear Allen has shooting pneumonia.
Well, pneumonia is highly contagious.