City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
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UNIVERSITY PARK — Despite similar records, Penn State and Wisconsin are not same caliber of basketball programs.

The Badgers fell to Duke in a thrilling national championship game last season, while the Nittany Lions were at home after failing to earn any postseason invite following an 18-16 season. After meeting at the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday, both teams are 11-9 on the season but seemed to heading in two different directions.

Behind Ethan Happ’s 20 points and 11 rebounds, adding to his Big Ten-best seven double-doubles, and balanced outing from two-way standout Nigel Hayes (15 pints, five assists, two steals) Wisconsin edged Penn State 66-60, sending the Nittany Lions to 2-5 in conference play.

The six-point margin marks the 10th time in the last 11 games that winner between these two schools has been decided 10 or fewer points, meanwhile, the loss puts Penn State 0-8 against the Badgers under coach Pat Chambers. The last Nittany Lion victory over Wisconsin came in the 2011 Big Ten tournament, which they proceeded to claim overall champions.

Penn State leading scorer Brandon Taylor met his match in the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Hayes as the two forwards frequently found themselves matched up against each other. The advantage went in Wisconsin’s favor early as Taylor struggled to find room to operate in the first 20 minutes, missing his lone field goal attempt en route to a scoreless opening half.

“He’s got to understand that Nigel Hayes is big and strong, and he has to demand the position that he wants,” Chambers said. "He cant sit down and wrestle just because he likes that certain position, he’s got to go to the other side."

Taylor would eventually pick things up in the latter half, scoring 13-second half points to close the game as the team’s leading scorer, once again. Shep Garner, who played sick, according to Chambers, finished with 10 points and four assists before fouling out with 2:12 remaining.

“(Taylor’s) disappointed in the way he played tonight, he picked it up towards the end there which was great and he’s been real consistent all year so I know he’s going to come back strong,” Chambers added.

Down 16 with 6:02 on the clock, Penn State showcased a burst of urgency that was absent for most of the game. Defensive rotations were sharper, rebounds were secured cleanly, and timely buckets followed.

Four points from Garner and a 3-pointer from Payton Banks sparked a quick 7-0 run in just over one minute to instill some optimism. After a Happ free throw, Banks responded immediately, confidently stepping into another 3 to cut the deficit to 52-45, the closest they’ve been since the opening minutes.

Hayes answered the call moments later, however, drilling a backbreaking 3-pointer of his own to stretch the lead back to eight with 2:50 remaining.

"He’s so versatile,” Chambers said of the junior Hayes, “he can makes 3s, that 3 was a dagger in my mind. We did a really nice job on Koenig and blitzed him. It was a tough play, you know, just a little slow on the rotation and he drills a big 3, but that’s what he does."

"He’s a big-time player, we knew that last year, he was a difference for them last year but now he’s the No. 1 guy on the scouting report so it’s a little bit different and he still did what he needed to do to get his team a victory."

Following last minute heroics from Devin Foster, who connected on two 3-pointers in the final two minutes, the second bringing the game to 63-60 with 30 seconds on the clock, Wisconsin would close the game out with three free throws from Happ.

Penn State watched Wisconsin use a 9-0 run to take an 9-3 lead in the opening minutes of play. Through eight minutes, the Nittany Lions were faced an eight-point deficit after scoring five points, while committing five turnovers.

A 3-minute scoring drought from both teams led to a 17-9 deadlock until Garner nailed two free throws, picked up an assist then another score to bring the game to 20-17. 
Heading into the half, Penn State applied heavy pressure on the Badger’s final possession, but Alex Illikainen found clean look at the basket after a pump fake and the freshman drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send take a 27-18 lead into the locker room. 

“I’m proud of the fight, there’s no doubt. I’m just disappointed, I don’t know where we were for 32 minutes,” Chambers said. 

“It’s Jan. 21, we have to mature a little bit. We have to handle our business with small successes. So you have a small success, you have to get better and move on the next day and that’s what i have to do with this team, that’s why I keep saying consistency, or inconsistency. We have to find some consistent level of effort every single day in practice and in games. And we will get there."

Coming off an impressive victory at Northwestern last Saturday, Chambers was disappointed his team, which featured three sophomore in the starting lineup on Thursday, didn’t come out with the tenacity and consistency from the start. Taylor acknowledged the early deficit is probably what made the difference in the end result. 

“It’s definitely tough to come back on a good team like that,” Taylor said. “They’re never going to make it that easy. We did a good job fighting back but we probably took that punch and it was maybe too much to come back from.”