Quick Report: Nebraska 70, Penn State 54

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
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A week off was not enough for Penn State to followup last week's upset of then-No. 22 Indiana. The Nittany fell flat after a tightly contested first half on Saturday, falling 70-54 against Nebraska (14-12, 6-7 Big Ten) at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. Shavon Shields missed the game for the Cornhuskers, still suffering from concussion-like symptoms from a hard fall last week versus Rutgers, however, Andrew White III put forth one of the best games of his collegiate career to send Penn State (12-13, 3-9 B1G) back under .500.

At first…
Coming off the bench in his second game back, Josh Reaves flashed his high-energy motor for the Nittany Lions. Twice, the freshman guard leveled the score with a steal and breakaway dunk, first just moments into checking into the game at 11, then a couple minutes later to score the fifth and sixth unanswered points at 23 all.

Following that latest Reaves flush was a 3-pointer by Brandon Taylor to cap a 9-0 run, giving Penn State a 26-23 lead. Shortly after, Devin Foster saved a lost possession by draining a 3 himself to cap a 12-2 run with four minutes remaining in the half. Glynn Watson Jr. buried a 3 at the halftime buzzer to send Nebraska into the locker room up 32-31 after Penn State held the Cornhuskers to 3 of 13 shooting following a 10 of 15 start. Brandon Taylor had nine points on 4 of 7 shooting from the field.

Turning point…
Just 15 seconds into the half, things went awry for Penn State as Taylor picked up his third foul, sending him to the bench. With their star player relegated to the bench, the Nittany Lions struggled greatly, missing 9 of their first 11 shots in the half and allowing the Cornhuskers to pull away. A 13-0 run put Nebraska up 49-33 and that was all the comfort needed, as the lead ballooned to as many as 28 points.

Shining star…
White III was uncontainable on Saturday, erupting for a career-high 35 points on 6 of 10 3-point shooting (11 of 17 overall). The junior Kansas transfer scored seven straight points for the Cornhuskers early in the first half, en route to 15 points in the opening 10 minutes of play. He was even more impressive in the latter half, threatening to outscore Penn State by himself at a point. Penn State scored just 23 in the entire second half, while White dropped 20 points in the period, before subbing out with three minutes still on the clock.

Noteworthy number…
17
Pat Chambers hoped to keep Penn State’s turnovers to at most 10 on Saturday.. The team committed nine of them by halftime. Despite winning the offensive rebounding battle (14:10), handing the ball to the opposition 17 times while shooting 38 percent isn’t the ideal offensive performance on the road against a conference foe.

Up next:
Penn State vs. No. 4 Iowa 6:30 p.m. Feb. 17
Nebraska @ Indiana 8:30 p.m. Feb. 17