City of Basketball Love

Marley Paul (@MarleyPaul22)
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UNIVERSITY PARK — The return of Michigan State’s leading scorer, passer and rebounder was seemingly an afterthought through 20 minutes of play on Sunday as Bryn Forbes torched Penn State for 20 first-half points to spark the No. 5 Spartans 92-65 rout of Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Forbes didn’t score a point in the final half after draining 6-of-8 3-pointers against a Penn State (10-7, 1-3 Big Ten) team that’s been susceptible from long range all season, and he didn’t need to as his teammates scored 52 points in the second period. 

Denzel Valentine returned to the floor for Michigan State (16-1, 3-1 B1G) after being sidelined for four games due to knee surgery last month. The senior forward averaged 18.5 points 8.3 rebounds and 7.1 assists, all second-best in the conference, prior to the injury. Coming off the bench, he was held scoreless in the first half, missing his first five shots, but began to get things flowing in the latter period.

“Obviously having Valentine back definitely inspired them,” Penn State coach Pat Chambers said, “and Forbes really set the tone for the first 20 minutes, he was unbelievable.”

Shep Garner scored 19 points on 7 of 14 shooting. Julian Moore and Devin Foster were the other double-digit scorers, adding 13 and 12, respectively. 

“It was just their night tonight – that was the biggest thing,” a soft-spoken Garner conceded after the game. “We battled, but today wasn’t our day. We’re just going to get better and try to get Purdue on Wednesday.”

Michigan State jumped out to an early 23-7 lead midway through the first half with Penn State struggling to create positive offense in the halfcourt. Until Garner took his defender off the dribble and finished a jumper in the paint with 8:44 left in the half, the Nittany Lions’ first two field goals were a Foster fast break layup and a dunk by Moore off a broken play.

As the Spartans looked to pull away heading into the locker room at the half, Brandon Taylor completed a timely four-point play with 1:06 left to keep the game within striking distance at 35-26. Just five seconds later, Gavin Schilling added two more points for the Spartans before Forbes closed the half with another 3 with nine seconds on the clock to go into the half with a 40-27 advantage.

“I like this Penn State team, I know they’re young at some spots,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “But it’s just one of those games where Forbes caught on fire early and I thought our execution was really good and that got us going.”

Garner opened the second half aggressive, scoring five straight after a Sparty layup to cut the lead to seven just one minute into the half, but that was as close as the Nittany Lions would get for the rest of the afternoon.

Penn State went on a scoring drought, allowing Michigan State to go on a 7-0 run over the subsequent two minutes, and Chambers' team—outside of Garner—failed to respond to the punch to the gut.

Valentine’s first bucket didn’t come until 13:52 in the second half when he sized up Donovan Jack before pulling up and draining a long two-point shot over the Penn State forward. Those points kicked off a 10-point outburst for Valentine as he scored all his points, on 4-of-6 shooting, as the Spartans’ lead ballooned to 31 with his final basket at 7:22.

“Denzel struggled like we knew he would,” Izzo said. "But what I love about that kid is I went at him at halftime because I didn’t think he was playing with the same pizzazz, i don’t care if he plays with he same skill level but you sit out for a time, you want to play with a little more … he seemed a little casual and tentative to me, and he answered the bell and that’s what’s going to make this kid special before he’s done.”

The loss was the Nittany Lion’s sixth straight against Izzo’s Spartans, while the 92 points are the most allowed since dropping a 106-97 shootout to Charlotte on Nov. 20, 2014.

“I have a very good understanding of what coach Izzo likes to do, and it still doesn’t matter,” Chambers said. “It’s like Vince Lombardi: we’re going to sweep right, try to stop it and it doesn’t matter, we’re sweeping right; you’re not stopping it.”