Game Grades: Penn State Basketball vs. Maryland

Story posted February 23, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Matthew Gelhard

Penn State came into this game winning back-to-back games against No. 19 Michigan State and Minnesota, but fell short of extending the streak as they lost to the Terrapins 61-67.

Maryland achieved its first win over Penn State since 2018 as backcourt duo Fatts Russell and Eric Ayala combined for 31 of Maryland’s 67 points.

Sam Sessoms led the Nittany Lions with 17 points followed by John Harrar’s 14 and Jalen Pickett’s 13.

Offense: C

The game plan for the night was to get the ball to their big dogs, Harrar, Pickett and Sessoms.

Pickett finished 6-for-18 from the field and turned the ball over three times. Pickett struggled early, shooting 2-for-10 in the first 20 minutes of regulation. These were three of Penn State’s 13 turnovers on the night.

Pick pocket turnovers and Maryland capitalizing on them really killed the momentum of this game. Ian Martinez’s steal and score at the end of the first half really turned a decent first half for Penn State into hope for the Terrapins.

Harrar, on the other hand, did what he does best. He had another strong outing rebounding the ball and shot 70% from the field.

The Nittany Lions had a handle on this game in the first half, but kept getting in their own way.

Defense: B

Harrar came down with 13 boards and caused problems for the Terrapins offense that was desperate for second chance points. It was an inefficient night for Pickett on offense but he was able to help out defensively with five defensive rebounds and four steals.

Maryland shot worse from the field than Penn State and from three. This was a tale of two teams that refused to take the driver seat.

Fouls created the margin of victory in this game as Harrar and Lundy ended up with three and Dread with four. If you’re Penn State, sending the opponent to the line 19 times compared to your five is not a recipe for success.

Although letting the deficit extend to 12 with 7:45 to go, Penn State was able to hunker down and leave Maryland scoreless for over three minutes to make it close.

Aggressive defense from the Nittany Lions teeter-tottered between effective and messy, so a B is an appropriate grade as it kept them in the game.

Coaching: B

The game plan for head coach Micah Shrewsberry was to feed Harrar the ball down low and let Pickett and Sessoms work their magic. The game plan was solid but the lack of consistency from Sessoms and Pickett along with foul trouble negated the work done by Harrar.

Key role players in Lee and Dread were very quiet so the Nittany Lions were pressed to get output from other sources.

Bottom line is that the Nittany Lions played well enough on defense to win but their foul troubles and offensive turnovers kept getting in the way of getting the win at College Park.

Next up, the Nittany Lions will celebrate their seniors on Senior Night in the Bryce Jordan Center as they host Northwestern with a 7 p.m. tipoff.

 

Matthew Gelhard is a third-year student studying broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at mgg5264@psu.edu.