Penn State Loses to Minnesota 76-70, Drops Fifth Straight Road Game

Story posted February 13, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Austin Groft

Penn State drops fifth straight road game

The Nittany Lions shot 54.7% from the field, but that was not enough to secure the victory over Minnesota as Penn State fell 76-70.

Both teams battled the entire game with the lead changing 13 times until the buzzer sounded. Penn State led by two with 3:45 to go, but they couldn’t hit their shots after this time stamp leading to Minnesota getting the win benefitting from the home court advantage.

The biggest reason for Penn State’s loss came from their failure to get stops after turnovers. They turned the ball over 13 times, which is just above their season average. The Golden Gophers were able to tally 26 points off those turnovers.

Penn State won the rebounding battle 36-21, but this was still not enough as the turnovers were detrimental to their success.

Alongside the 54.7% from the field, Penn State went 8-for-15 from the three. Coming into this game, Penn State was shooting 33.5% from beyond the arc.

Myles Dread and Seth Lundy combined for seven of Penn State’s three pointers making all but one of their eight attempted threes. Lundy finished the game with 16 points. This is a good sign for Penn State since this was only his second time getting double figures in six games.

Sam Sessoms provided valuable minutes off the bench for Penn State with 18 points. After starting the first eight games of the year, he has taken on a new role to spark some energy coming off the bench. He has had double figures in the last three games.

John Harrar and Jalen Pickett also contributed double figures in Penn State’s efforts. This was Harrar’s 11th double digit scoring performance this season. This is well beyond last season where he finished with eight double digit games.

Minnesota’s forward Eric Curry finished with a game high 22 points. This was his career-high and was fully healthy in this matchup after dealing with an ankle injury since January.

Penn State held Minnesota’s leading scorer Jamison Battle to eight points, but this wasn’t enough as other Golder Gophers rose to the occasion on offense.

Greg Lee missed his second straight game with an apparent foot injury and has been an important piece that Penn State needs to get back on track.

Now on a three-game losing streak, Penn State is in need of a win. Road games have been an issue all season, but the Nittany Lions will play four of their next five games at home. This will be a great opportunity to bounce back and try to turn things around after falling to 9-12 on the season.

Penn State will host its next game on Feb. 15 against Michigan State.

 

Austin Groft is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him please email atg5271@psu.edu.