Game Preview: Penn State vs. Morgan State

posted November 13, 2014 in CommRadio, Sports by Jack Milewski

The Penn State men’s basketball team will open its season with a home matchup this Friday against the Morgan State Bears at 7 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State, who finished 16-18 last season (6-12 B1G) will look to win their 10th season opener in a row as Pat Chambers returns for his fourth year as head coach.

D.J. Newbill has been all the rage this off-season as far as Penn State basketball is concerned, and rightly so. He brings the kind of instant offense that every team needs in order to succeed. The senior guard averaged 17.8 points per game last season, and has received preseason national accolade attention.

As far as his supporting cast is concerned, Ross Travis and Brandon Taylor have both shown flashes in the past. However, flashes won’t be good enough this year for Penn State and the two will need to put it together if the Nittany Lions want to have sustained success. Geno Thorpe was a force defensively last year, and has been working on the offensive side to give his game more balance.

The Nittany Lions have a good mix of experience and youth this year. In addition to the veteran core they are welcoming junior college transfer Devin Foster, along with freshmen Shep Garner and Isaiah Washington.

“We’ve got to continue to develop [D.J. Newbill] and get these veterans ready so they remain hungry, and they have got to bring the younger guys along as well,” said Chambers.

On the other side of the hardwood, Morgan State is returning eight players from last year’s team, including two starters, Blake Bozeman and Cedric Blossom. The Bears, who are members of the MEAC conference, finished 15-16 overall last year. However, they were 11-5 in the conference and ended up making it all the way to the conference finals. Bozeman and Blossom both averaged just less than seven points per game last season, but with the Bears’ top three scorers departing, they figure to be the main cogues in the offense this year.

The Bears kick-off what should be a fairly easy out of conference schedule for Penn State. The team’s only real tests could come in the form of Bucknell and Virginia Tech. Other than that, the schedule is set up very nicely for the Nittany Lions to start the season off strong, and that begins with Morgan State.

The last meeting between these two teams was back in December of 2006 when Penn State beat Morgan State 80-71

Penn State definitely has the deeper team in this matchup, and the star-power of D.J. Newbill alone should be enough for the Nittany Lions to get past the Bears. The one thing the Nittany Lions can’t do, is rely on Newbill too much as balanced play is key for them in this game and all season.

ComRadio will have full coverage of the Penn State men’s basketball season opener beginning at 6:30 with the Pregame Show hosted by Uriah Tagle.

Jack Milewski is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jbm250@psu.edu.