Harrar’s Double-Double Highlights Penn State Loss to Purdue
It’s been well over two weeks since the Nittany Lions last took the court, but they were finally able to play and with most of their key players in an 80-72 loss to Purdue.
Despite looking sluggish at times, big man John Harrar recorded his best statline of the season and his second career double-double.
The senior big man put up 14 points as well as 14 rebounds as he went toe to toe with Purdue star Trevion Williams, who also finished with a double-double. Harrar recorded his first career double-double in the final game of the COVID-19-shortened season when he put up 12 points and 14 rebounds in a loss to Northwestern.
Harrar was nearly perfect from the field, as he went 5 for 7 shooting, though he did miss four free throws on eight attempts.
The 14 points and 14 rebounds are both season highs for the big man, and this is his second-straight game with double-digit rebounds. He finished with 10 rebounds in the loss to Indiana but was one point away from a double-double, finishing with nine.
When head coach Jim Ferry was asked about positives to take away from the loss, he mentioned Harrar.
“When we played together, we looked like a team that was connected, and I thought Harrar was phenomenal,” Ferry said. “We’ve got to limit the things we’re doing wrong.”
In past conference matchups, Harrar has often struggled guarding other Big Ten centers, as the conference is arguably one of the best in all of college basketball in terms of that position.
Despite having four fouls in the Purdue game, Harrar found a way to keep himself on the court, as he had 27 minutes in the game, his second-highest amount all season.
In an earlier game against Illinois, Harrar was only on the court for nine minutes, as Kofi Cockburn outdueled him with 23 points. There was a similar instance against Michigan, appearing on the court for just 20 minutes as he couldn’t stop Hunter Dickinson, who posted 20 points and seven rebounds.
Ferry has said in interviews multiple times this season that the Big Ten is just bigger than everyone else, and with Penn State having one of the smallest lineups in the conference, the job has not been easy for Harrar.
However, with the Delco native showing signs of heating up in his last two games, it could be a sign of good things to come with a rematch against Cockburn coming up on Tuesday.
Logan Bourandas is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
