Penn State Basketball vs Bucknell Preview
The Penn State Nittany Lions (2-2) are returning home after a 1-2 stint in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off to face the Bison of Bucknell (5-0) on Friday.
The Lions’ offensive struggles continued throughout the tournament averaging just above 56.0 points per game while in Puerto Rico. The Blue and White began the tournament last Thursday with a respectable loss to a highly favored No. 6 North Carolina State team, 72-55. The Wolfpack held most of the momentum throughout the game, but Penn State managed to keep within striking distance for much of the first half and into the second against a very talented N.C. State squad. The bright spot for the Nittany Lions in their first nationally televised game of the season came when they held the highly coveted C.J. Leslie of the Wolfpack to a mere 14 points. However, freshman forward T.J. Warren would make up for Leslie’s lack of production by scoring a career-high 22 points off the bench.
Penn State would recover from the loss to N.C. State with a 55-52 overtime win on Friday against Providence thanks to a near triple-double effort by senior guard Tim Frazier, who posted 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Although the Lions won the game, their three-point shooting hampered their offense making only four in 21 attempts. As the Lions moved on in the tournament, they would go on to face the Akron Zips in the fifth-place game.
During Sunday’s contest, Penn State would lose its leader in Frazier at the 14:30 mark of the first half with a lower leg injury. Without Frazier on the floor, the Lions’ offense struggled to find a rhythm shooting just 36.4 percent from the floor, while allowing the Zips to shoot 56.3 percent. Although the Lions suffered a disappointing loss to Akron, the bigger loss may have come with Frazier’s leg injury. The senior guard did leave the building under his own power, but news came out that Frazier will be done for the season.
As the Lions move forward without their star guard Frazier, they prepare to host Bucknell this coming Friday at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Coming into the game The Lions have struggled at both ends of the court averaging only 58.8 ppg so far this season, while allowing three of its four opponents to shoot above 45 percent from the floor. Those two statistics don’t make for a promising outcome, so moving forward defense and shot selection have to be a priority for head coach Pat Chambers and his players. So far this season, the Lions are relying more on the three-ball attempting 85 threes thus far, but have managed to only connect on 17 of those attempts.
While the Blue and White have died by the three this season, the Bison offense has thrived on it shooting above 41 percent as a team from behind the arc. Bucknell comes into the matchup with the Lions with wins over Purdue, George Mason, and New Mexico State, which all are respectable teams. In their five wins this season, the Bison have shot 46.7 percent from the floor, which ranks 88th in the country in field goal percentage.
Penn State, who has struggled on defense, will have the challenge of slowing down the Bison attack, which is led by their senior center Mike Muscala. Muscala comes into the game averaging a double-double with 17.2 ppg and 11.0 rebounds. While slowing down the Bison inside attack, the Lions will have to control Bucknell’s three-point specialist Bryson Johnson. Johnson has been on fire this season, averaging over 13.0 ppg while connecting on over 45 percent of his three-pointers.
The Nittany Lions will have a lot on their plate come this Friday afternoon, but with almost a week to prepare the Lions should be ready. Playing without Frazier for the rest of the year is a huge blow to this team. Frazier leads the team in points, assists and steals so far this season. The Nittany Lions will tip-off with Bucknell at 4:30 p.m. EST.
Sean Flanery is senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, e-mail seanmflanery@gmail.com.
