Penn State vs. St. Francis Brooklyn: Men’s Basketball Game Preview

Story posted November 17, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Trevor Grady

The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers will travel to State College to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions for the Emerald Coast Classic on Thursday night.

This will be the third matchup ever between the two schools, with Penn State holding the 2-0 series advantage.

Both squads are having rough starts to the season thus far. The Terriers have started the season 0-2 with a loss on opening night at Wisconsin 81-58, followed by a loss at home against St. Thomas Minnesota 91-73.

Penn State, on the other hand, started the Micah Shrewsberry era strong with a 75-59 victory over Youngstown State in its opener.

However, Coach Shrewsberry and company followed up their first win of the season with their first loss of the season at UMass 81-56.

The Minutemen handled Penn State from start to finish and were led by former Nittany Lion, Trent Buttrick.

The graduate senior put up his career high against his former team, posting 19 points. He also led the team in rebounds and assists with nine and six, respectively.

It was a punch in the mouth that the Nittany Lions will certainly be looking to avenge on Thursday night.

Through two games St. Francis Brooklyn is averaging 65.5 points per game, and it is giving up an abysmal 86 points per game.

The Nittany Lions have put up the same amount of points per game as the Terriers this season with 65.5, but they have limited their opponents to 70.0 points per game.

Both defenses are coming off of games that they want to forget. Penn State allowed UMass to shoot 48.1% from the field and 44.8% from 3-point range, while St. Francis Brooklyn allowed St. Thomas Minnesota to shoot 55.7% from the field and 45.2% from 3-point range.

Penn State’s scoring has been riding on the play of Seth Lundy through the opening two games of the season.

The junior has been the Nittany Lions’ leading scorer in both games this season, and is averaging 18.5 points per game this season while shooting an outstanding 59% from the field and 56% from 3.

Efficiency has always been Lundy’s downfall, but so far this season he has been the poster child for shooting efficiency.

The heart and soul of this Nittany Lions team though is John Harrar. The fifth-year senior has been dominating the boards this year, averaging 13 per game.

He has also been producing offensively, putting up 12 points per game on 67% shooting from the field.

St. Francis Brooklyn’s offense has been primarily led by Michael Cubbage, but the Terriers have four different players averaging in double figures so far this season.

Cubbage is leading the way averaging 15 points per game, but Trey Quartlebaum, Patrick Emilien and Rob Higgins have been putting up points as well.

This game will be an important one for both teams to get their season back on track. The Terriers will be looking to avoid an 0-3 start, and the Nittany Lions will be trying to capture the second win of the Shrewsberry era.

Game Prediction

Shrewsberry will have his guys ready to go and looking for a rebounding win at home.

The Nittany Lions just have too much veteran talent with Seth Lundy and John Harrar, and both will have monster games offensively.

Penn State 75, St. Francis Brooklyn 60

 

Trevor Grady is a fourth-year majoring in supply chain management. To contact him, email tmg5685@psu.edu.