Rally falls short for Penn State
Nittany Lions push Purdue in title game
CHICAGO — The Penn State men’s basketball team fell just short of winning their first Big Ten tournament title when it fell to No. 1-seeded Purdue on Sunday at the United Center.
Purdue, the top seed, got ahead by as many as 17 points, but the Nittany Lions had a last-second rally and got within just one point of the Boilermakers with seven seconds remaining. It just wasn’t enough, as they lost 67-65 to the Boilermakers, marking the third loss against Purdue this season.
“We’re fighters, man,” Penn State’s Jalen Pickett said. “We got down, but we didn’t want it to end. We wanted to raise that trophy at the end, and we just kept fighting. Made our way back. We started pressing a little bit, causing them problems. That’s us gonna be us. We’re going to try and figure something out and we’re not going to give up until the end.”
Penn State scored the first four points of the game, but Purdue would add the next nine. The Boilermakers would go on a 15-2 run before the Nittany Lions would score on consecutive possessions.
Camren Wynter hit a long range shot that was ruled a two and Myles Dread hit back-to-back 3pointers — the first of the game after starting 0 for 4 from long range. Meanwhile Seth Lundy and Pickett struggled, finishing the half a combined 4 of 11.
The Nittany Lions would whittle an 11-point lead back down to five with 1:33 left in the half. Purdue quickly brought it back up to double digits again, but Pickett hit a layup to go into halftime at a 35-37 deficit.
Penn State, the No. 10 seed in the conference tournament, came out of the locker room energized and closed Purdue’s lead to just four points within the first 2:30 of the game. It didn’t last long, as the Boilermakers got up by 11 in the next 4:15.
The Nittany Lions started to look a bit defeated when Mason Gillis sank a 3-pointer, followed by an Edey hook shot to give the
Boilermakers a 17-point lead with 6:18 to go. Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry immediately called a timeout hoping to end the Boilermakers’ momentum.
“We’re a gritty team, and we’ve been in multiple different down and out situations,” Dread said. “We’re down, but we’re never out in any game, the way we shoot the ball and the way we defend. We just locked in on the focus of defending, running good offense, and rebounding, and we started chipping away.”
Lundy and Pickett came out of the timeout on an 8-0 run to bring it back within single digits. Purdue would go back up by 11, but some free throws, a Pickett steal and Lundy 3-pointer would make it 62-56 with 3:26 remaining.
Just 39 seconds later, Lundy fouled out. But Penn State didn’t let the momentum go and Evan Mahaffey stole the ball, allowing Wynter to score and make it 66-65 as the clock started to wind down.
Kanye Clary immediately fouled Fletcher Loyer, who went to the free throw line. He hit the first, but missed the second, making it a two-point game with six seconds. Penn State called a timeout with three seconds to go.
Edey tipped the ball on the inbound, but Funk secured it and passed to Wynter for the game-winning shot. He bobbled the ball and was flustered, resulting in a travel. It was over for Penn State.
“We lost by two points,” Pickett said. “I mean, when we play with that energy and that urgency at the end, we’re a much better team. I think we’ve got to play like that for a full game, not just the last 10 minutes or whatever it was.”
Pickett struggled, connecting on just 4 of 13 of his shots for 11 points.
The Nittany Lions leaned on Lundy and Wynter to fill the gap. The pair scored 19 and 14, respectively.
Penn State didn’t have an answer to Big Ten Player of the Year Zach Edey, who led all players with 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
When Edey wasn’t scoring, David Jenkins Jr. and Gillis were there to clean up, adding 11 and 10, respectively.
Purdue outshot Penn State 62-51, getting multiple opportunities within single possessions to extend the lead. The Boilermakers grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and scored 21 second-chance points.
“We didn’t do a great job on the offensive glass, and I think that’s what got us and did us in,” Shrewsberry said. “They got some timely offensive rebounds. Sometimes when you’re the smaller team, sometimes there’s not stuff that you can do about that. We fought and we battled.”
Key stat
In a game the Nittany Lions’ shooting needed to be on fire, they struggled. Penn State shot 30.4% from 3-point range throughout the game with only Dread, Lundy and Wynter scoring beyond the arc.
Funk — who came into the game with the best 3point shooting percentage on the team at 41.1% — was an ice-cold 0 of 4.
“They’re a good defensive team,” Shrewsberry said. “We had a lot of good looks that we just missed. We’re playing extremely hard on both ends of the court. We’ve played three, including this, four straight tough, close games, and we’re putting out a lot of effort. So it’s hard to make shots like that, especially on Day 4.”
Quotable
Two weeks ago, Penn State was out of the field of 68 for a majority of bracketologists.
Now, the Nittany Lions are Big Ten tournament runner-ups and their wins in the past 14 days have earned them a spot in the field.
They were upset in the moment, but less than 40 minutes after the loss, they were all smiles as they heard their Big Dance fate.
“Our goal is to go to the NCAA tournament,” Dread said. “Big Ten championship would’ve been a crazy bonus. We’re just happy to be where we are.”
Up next
Penn State earned a 10seed in the NCAA tournament and will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to play 7seeded Texas A& M on Thursday.