Wisconsin Badgers Men’s Basketball: Penn State Summary

Coming from a road win against Maryland earlier in the week, men’s basketball team No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers (13-5 overall, 7-4 Big Ten) was back on the road Saturday afternoon for a date with the Penn State Lions Nittany.

The Badgers entered the game as small favorites, in the first of two clashes scheduled to take place between the two teams in less than a week due to a schedule change earlier in the season due to COVID-19 complications with the Penn State program.

In a game marked by bad turns and a weak defensive effort by the Badgers, it was Nittany Lions who won the victory by 10 points, 81-71.

In the first moments of the game, both teams managed to put things on the offensive side quite quickly. In the first time limit for the media, things were balanced at seven points, as Tyler Wahl had four starting points to lead the attack.

Both teams kept going back and forth during the first half, as neither team managed to stop defense. Wisconsin had an advantage of just one point with 6:30 seconds remaining at halftime, behind 10 points from Wahl and nine more from Nate Reuvers.

The same trend continued, although the Badgers had opportunities to increase their lead, with Penn State keeping things tight for the next three minutes of play.

To complete the first half, Wisconsin was able to create a short distance thanks to a couple of free throws from D’Mitrik Trice with seconds remaining to have a three point lead in the middle.

Penn State scored the first five points after the break, and got a one point lead in the first media timeout because of a great move by Myreon Jones and Izaiah Brockington.

The guard tandem for Lions Nittany kept things going after that stop in play, as the lead went up to six, with just over 11 minutes left, and went up to seven with 5:30 left.

Over the past five minutes, Penn State was able to close the door on the Badgers and secure their first win in the rivalry since 2011.

• Tyler Wahl -> 13 points (6 out of 10 from the floor), 10 rebounds, two assists, two blocks
• Nate Reuvers -> 18 points (7 of 12 from the floor), five rebounds, one block
• Myreon Jones (PSU) -> 20 points (8 of 12 from the ground), five rebounds, one assists
• Izaiah Brockington (PSU) -> 18 points (8 out of 15 from the ground), nine rebounds, three assists

Nº 1: game rhythm

In the first half there were very few whistles, which allowed the two teams to get into the rhythm right away. Although the scoring for each team was nothing out of the ordinary, the pace of the game was pleasant to see, as Wisconsin and Penn State were willing to speed up the pace at times and were also efficient in attack.

The pace was clearly in favor of the Lions of Nittany, however, the Badgers also benefited in the first half with some easy baskets in counterattacks, despite only hitting 30.8% in three.

Penn State was able to dictate and control the pace in the second half, and this quickly resulted in more than 60% of pitches during the first eight minutes of time, giving them a boost at home. They were exceptionally good at taking advantage of Wisconsin’s 12 season turnovers, and took control of the game in the second half.

Wisconsin came into the game knowing it had to limit turnover, but the aggressiveness and pace with which Penn State played proved to play a big role in how the game went.

Nº 2: game ahead

The story of the first half was Tyler Wahl’s stellar move. The second-year striker was on the entire court and affected the game at both ends of the court. Wahl played phenomenally with 13 points and seven rebounds, and was aggressive with the ball in his hands. He was active in catching loose balls and demonstrated his ability to score inside and in three as well. Wahl was unable to contribute much in the second half, however, and ended up with a double-double after scoring zero points and grabbing three rebounds in the final 20 minutes.

After recording 23 points and his third double-double of the season against Maryland earlier in the week, Micah Potter battled Penn State. He lost a lot of time in the first half with two fouls, and did very little in the second half too (he finished with just four points). Potter’s absence gave Nate Reuvers plenty of playing time, and the senior striker played one of his best games of the season with 18 points and five rebounds.

All three players are crucial team members, and although it was great to see a better game by Nate Reuvers, and a strong game by Tyler Wahl in the first half, not having Micah Potter involved definitely hurt the team.

No. 3: defense of the second half

I could copy and paste this third point of recap of several games this season. Wisconsin has a problem in the second half.

Penn State managed to score almost at ease in the second half, as the Badgers’ defensive effort was not as strong as in the first 20-minute period.

Losing open eyes in the attack has clearly been a problem for the Badgers too at times, but allowing a team with less than .500 in their league pitches above 50% in the second half is unacceptable.

In the end, Penn State defeated Wisconsin in the second half, and the second half’s problems remain a problem. This game was just another overwhelming example of this, as Wisconsin earned the most points this season.

Next: The Badgers will have a rematch with Penn State on Tuesday night in Madison. Tip time is scheduled for 6 pm CST and the game can be seen on FS1.