Talor Battle was electric, scoring 27 points and adding 10 rebounds

That being, of course, give the ball to Talor Battle and stay out of his way.

For the first time in his career, Battle wasn’t part of a holy triumvirate, but rather a lone superstar, on a team full of question marks and youngsters. And he stepped up accordingly, with 27 points, 17 coming in the first half, to go along with 10 rebounds and 4 assists.

Though it might not have been on the biggest stage, or in the most important game, Battle put on a clinic, with one of the best showings in his career.  When he realized that the three-point shot wasn’t going down for him (he shot just 2 of 8 from distance), he used a wide array of moves to get inside, and finished in traffic.  For someone who’s generously listed at 5’11 to shoot 9 of 12 from inside three point land, virtually all on contested lay-ups, is ridiculous, and it answers a major question mark of a year ago.  Rather than drive and kick, Battle drove and finished.  And let me tell you, some of those moves and finishes were of the jaw-dropping variety.

Now, Battle wasn’t completely alone on the court tonight. Rather than relying on a small handful of players to score, 9 Lions contributed points, with Jeff Brooks’ 10 the second highest figure.  Brooks took, and drilled, two threes, much to the surprise of a pretty crowded Bryce Jordan Center (announced attendance was over 7500, including, believe it or not, Denzel Washington, there to watch his son, Malcolm, who plays for Penn), and used his athleticism to get the hoop, hitting one running jumper and drawing fouls on two other occasions, though he was only able to cash in on two of his four attempts from the charity stripe.  He played a much more controlled game, and stayed within himself.  If Brooks can stay so disciplined throughout the season, it would be a major boon to a team desparately in need of secondary scoring.

Speaking of foul shooting, it seems last year’s Achilles’ heel is going to be prevalent on the 2009-10 team, as well.  In a tightly officiated game–each team was called for 23 fouls, the Lions were only able to make 9 of 17 free throws, while the Quakers hit on 14 of 22.  Against a good team, those struggles could prove fatal.

With so many fouls being called, many Lions found themselves relegated to the bench.  Andrew Jones, who would eventually foul out of the game, managed to play just 21 minutes, and failed to find a groove, scoring just 4 points to go along with 5 rebounds.  It was partly, too, the result of a swarming Penn defense which made up in tenacity what they lacked in size, sending three or four players to the low post as soon as Jones touched the ball that limited his offensive effectiveness, though if he can’t score against Penn, the prospects of him doing so against the likes of Purdue and Michigan State seem slim.

But in his stead, Andrew Ott stepped up. Ott seems to have lost weight since last year, and added 5 points and 4 rebounds in just 14 minutes.  He also added effective defense, and looked like a player that you could envision Villanova offering a scholarship to  (for the uninitiated, he transferred from ‘Nova after his freshman year).

Chris Babb struggled to find a groove early, hitting on just 2 of 8 shots (2 of 6 from three point land, both late in the game), which limited Penn State’s offensive repertoire, though he did play very solid defense throughout the game.  Without a solid post presence, Penn State became a jump shooting team, with 27 of their 54 shots coming from long range.  However, an unlikely alternate stepped up as a shotmaker.  6’2 walk-on Adam Highberger drilled two treys, and with his quick release and quiet confidence, I hereby move to nickname him “New Morrissey”

While some players struggled, and others, like Tim Frazier and David Jackson, were pretty much non-entities, I don’t want to dwell on the negatives after just one game.  The Penn State defense was as advertised, holding the Quakers to 55 points and 37% shooting, even in a game in which the officials called everything, and the fact is that Penn State overcame their first hurdle, albeit a small one, in the post-Jamelle Cornley and Stanley Pringle era, and Talor Battle looked even better than he did a year ago.

If that’s not a reason to smile, I don’t know what is.

Releated Posts:

1. Penn State Storms Past Robert Morris
2. Talor Battle to return for final season at Penn State
3. Penn State 55 – Michigan 51
4. The Glass is Half Full
5. An Open Letter to Ed DeChellis

Tweet