After Penn State’s first win of the season, a win against these same Wildcats in Evanston a couple weeks ago, I had this to say:

This wasn’t a great performance by Penn State, by any means.  This game was played on the court exactly how it was billed–a matchup of two Big Ten bottom feeders, a sloppy, boring affair that would’ve been unwatchable if I didn’t have a rooting interest.

Well, the Fighting DeChellises took down Northwestern today, the script couldn’t have been more different. Penn State absolutely dominated the Wildcats in this one, and their offensive performance in the first half might have been what you’d expect from a team like Syracuse, Kansas, or Kentucky. The Lions went crazy to the tune 49 points on straight-up ridiculous 17-25 shooting from the field (68 percent!?), just two turnovers and, heck, knocking down 11 of 13 from the line.  On a day when Penn State honored the 3-time defending NCAA champion women’s volleyball team, the cagers looked just about as good, before a practically nonexistent BJC crowd. Then again, I can’t fault anyone for not wanting to watch Penn State-Northwestern in a noon game, the day after State Patty’s Day.

You know you’re having a hell of a day when your leading scorer at the half is Cammeron Woodyard who hadn’t scored in over a month, and he was a smooth 4-4 in the first for 9 points. Earlier in the season, Dick Gerardi, who does the color analysis for Penn State basketball on the radio said he thought Woodyard was the best pure shooter on the team, and he certainly looked the part on Sunday.  The 9 points for Woodyard matched a career high, and he did it in just 12 minutes.

I’m not sure what it is about Northwestern, but they certainly bring out the best in Penn State.  The Lions have now won 14 of 16 against the Cats in the BJC since joining the Big Ten, and this win makes it 8 wins for the Nits in the last 9 against Northwestern, and that’s over a time period when Penn State hasn’t exactly been worldbeaters. So it’s good to know that no matter how bad you are, there’s always somebody worse off. If losing to Penn State on the 17th didn’t kill Northwestern’s tournament hopes, this one certainly did. Northwestern was only able to keep it remotely close (14 points at the half) by nailing 7 of 11 threes. Once that hot shooting ran out, so did their slim chances.

I really can’t stress just how dominant Penn State was in this one.  Chris Babb nailed four of five treys en route to a 14 point game, meaning that of his last 8 games, his two best scoring outputs both came against Northwestern.  Tim Frazier looked like the point guard of the future, scoring 9 points on 4-4 shooting, though a weak 1-4 from the line.  Talor Battle was typical Talor, a standard 16-point, 6-rebound, 6-assist effort that’s basically his baseline output.  Oh, and he also had a block.

But the story in this one (aside from Woodyard) was the efficiency of Penn State’s big men.  David Jackson played just 19 minutes, as he had to deal not only with foul troubles, but also with the death of his grandfather weighing heavy on his heart.  In his stead, other big men stepped up.  Jeff Brooks did what he’s best at, and put the ball on the floor.  Against Northwestern’s weak frontcourt, he got to the rim with aplomb, dropping in 11 points.  Andrew Jones feasted against the zone, and chipped in 8 points and 7 rebounds, a stat line that would be wholly acceptable if he could do it every game.  Heck, as Penn State built the lead up to 25, even Sasa Borovnjak played a part, and displayed a nice nose for scoring down low, adding 5 points on 1-2 shooting and 3-4 from the line, though he’s still got a long way to go on the defensive side.

This is the kind of effort we expected to see more often from this Penn State team, but, for the first time in conference play, we actually dominated an opponent, and one that until recently considered themselves a potential NCAA contender.  With the kind of young depth on this team, it’s this type of win that actually makes you, dare I say it, excited for next season, especially when you consider the addition of Taran Buie. It’s a shame the Lions couldn’t put together a performance like this against a team like Purdue, Ohio State, or Michigan State, because it might’ve meant knocking off a top team. When the Nits play like this, they’re not going to lose, no matter who the opponent. Hopefully next year means more games like these, and none of those abominations like the earlier contests against Iowa and Indiana. Maybe next year won’t be another Ed DeChellis crapfest.  Maybe this team can overcome him and do something special.

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