Confused cagers mistake opponents for teammates

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Penn State men's basketball team sports a uniform with just two colors -- blue and white.

Other college basketball teams, not surprisingly, follow a similar tradition, albeit with different colors. Michigan State, for example, always wears green and white. For Iowa, it's old gold and black.

As steadfast as the colors of the uniform may be, though, the Nittany Lions have at times had trouble this season distinguishing between the uniforms of their opponents and their own blue and white garb.

Saturday, in an 81-64 loss to Michigan, the Lions continued their interesting habit of passing the ball to members of the other team instead of their own.

Going into the game with the Wolverines, Penn State was averaging 17.1 turnovers per Big Ten game. At minus 4.60, the Lions were tied with Northwestern for the worst turnover margin in the conference.

In the first half of Saturday's game, the Lions had nine turnovers, but Michigan had 11 of its own. At halftime, Penn State was only down, 38-34.

"In the first half we played pretty good," Penn State forward Jarrett Stephens said. "In the second half we came out like we usually play in the first half. We made a lot of mistakes."

Most of those mistakes were in the form of turnovers. Penn State turned the ball over 14 times in the second half and finished the game with 23.

Three of those turnovers came when Penn State was trying to get back in the game in the closing minutes.

First, Michigan guard Brandun Hughes intercepted a Stephens' pass and took the ball to the other end for an easy dunk. The next time down the floor, Lion forward Rahsaan Carlton threw the ball away, and Wolverine forward Maceo Baston dunked it on the other end. The third time down the court, Penn State guard Pete Lisicky threw the ball away, and along with it any hope of a Lion win.

"There was a lot of time left," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said of his team's self-destruction. "We didn't do a good job of decision making and taking care of the ball at the crucial time."

In the game, Stephens had five turnovers, Carlton four and center Calvin Booth three. Surprisingly, guard Ryan Bailey had just two turnovers. He had been averaging 4.6 in conference games.

Saturday was just the latest in a string of turnover-prone games for Penn State.

Wednesday, in an 85-70 loss to Minnesota -- a team that wears maroon and gold -- the Lions had a whopping 18 turnovers in the first half. Individually, Bailey had six and Carlton had seven in the first 20 minutes. And not surprisingly, Penn State trailed, 47-27.

Penn State finished the game with 27 turnovers, the team's highest total of the season. Against the Gophers, the Lions fought gamely in the second half to cut the deficit to seven, but the first-half hole was just too deep.

Penn State travels to Indiana tomorrow in an attempt to notch its second Big Ten win.

If the Lions are to record a rare win, they will have to show the ability to distinguish between the crimson and cream of Indiana and the blue and white of Penn State.