Sleeper of a season ends with cager loss

For those who were in attendance, or were watching, Wednesday's 81-55 thrashing of the Penn State men's basketball team at Iowa's Carver Hawkeye Arena, there's just one thing to say.

It's time to wake up, wipe the drool from your chin and go home. The one-sided game is over, and for Penn State the season is over as well.

The Nittany Lions (10-17, 3-15 Big Ten) came out softer than frozen yogurt against the Hawkeyes (20-9, 11-6) Wednesday, and found themselves behind 6-0 before most of the players on the court could even break a sweat.

"We didn't have the effort we needed to win the basketball game," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said in a postgame interview on WRSC-1390 AM. "For the second or third time this year, the guys played intimidated for whatever reason."

The intimidation began early and lasted the entire game.

At halftime, Iowa led in nearly every offensive category. The Hawkeyes were outrebounding the Lions, 18 to 10, were outscoring Penn State, 20 to 1 on turnovers and led 49-23. Iowa also held Penn State to 33.3 percent shooting from the field.

For the Nittany Lions, things became worse in the second half.

The Hawkeyes opened the period with a 13 to 7 run and led by as many as 34 points with 10:47 to go in the contest.

In the game, Iowa shot 52.5 percent from the field and outrebounded the Lions 42 to 29. Penn State shot just 33.3 percent in the game and turned the ball over five more times than the Hawkeyes.

On Iowa's senior recognition night, guard Andre Woolridge -- the Hawkeyes lone senior -- commanded recognition. Woolridge, who entered the game tied with Illinois' Kiwane Garris for the Big Ten lead in scoring, with 19.3 points per game, torched Penn State for 26 points on 10 for 17 shooting. Woolridge, who also leads the conference in assists, with six per game, had five against the Lions.

For Penn State, there were few bright spots. For the 19th time this season, guard Pete Lisicky led the team in scoring. He had 20 points with three 3-pointers against the Hawkeyes. His third trey matched the Penn State season record of 89, 3-pointers, which he set last season.

Following the game, Lisicky was obviously disappointed.

"I'm not necessarily glad it's (the season) over," he said. "I wish it went longer so maybe we could've got some more wins under our belts and had something to build on next year."

Another part of the thin silver lining for Penn State, was guard Ryan Bailey. With his four assists against the Hawkeyes, Bailey tied the Penn State freshman record in that category, with 113 on the season.

Bailey, like Lisicky, was unhappy following the game.

"Personal statistics don't mean anything," he said. "I'd rather the team do well. I'd rather have just one assist and have the team in the tournament."

The fact is, though, the team hasn't done well, and it will be awhile until the bad taste of a season gone wrong subsides.