Basketball: Men's
Penn State falls at Minnesota, 73-44
After shocking No. 4 Michigan on Wednesday, Penn State fell flat against Minnesota and lost 73-44 on Saturday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
The Nittany Lions (9-19, 1-15 Big Ten), the worst shooting team in the Big Ten, could not get shots to fall against the Golden Gophers (20-9, 8-8 Big Ten), hitting just 27 percent on 13-for-48 shooting from the field.
The Lions lost control of the game early, failing to score in the first 11 minutes of the game and allowing Minnesota to open with a 16-0 run.
Redshirt sophomore D.J. Newbill hit a midrange jumper with 8:42 to go in the first half to end the drought. The Lions could not get it to within single digits the rest of the way, though, scoring a lowly 12 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Newbill led the way for the Lions with 15 points but did so on a poor shooting night, going 2-for-16. Jermaine Marshall followed up with 10 points and Minnesota-native Ross Travis put up eight points, struggling in his first appearance in his home state.
Upperclassmen led the way for Minnesota on the team’s senior day. Senior Trevor Mbakwe led the Gophers with 13, and was joined by fellowith Rodney Williams and Julian Welch who scored 10 apiece. Sophomores Joe Coleman and Andre Hollins also contributed off of the bench with 12 and 11 points respectively.
Minnesota killed the Lions on the boards and with second chance opportunities reeling in 41 rebounds compared to just 20 by the Lions. Penn State grabbed just two offensive rebounds on the day.
The Lions will look to bounce back Thursday at Northwestern.