Final Stats | Penn State vs. Rutgers (USATSI) | PSU Photo Gallery
January 27, 2018
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State moved to a 10-0 mark when holding an opponent to a field goal percentage under 40 percent as Rutgers shot only 31.4 percent in a 60-43 Nittany Lion win at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Sophomore guard Tony Carr scored 12 of his game-high 16 points in the first half as the Nittany Lions extended a five-point halftime lead to a double-digit win.
"Playing Rutgers is extremely difficult," said Penn State men's basketball coach Patrick Chambers. "They make you grind, they want a possession game, they make it ugly, and for the first half they did. It was nice for us to open up the second half, get some separation, some dunks, some threes; that's what fans want to see and for me, I want stops and rebounds, which we did as well."
The annual THON hoops game welcomed 13,677 fans to the Bryce Jordan Center, the most since a sellout crowd of 15,403 came for senior night vs. top-ranked Ohio State on March 1, 2011.
Redshirt sophomore Mike Watkins had his 18th career double-double adding a career-best 19 rebounds to his 15 points. Ten of Watkins' rebounds came in the first half, the second time this season he has had double-digit rebounds in a single period.
Junior guard Josh Reaves had 15 points going 6-8 from the field and added four steals to his stat line. Reaves moved into the No. 10 spot on Penn State's all-time steals list with 138 with a game-high four steals.
The first half saw four ties and nine lead changes with the score tied at 23 until Carr hit back-to-back field goals, the second a triple, to give the Nittany Lions a 28-23 halftime advantage.
Rutgers was 8-28 from the field in the first period and finished the game at 31.4 percent (16-51), lowest by a Big Ten opponent this season. The 43 points allowed by the Nittany Lions matched an opponent season low for 2017-18.
The two teams traded 7-0 runs to open the second half. Following two free throws by Carr at the 9:25 mark, the Nittany Lions went on a 12-5 run that put them ahead by 17 with six points coming from Stevens with a dunk by Reaves.
Penn State took a +15 advantage on the boards 42-27 and 9-2 for offensive rebounds. The Nittany Lions capitalized on Scarlet Knight turnovers converting those into 23 points and had 12 second-chance points. From two-point range, Penn State shot 51.3 percent with 34 points coming in the paint.
With the victory over Rutgers, Penn State has 15 wins in 2017-18, and for the first time in program history, has recorded its fifth-consecutive season with 15 or more wins.
Sophomore Issa Thiam was the leading scorer for the Scarlet Knights with 12 points, 10 coming in the second half while Deshawn Freeman was the team's leader on the boards with eight.
The Nittany Lions play at Michigan State at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31. The game will be broadcast on BTN and available on BTN2Go.
Four more home games remain for the Nittany Lions beginning with the Alumni Game and Team Ream game on Saturday, February 3. Longtime equipment manager Mitch Stover will serve as the honorary caption for the Nittany Lions. Visit gopsusports.com/tickets/m-baskbl-tickets.html for more information.
Keep up to date with the latest information from Coach Patrick Chambers and the Nittany Lions on Twitter by following @Coach_Chambers and @PennStateMBB, liking the team's page on Facebook and following the team Instagram account at @PennStateMBB.