MADISON, Wis. – The Penn State men's basketball team was in it until the final seconds on the road at No. 11 Wisconsin, but the Badgers hung on to survive for the 51-49 win Saturday evening at the Kohl Center.
Penn State was playing its fourth road game in the last five contests, and after flight issues Friday evening, the Nittany Lions were forced to do a day trip to Madison on Saturday, leaving State College nearly 20 hours later than originally planned and showing up to the arena just over an hour before tip.
The bench was strong for the Nittany Lions, scoring 27 of the team's total points, led by senior Sam Sessoms' 14, 12 of which came in the second half.
Senior Greg Lee contributed eight points and nine rebounds also off the bench. Graduate student John Harrar also had nine boards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Both teams were a combined mere 2-17 from the field in the opening five minutes of the game as the Nittany Lions would take a 3-2 edge into the first media timeout thanks to a three by Lundy.
- Penn State was cold from the field for the remainder of the first half, with a nearly 10-minute scoring drought midway through the stanza plaguing the offense. However, the Nittany Lions kept the Badgers off-balance on the defensive end, as the home team converted just eight baskets from the field to take a narrow 18-13 lead into the locker room.
- The Nittany Lions started to heat up a bit to open the second half, with back-to-back threes from Dallion Johnson to get the visitors within two, 23-21.
- Wisconsin started to pull away again to go back up seven before Penn State chipped away once again and a three from Lee got the Nittany Lions within one at the under-12 media timeout.
- Penn State took the lead, 35-34, with 9:13 remaining on a Sessoms' 3-pointer for PSU's first lead since the 14:52-mark in the first half. Wisconsin shortly took the lead back, but then Lee hit another triple to cap a 16-6 run for the Nittany Lions for the four-point advantage.
- The 11th-ranked Badgers answered with a 10-0 run of their own to take a 46-40 lead into the final media timeout.
- The Nittany Lions went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 49-49 with 51 seconds remaining before Wisconsin made a basket on its ensuing possession to take the two-point lead with 31 seconds left.
- Clutch-shooter Myles Dread had a look from behind-the-arc in the final seconds for the win, but his shot came up just short for the ranked Badgers to escape with the victory.
GAME NOTES
- The Penn State defense held Wisconsin to 18 points in the first half, the third time this season holding an opponent under 20 points in a half (Oregon State, 17, 11/27/21; Rutgers, 19, 1/11/22).
- Penn State held Wisconsin 20 points below its season scoring average of 72.1. It marks the 12th opponent in the last 16 games the Nittany Lion defense has held at least 10 points below their season scoring average.
- The Nittany Lions held the Badgers' leading scorers Johnny Davis and Brad Davison significantly below their season scoring averages, as Davis finished with a season-low four points (avg. 21.1 ppg) and Davison had nine (15.2 ppg). Both had zero points in the first half.
- Sam Sessoms had his 11th double-digit scoring effort this season.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions return home Tuesday night to host Michigan at 9 p.m. on ESPN2 inside the Bryce Jordan Center. All fans are encouraged to wear white for Penn State's annual Wear White game.
The 2021-22 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.