State covers Rock

After Ohio State AND Michigan State fell to Division II teams, Penn State's exhibition against Slippery Rock became a little more serious. Not that much though.

The Lions prevailed 94-57, allowing "Nittany Nation" to breathe a sigh of relief and continue hoping for an exciting season. Here's the highlights...

Talor Battle looked pretty decent. 5 assists, 5 steals, and 14 points on 7/17 shooting. His 3-point shot looked a little shabby, but this kid likes to... MOVE IT when he has the ball. Battle showed some serious dribbling skills on his drives to the hoop. Penn State's fast break should be fun to watch with him on the floor.

The other big star on Wednesday was community college transfer Stanley Pringle, who like Battle, brings some much needed dribbling skills to the team. Finishing with 11 points on 5/10 shooting, Pringle showed the ability to get the ball to the hoop quickly. His finishes could use some work though. From what little I've seen, it seems like Battle is the better passer and Pringle is the better shooter. The heavy amount of minutes given to both newcomers was encouraging. The Nits might actually have DEPTH this season.

Walker and Morrissey didn't show us anything we didn't already know. They are the two best shooters on the team, no question. Their other skills, however, are quite limited.

The forward and center play on Wednesday was very disappointing. Geary Claxton looked downright awful after a dominant performance in the Blue/White game. Andrew Jones struggled to score all night. Jeff Brooks wasn't outstanding, but at least he didn't try to do too much. He put up 6 points and 7 rebounds. Jamelle Cornley and David Jackson did not play. I really think Andrew Jones will be a great player for this team down the road, but nearly fouling out in an exhibition game is not a good start. Still, he's bound to progress better than Brandon Hassell. Speaking of Hassell, he had a ho-hum game, but was able to convert on his two free throw attempts. It's clear he's been working on his shot. Maybe we can something out of him this year. This is me being VERY optimistic.

INJURY UPDATE: "Penn State was without junior Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio), who suffered a bruised bone in his left knee in the Blue-White Game on Oct. 27, and freshman David Jackson (Farrell, Pa.), who sat for precautionary reasons after experiencing some discomfort last week in the left leg in which a stress fracture kept him sidelined last season. Jackson was expected to practice later in the week while Cornley will miss 2-3 weeks."
--from gopsusports.com

I know. It doesn't sound good. The good news is that I don't think Claxton will continue to have problems like he did tonight. Still, the Lions' depth at the forward position will be tested early on. Expect Jeff Brooks and Andrew Jones to log serious minutes in November.

Also, here's the entire box score. Enjoy.

By the way, Super Mario Galaxy is coming ON MONDAY. Could be the greatest thing ever. No joke. If there are any Wii non-believers left, they'll all have checked out by Monday.

"Expect to be blown away by the fantastic level challenges and galactic variety. Expect to be blown away by the addictive gravity effects -- you will jump off ledges just to see if you can rotate all the way around a structure. And expect to be blown away by the tight controls and beautiful graphics."
--from IGN.com

That's pretty much all you need to know about the game, but if you want to read more, click here, for Matt Casamassina's full review.

In hockey news, the Rangers lost a heart-breaker to the Islanders, but then rebounded to score (gasp) 4 GOALS against the Pens (final score 4-2). It was the Rangers' greatest offensive outburst since they netted 5 on opening night vs. Florida.

Finally the Knicks defeated Denver in a wild one at the Garden on Tuesday night. Zachary Randolph has been just as good as advertised. The problem for the Knicks is that their starting lineup lacks defensive skill. Fortunately David Lee and Renaldo Baulkman are ready to enter at any time. I'd rather have one of those guys starting, as having Randoplh and Currey on the court at the same time seems redundant.

Penn State takes on Temple in Philly on Saturday. We're driving down tomorrow. Hopefully there will be time to research Temple's squad before the game.