Stronger than Cavities

When you do a Google image search for "Penn State" you get this:


When you do a Google image search for "Colgate", you get this:

Really not that surprising.

Although I was sitting at home in Jersey, the Nittany Lions improved their home record to 7-0 with a convincing win over the Colgate Raiders on Sunday afternoon. All you Rec Hall fans better hope the Lions start dropping a few at the BJC, because the way things are going there are fewer and fewer reasons to move PSU home games across campus.

The game went mostly as expected. Penn State won handily 66-48, although the Raiders were within as few as 5 points early in the 2nd half. The Lions' defense prevailed in the end, though, as they forced Colgate into 19 turnovers and 35% shooting.

The Nits' offense wasn't too hot with only 38% shooting. However, less turnovers and more free throw attempts (12/18 is pretty darn good for this squad) than Colgate led to the wide margin of victory.

Claxton and Cornley each had ho-hum games, both scoring in double figures. Brandon Hassell surprised with 5 offensive rebounds in only 16 minutes. However, Hassell also committed an astonishing 4 personal fouls while scoring just 4 points in those same 16 minutes.

David Jackson and Jeff Brooks were both brights spots off the bench for PSU. DJ had 7 points and 5 rebounds in only 16 minutes while going 3/4 from the free throw line. It doesn't sound like much, but if DJ had played the same amount of minutes as Cornley and Claxton with the same rate of production, he would have led the team in scoring, rebounding, and free throw percentage. The man needs more playing time.

Meanwhile Jeff Brooks also made a case for more PT, rolling off 10 points on 4/4 shooting in only 12 minutes! The amazing thing is that he hit both of his 3-point attempts, which he never seems to make. Now obviously Brooks would have led everyone in everything had he averaged that performance over more minutes, but the reason I made the case for Jackson was that his stats were less extraordinary for him. In other words, I think it's a lot more realistic to expect DJ to average the numbers he did over the course of an entire game than to expect Brooks to do the same.

On defense, PSU held Colgate's Kyle Roemer to just 2 points on 1/9 shooting with 5 turnovers. Alex Woodhouse was Colgate's best performer with 8 points and 9 rebounds off the bench. Speaking of bench, Colgate showed a surprisingly deep team with 11 players playing at least 10 minutes. Amongst the starters, point guard Daniel Waddy did a decent job, leading everyone in assists with 5.

Happy Valley Hoops has a sweet plus/minus analysis of the Colgate game. Keep an eye on this web site, because the author Uncle Lar loves to go in depth with statistics.

And if that's too deep for you, here's a traditional box score of the game, courtesy of the worldwide leader in sports. Be sure to click on the "Recap" link to get VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS of the game.

Penn State's next game is at home on New Year's Eve vs. Lehigh, another Patriot League team. The Lions will then look for their first road victory of the year when they face Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois on January 2nd.