Penn State Basketball: Takeaways from win over Iowa in battle of ranked teams

Penn State Basketball displayed a deep bench and resilience in win over Iowa. 

#21 Penn State Basketball versus #23 Iowa turned into a Big Ten slug-fest at the Palestra, with each team trading blows and battling to the bitter end. The lead swung back and forth 30 times and the game was tied ten times over the course of forty minutes. The Nittany Lions secured the win on Myles Dread’s perfect free throw shooting, as the second half-seconds ticked away. Fans of the Blue and White should be extremely happy with the grit and toughness that their team displayed in Philadelphia, Saturday afternoon. Here are my takeaways from Penn State’s victory over the Hawkeyes.

Penn State Basketball’s bench is lethal

Penn State’s bench outscored Iowa’s bench nearly 6 fold, by a 46-8 margin. Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins played another game in which foul trouble limited their playing time. In years’ past, foul trouble would spell doom for the Lions but this year is definitely not like previous years. Izaiah Brockington provided a spark off the bench that energized the Lions. In twenty-four minutes of play, “Zay” led the Lions with twenty-four points on sixty percent shooting, nabbed two steals, grabbed two rebounds and converted seventy-one percent of his free throws. Pat Chambers had this to say about his St. Bonaventure transfer.

"“He is such a spark off the bench. I said this to the Big Ten people yesterday on a conference call, I really believe he’s still trying to prove himself that he’s worthy to play the Big Ten. So he comes into practice trying to prove that he is a Big Ten basketball player and that he is a high-level player. So it’s almost like he’s trying to earn a scholarship, and I’m not going to tell him that he has one because I want him to keep competing at a high level. He had 30 points in here as a high school basketball player.”"

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Curtis Jones, Jr. is a grad transfer from Oklahoma State that has ice in his veins. Curtis drained 66.7% of his threes (4-6) and went six of nine from the field. Jones scored sixteen points and blocked two shots playing stout defense in his twenty-four minutes of playing time. His block of Luka Garza on the low post kept the momentum with Penn State going down the stretch. Philly freshman Seth Lundy contributed seven points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal in his eleven minutes of playing time. John Harrar played thirteen minutes spelling Mike Watkins. John had a solid effort, pulling down six rebounds and nabbing one steal. After this latest Quad One win over a top 25 team, Big Ten coaches should know that they just can’t key on Stevens and Watkins to shut down Penn State, anymore.

Myles Dread: Ice, Ice, Baby

Myles Dread was recruited as the heir apparent to Shep Garner. As a freshman last year, his Big Ten body had Pat Chambers starting him as a swing defender, where he often found himself switching to defend low-post players. Myles has been called an “Ultimate team player”, by his head coach. Dread’s stat line isn’t flashy but he gets work done. Dread played twenty-seven minutes against Iowa, second-most on the team behind Myreon Jones’ twenty-nine.

Dread poured in fourteen points, seven rebounds, one steal and got his teammates involved with 4 assists. His lob pass for a slam-dunk to Watkins late in the second half was a thing of beauty. However, Dread’s most important contribution came in the final minutes of the game, as Penn State did its best to keep the Hawkeyes at bay. Dread calmly iced the game going a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. His high-arcing shot found the bottom of the net, over and over again. This year Myles Dread is a perfect fourteen for fourteen from the line.

For Penn State fans, icing a game at the free throw line is a new and welcome development. So many times last year…Penn State lost the game at the free throw line. I could list more than a few of those times, but I don’t want to elicit nightmares for the Nittany Lion faithful.

Mental toughness

Head coach Pat Chambers discussed his teams’ mental toughness in the post-game press conference. “Our mental toughness and mental condition, I felt really shined through when we’re down seven, and then down six felt like we didn’t panic, and that’s what this group is doing.” Nittany Lions’ fans know that a game like this could easily have slipped away from their team. The spark provided by the bench, the team making sixty-eight percent of their free throws and winning the points in the paint battle by a thirty-eight to thirty-four margin…the hustle and toughness displayed by this squad will have Penn State basketball fans looking forward to Winter evenings rooting for a nationally ranked team. Paraphrasing Coach Chambers, “Penn State is a football school. I think Penn State can be a basketball school too.”

Penn State plays Rutgers at the Rutgers Athletic Center Tuesday evening. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.