It was a bad weekend for Penn State athletics.
Where to begin? The men’s basketball team squandered a 16-point second-half lead in an ugly loss to Minnesota, the women’s basketball team’s road woes crept back at Minnesota, the Penn State wrestling team had a tough outing at national team duals and it was announced that Penn State cornerback Justin King is foregoing his final season of eligibility for the riches of the NFL.
Let’s start with the big football news.
Justin King is leaving Penn State for the riches of the NFL.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
The Man Who Would Be King
News broke Sunday afternoon that King would be leaving Penn State for the NFL.
My reaction? Yawn.
The NFL advisory committee told King that he would more than likely be a second-round draft pick. King, you’ll remember, enrolled early at Penn State, so he already has his degree.
Apparently, the decision to enter the draft wasn’t an easy one.
“It was real difficult. That’s why it came down to the last minute here,” King’s stepfather, Terry Smith, told Blue White Illustrated.
“Tuesday is their last day to apply.”
King will finish his career with 90 tackles, three interceptions, 23 pass breakups, 24 passes defended and a fumble recovery.
Those aren’t the kind of numbers that were expected from the Gateway High School product, who was one of the top recruits in the nation when he verballed to Penn State back in 2004.
This isn’t a huge loss for the Nittany Lions. King will more than likely be replaced with A.J. Wallace, who is actually faster than King. In this writer’s opinion, that’s an upgrade.
Look, King showed flashes of being a big-time player, but just flashes. As his time went on at PSU, he seemed to fear contact more and more. He loved to show up his opponent, often showboating after breaking up a pass or making a routine tackle.
Can you imagine King lining up to cover Randy Moss, Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson. No, we can’t either.
If you think I’m off base, just take a look back at the tape of the Penn State-Indiana game this season, when IU’s James Hardy ate King alive to the tune of 14 catches for 142 yards and two TDs.
For the record, the last Penn State player to leave early was LaVar Arrington.
We all know how that turned out.
Ed DeChellis watched his team squander a 16-point second-half lead.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Nittany Lions Collapse
Too good to be true? Perhaps.
The Penn State men’s basketball team had a 16-point second-half lead, but couldn’t hold it and fell to Minnesota, 76-73, at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday afternoon.
The postgame news conference had the feel of a funeral. And it was easy to understand why.
“We just didn’t do a lot of things you need to do to win the game,”
said PSU head coach Ed DeChellis. “We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”
Penn State had its chances. Besides holding the big lead, the Nittany Lions also went to the foul line 21 times in the second half. But they made just eight of those shots. Down the stretch, they were 1-of-8 from the charity stripe.
Geary Claxton probably summed it up best.
“You gotta just go up there and shoot them,” Claxton said. “That’s it.”
The game was knotted at 73-73 with 24 ticks left on the clock. After freshman Talor Battle missed two free throws, redshirt freshman David Jackson grabbed a rebound and batted the ball back to Battle, who alertly called a timeout with 19 seconds left in the game.
A bad pass by Claxton landed in the hands of Minnesota freshman Al Nolen who streaked to the hoop, but was fouled.
“I saw an open man,” Claxton told reporters. “People make mistakes. It was a bad pass. I just gotta move on.”
PSU was called for an intentional foul with 5.9 seconds left. Nolen hit both free throws to grab the lead — for good.
It was Penn State’s first conference loss of the season. They are now
2-1 in the Big Ten, 10-5 overall.
Lady Lions Falter
Penn State struggles on the road crept back this weekend, as the Lady Lions fell at Minnesota on Sunday afternoon, 67-50.
After winning at Michigan State last week, the Lady Lions struggled with turnovers and poor rebounding in the Twin Cities. PSU turned the ball over 18 times and were outrebounded, 38-25.
To be fair, Williams Arena (aka The Barn) is one of the toughest places to play in the Big Ten. On Sunday, Minnesota’s Ashley Ellis-Milan had a career day, scoring 22 points.
The turning point in the game came when Penn State point guard Brianne O’Rourke took a technical foul that swung momentum to the Golden Gophers.
“It was big,” Washington said. “We didn’t really end the half well and they really turned up the pressure on our guards when she went out of the game. We have to have her on the floor.”
Penn State will try to rebound this week when it hosts Purdue on Thursday night.
Grapplers Struggle
The Penn State wrestling team’s trip to No. 1 was short-lived.
At the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals, Penn State went 3-2. The Nittany Lions defeated No. 16 Tennessee-Chattanooga, No. 19 Cornell and No. 4 Iowa State, but fell to No. 10 Nebraska and No. 11 Ohio State.
Despite the losses, there were some bright spots for the Nittany Lions.
PSU’s 197-pounder Phil Davis went 5-0 and became the 24th Nittany Lion to record 100 career victories. He’s now 100-19 in his career. Penn State’s 157-pounder, Dan Vallimont, was the other Nittany Lion to go undefeated.
Sunderland notched his 100th career win as head coach of the Nittany Lions.
In addition writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a magazine devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.