It’s March … let the madness begin.
While the madness will probably be short-lived for the Penn State men’s basketball team, the run may be longer for the Lady Lions. In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll take a closer look at their chances this month.
Let’s start with the wrestling squad.
Back to Back
The Penn State wrestling squad bounced back from a rough Saturday at the Big Ten Tournament to capture its second consecutive Big Ten title. At Purdue’s Mackey Arena, Penn State crowned three individual champions — Frank Molinaro (149 pounds), David Taylor (165) and Ed Ruth (174). Penn State went 13-2 on the final day of competition to finish with 149 team points. Minnesota (134) was second and Iowa (126) landed in third.
It was business as usual for coach Cael Sanderson, who expects to win championships.
“I’m really proud of these guys,” Sanderson told the Big Ten Network. “Our guys did a great job.”
In addition to taking home the hardware, the Penn State grapplers took home individual awards. Molinaro was selected as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, Taylor took home the award for the conference’s overall Wrestler of the Year and Sanderson claimed Coach of the Year honors.
Needless to say, it was a very good weekend for the Nittany Lions.
“This one means a lot, especially after that last session,” Molinaro told Jeff Byers on the Penn State Sports Network. “We showed so much heart. And to pull ahead the way we did this round just shows you what kind of team we’ve got and the coaching staff, the foundation.” Penn State’s next stop will be at nationals.
Bounced at Indy
The Penn State women’s basketball team suffered a tough loss over the weekend, falling to No. 4 seed Purdue on Saturday night, 68-66, on a buzzer-beater by Lady Boilermaker Brittany Rayburn. The loss booted the Lady Lions from the tourney. They’re now 24-5 overall, 13-3 in the Big Ten.
After winning the Big Ten’s regular-season title, Saturday’s loss was a tough one to take. However, Penn State coach Coquese Washington was optimistic that her team will bounce back for the NCAA tournament, which begins next week.
“Hopefully, they’ll shake it off pretty quickly,” Washington said. “Fortunately for us, we’re at spring break so they’ve got a few days to go home and get some home cooking and TLC and get revved up for the NCAA tournament. But we talked in the locker room. I’m not disappointed in the way we played. I wish we would have won the game, but, I mean, this is what happens when you’re in competitive sports.”
Sophomore Maggie Lucas struggled for the Lady Lions. The first-team all-conference selection finished the afternoon with just nine points. She was 3 of 11 from the field and 0 for 5 from beyond the arc.
Washington was impressed with the job that the Boilermakers did defensively.
“I thought they did a pretty good job all night long. They’re a good team, defensive team. It was a struggle. I mean, I think both of us are pretty good defensive teams and that’s why it was a struggle all night long for either team, I felt, to get into a rhythm. So they did a good job.”
If the Lady Lions had won the Big Ten tourney, they probably had a shot at a No. 1 overall seed. Now, they’ll likely take a tumble when it comes time to seed.
According to Washington, the Big Ten tourney isn’t the one that matters anyway.
“I’m really proud of our team. And we’re going to go in the NCAA tournament and we’re going to be confident and we’re going to be a tough team to play,” Washington said. “Our kids are going to go home and get rested up and get rejuvenated, and we’re going to get ready to go and play in the NCAA tournament and play our best basketball.”
The Lady Lions will find out where they’re headed when the seeds and match ups are announced next week.
Rough start for Chambers
The Penn State men’s basketball regular season came to an end on Sunday with a 71-65 loss to Michigan at the Bryce Jordan Center. With the loss, the Lions finished the regular season at 12-19 overall, 4-14 in the Big Ten.
No one expected success for first-year coach Patrick Chambers. With little talent on the squad, his team struggled mightily. Still, they put up a good fight throughout the season.
In Sunday’s game, Penn State tried to dig itself out of a huge hole, but came up short in the end. The Wolverines, ranked No. 13 in the country, upped their record to 23-8 overall, 13-5 in the conference.
“I don’t think these guys are going to quit. It’s become a habit not to. It’s unfortunate that we can’t get stops when we need them and we can’t get shots when we need it, or those turnovers in the first half killed us,” said Chambers. “They lead into threes and easy baskets and it gets a team going on the road, but I’d like to think our mantra is ‘never give up,’ — you know, keep competing, keep fighting. I was proud of the way they came out in the second half. I challenged them at halftime, because it’s very easy when you’re in situation like we are to mail it in.”
Penn State was led by Jermaine Marshall, who scored a career-high 27 points.
The Nittany Lions are the No. 12 seed in the Big Ten tournament and will face Indiana on Thursday at 2.
Chris Morelli is an award-winning writer/editor who lives in Centre County and covers Penn State athletics for gantnews.com. He’s also a regular on “Sports Central,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com. Also, be sure to check out MorelliOnLion on Facebook!