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Penn State Losing Streak Hits 8 Games

Odds & News | Webmaster ( Fri 29th, January 2010 )

Finally, Penn State is emerging from its scoring funk, which plagued them through the early part of the Big 10 season. However, Wednesday night's 77-67 loss to Illinois made the Nittany Lions realize that making shots is just half the battle. Making clutc

"I told the boys afterwards, Illinois made well timed shots and we missed those shots," Head coach of Penn State, Ed DeChellis said after watching his team (8-12, 0-8) lose for the 8th straight time.

Definitely, lots of interesting things happened before and after the most critical part of game. During a long stretch in the second half Penn State had a chance to give them their first league win of the season, but then they started to shoot brick after brick. Junior, David Jackson said, "I believe missing shots can be contagious sometimes."

It can be contagious to make them; as well, that is what happened to Penn State early in the second half. Trailing 40-33 at the break, they made five of seven field goal attempts to go ahead 46-44 and then added some free throws as well as an Andrew Jones put back to give them the lead 51-48 with 9:59 left. After that, they missed six straight shots and ten of their next eleven. During that time, Jackson made a three-pointer with 1:47 left to make PSU down 64-57 and they were in no position to recuperate.

The performance of sophomore guard, Chris Babb, during that stretch epitomized the struggles of the Nittany Lions. He was a solid 6-12 from floor and 4-10 from beyond the arc for 18 points. However, three of his missed triples were during the dry spell, and two in a row when Illinois had a 55-51 lead.

Babb said, "I just missed them. They were good looks. They're getting me ball. They just were not going in."

Although this was not as if he was alone, leading scorer Talor Battle scored a team high 20 points but was 0-4 as the game slipped away, including a missed layup. Jeff Brooks missed 2 jumpers in a minute and a half, part of a 1-5 showing for the night.

Meanwhile the Illini killed their three game losing streak by making stops and hitting shots when it mattered. Five different players scored in double figure for Bruce Weber's (13-8, 5-3) team: D.J. Richardson (20), Bill Cole (career high, 12), Mike Davis (11), Mike Tisdale (10) and Brandon Paul (10).

Leading scorer Demetri McCamey came in to the game needing fifteen points to reach one thousand for his career. However, he was held to 7 and made just one of seven field goals. His lone basket awed the crowd. Up 61-54 and with Penn State still showing life, the Illini worked the shot clock to under 5 seconds, McCamey shot a buzzer beating bomb, which found the bottom of the net for a 64-54 lead with 2:00 left.

DeChellis was at a loss to clarify why key shots weren't falling for his team. He said, "Our boys are disappointed and mad. And they should be disappointed; I want them to be mad. If you aren't disappointed and mad, you are not a competitor."

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