Pilchard
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The travelling Demon Deacons face Pat Chambers Nittany Lions late tomorrow night (9:15 pm) in Happy Valley.
This season: Penn State is off to a strong, 6-1, start to the 2019-2020 season. The Lions have top 100 wins over #66 G'town by 15 (on the road), #93 Yale by 2 and #54 Syracuse by 21, this past Saturday. Their one loss was to #65 Ole Miss (Penn State some how blew a 21 point 2nd half lead in that loss). Penn State is on a 8 game home win streak. Their last home loss was in OT to Purdue in January 2019. KP currently ranks Penn State #24 with the #43 offense and #21 defense. On offense, Penn State is strong inside (54% #64 on 2 pointers), and they hit the offensive boards, grabbing 34% of their missed shots (#49). The Lions defend well, forcing TOs on 22% of defensive possessions (#72), holding opponents to a 44% effective field goal percentage; they also block a lot of shots (#13). In the previous seasons under Chambers, Penn State played at a slow tempo, but they have ramped up the pace this year averaging 73 possessions a game this season (#56).
The lineup: Penn State is a veteran team, returning all 5 starters from last year. They start: 6-1 Jr. Jamari Wheeler, 6-3 So. Myreon Jones, 6-4 So. Myles Dread, 6-8 Sr. Lamar Stevens, 6-9 Sr. Mike Watkins. Stevens is their best player and leading scorer (19 ppg). He has scored in double figures in 46 of his last 47 games. Both Stevens and Watkins (260 pounds) are elite rebounders and shot blockers, Watkins had 16 boards against Cuse . Jones (41%), Dread (34%) and 6-4 Curtis Jones (39%) off the bench are all threats from behind the arc.
Bottom line: KP projects a 77-67 Penn State win. This is a bad spot for the Deacs. WF played late on Sunday in California. Arrived back on campus yesterday, and then head out to Happy Valley today. Penn State has already buried two teams marginally better than WF (Cuse and G'town). WF has no one that matches up with Stevens. Hard to find a reason to believe that WF keeps this game close. That said, Penn State is in a look ahead spot as they have two huge games on deck (at #4 Ohio State on Saturday; home against #8 Maryland on Tuesday); so maybe WF does not have the Lions full attention. The Deacs hung close to Arizona on Sunday, but don't see WF playing Penn State as close. The Nittany Lions big.
This season: Penn State is off to a strong, 6-1, start to the 2019-2020 season. The Lions have top 100 wins over #66 G'town by 15 (on the road), #93 Yale by 2 and #54 Syracuse by 21, this past Saturday. Their one loss was to #65 Ole Miss (Penn State some how blew a 21 point 2nd half lead in that loss). Penn State is on a 8 game home win streak. Their last home loss was in OT to Purdue in January 2019. KP currently ranks Penn State #24 with the #43 offense and #21 defense. On offense, Penn State is strong inside (54% #64 on 2 pointers), and they hit the offensive boards, grabbing 34% of their missed shots (#49). The Lions defend well, forcing TOs on 22% of defensive possessions (#72), holding opponents to a 44% effective field goal percentage; they also block a lot of shots (#13). In the previous seasons under Chambers, Penn State played at a slow tempo, but they have ramped up the pace this year averaging 73 possessions a game this season (#56).
The lineup: Penn State is a veteran team, returning all 5 starters from last year. They start: 6-1 Jr. Jamari Wheeler, 6-3 So. Myreon Jones, 6-4 So. Myles Dread, 6-8 Sr. Lamar Stevens, 6-9 Sr. Mike Watkins. Stevens is their best player and leading scorer (19 ppg). He has scored in double figures in 46 of his last 47 games. Both Stevens and Watkins (260 pounds) are elite rebounders and shot blockers, Watkins had 16 boards against Cuse . Jones (41%), Dread (34%) and 6-4 Curtis Jones (39%) off the bench are all threats from behind the arc.
Bottom line: KP projects a 77-67 Penn State win. This is a bad spot for the Deacs. WF played late on Sunday in California. Arrived back on campus yesterday, and then head out to Happy Valley today. Penn State has already buried two teams marginally better than WF (Cuse and G'town). WF has no one that matches up with Stevens. Hard to find a reason to believe that WF keeps this game close. That said, Penn State is in a look ahead spot as they have two huge games on deck (at #4 Ohio State on Saturday; home against #8 Maryland on Tuesday); so maybe WF does not have the Lions full attention. The Deacs hung close to Arizona on Sunday, but don't see WF playing Penn State as close. The Nittany Lions big.