Penn State’s struggles this season have been difficult to ignore, as the team fell to 0-9 in Big Ten play on Monday after a loss to Ohio State. While the Nittany Lions were competitive in the second-half, the first-half struggles were the issue, as they couldn’t put together a full 40 minutes of good basketball.
The most concerning trend has come on the defensive end, giving up 50 points in the first half on Monday.
Penn State has struggled to string together consistent stops, often allowing teams to find their stroke early and maintain it throughout the game. That problem has shown up not only in scoring totals, but for everything.
Following Monday’s loss to the Buckeyes, head coach Mike Rhoades addressed the issue, giving what was an interesting remark due to his realness.
“We're just not a very good defensive team,” Rhoades said, per the Daily Collegian. “In league play, other teams are shooting 52% (from the field) and 41% from three. That's not winning basketball. That's hard. I do think some of this is youth, some of it is guarding star players who are really good players. We're getting beat, we're getting beat way too much, and then they get going. And we've really struggled letting good players get going.”
Allowing opponents to shoot above 50% overall and over 40% from beyond the arc leaves almost no margin for error offensively. In a conference filled with elite scorers and teams in general, it’s simply not a recipe for success.
Rhoades pointed to youth as a factor, and that reality has been evident throughout the season. However, whose fault is it for bringing in young players? Coach needs to look in the mirror, if we’re being honest.
Clearly, defensively, the standard he expects hasn’t matched what is showing up on the floor, and until it gets fixed, we should expect some tough losses.
“I think our defense, our guarding, and the half-court defense, we struggled, just not consistent. I think that's number one. The second thing, and very close to the number one, is when another team goes on a run, instead of having poise, and it starts with me helping these guys understand it, it’s, ‘I got hit a three. I got to make a play to get us back in it.’ And that makes it a snowball, and it's become a big snowball in some of these games.”