Basketball NCAA TOURNAMENT ROUND OF 64: PENN STATE VS TEXAS A&M - 9:55 P.M. - TBS (PREVIEW & GAME THREAD)
- Thread starter Dylan Callaghan-Croley
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Playing an unorthodox style which suits our strengths. Micah is pulling a Bo Ryan rabbit out if his hat. He is exactly what we need to compete. We have a shooters chance...and luckily we have quite a few of them. Raining 3s tonight. Simply amazing. Hope this lasts!
7:45 on a Saturday night? that's the worst possible time. nobody in the entire hemisphere will be awakeIt's 7:45pm
I'm guessing that most will have to DVR it to watch the next day.
we won't do the same thing to Texas. saw them blow out kansas last week. however i think we will have a chance in a close one
It's 7:45pm
I'm guessing that most will have to DVR it to watch the next day.
So it’s the same time that Springsteen is playing the BJC
Watch, no, but I’d be up at this hour to get Oral though…
Great and foreboding observation by both you guys. In fact, it ended up being THE STORY of THE GAME!
Worked both "up" and "Oral" into the reply...impressive.
In the old days that may just have earned "The Portland Cement Crack of the Week!"
That was a lot of fun. The most fun I’ve had watching a college basketball game in a long time.
A couple of key stats. Psu shot almost 60% from the arc. The goal was 40%. While we gave up 17 offensive rebounds (my biggest fear) we only were out rebounded by 4 overall.
It was like Tamu had never seen us before. First, they quit pounding the ball to marble and second they just let lions fly from the arc. Lots of credit to Pickett who is unselfish and always seems to make the right decisions.
I see why PSU struggled with Purdue. The big guy takes away Pickett’s low post game which sets up about 80% of PSUs offense. I also see why we’ve been inconsistent. You aren’t going to shoot 60% from the three point line every night; or even all game on most nights. I see why we have made and given up big runs.
Keep it going lions! Great fun and zero pressure. This team is in places no PSU team has ever been.
A couple of key stats. Psu shot almost 60% from the arc. The goal was 40%. While we gave up 17 offensive rebounds (my biggest fear) we only were out rebounded by 4 overall.
It was like Tamu had never seen us before. First, they quit pounding the ball to marble and second they just let lions fly from the arc. Lots of credit to Pickett who is unselfish and always seems to make the right decisions.
I see why PSU struggled with Purdue. The big guy takes away Pickett’s low post game which sets up about 80% of PSUs offense. I also see why we’ve been inconsistent. You aren’t going to shoot 60% from the three point line every night; or even all game on most nights. I see why we have made and given up big runs.
Keep it going lions! Great fun and zero pressure. This team is in places no PSU team has ever been.
A few brave souls may be watching wrestling, but we'll have to wait and see to be sure
Obviously Funk was the player of the game (w Jalen very close behind), and while Andrew's +/- was unreal, he also gave up 3s on D and was a match up problem (like vs Purdue). I think it will need to be Seth to bring it Saturday and can see contributions from Mahaffey again.
Jalen will be Jalen, Funk will be box in oned or some other trick D, and others will have to score to make up the difference. We've got shooters. Cam, Myles, Seth it is your turn!
Almost 60% from the 3 point line.. insane ! Reminds me of a Semi Final game years ago between Lville and Michigan.. if we stay hot PSU is a very dangerous team for any match up..
That was a very impressive win by Penn State. I personally thought that Texas A&M was under-seeded and had the potential to go on a deep run. PSU outplayed the Aggies for all 40 mins.
I think it may have been more of PSU being underseeded. The biggest overseed team I’ve seen is Arizona. Not a very impressive team, certainly not a #2 seed.
I do have to say that I was baffled by TAMU's lack of preparation and adjustments.
80% of PSU's offense is give it to Pickett, back down his opponent. Shoot if they don't double-team. If they do, find the open guy. It takes a lot of balance to do this. On offense, TAMU has a clear mismatch with Marble (the biggest guy on the floor at 6-9).
To be fair, Pickett is a great talent and you still have to knock down the 3. But no team hits 60% if the shots are contested.
Perhaps those that thought it might be a trap game were correct. Also, B1G is doing pretty well so far.
PSU is certainly hot at the right time. We'll need someone else to step up to beat UT.
His offense was worse…I’m shocked they got away from feeding it inside and scoring in the paint. They were chucking threes and missing them.
yeah...any dummy should be able to see that our inner game is our weak point. I get we can erode their ability to rebound on our offensive side because their bigs need to come out and defend the perimeter making rebounding more difficult. But on our defense, pretty surprising they didn't get into the paint, get easy baskets and draw fouls.
Feeding Marble in the paint was the game plan. I think our lights out shooting got them out of it. Our defense tightened up, and they kept missing shots.
Yeah its almost like they mentally broke because we were draining threes and tried to match it instead of playing their game.
This may have been Pickett’s best game actually as a Lion,. Not his highest point total but more importantly was able to feed the open shooters for big 3’s.. got everyone involved . Impressive.
They said on BTN this morning that Pickett is the ONLY player in 40 years to have 19 points, 7 boards, 7 assists, and ZERO turnovers in a tournament game.
Wow.
Wow.
The way to stop him is to put a tall but quick defender on him that can keep him from scoring in the paint without double team help, which leaves others open for easy shots. He does take bad shots sometimes when the shot clock winds down.
Easier said than done so far.
Here is the TAM in-game thread. It's funny how their emotions changed throughout the game. The game actually on page 4 of the thread.
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*****Aggies vs. Penn State - NCAA Tournament First Round***** | TexAgs
*****Aggies vs. Penn State - NCAA Tournament First Round***** discussion on the TexAgs Texas A&M Men's Basketball forum.
Agreed. I haven't watched very much so will take your work for it but his inside passing when guys on the perimeter were covered was a clinic. I point to the first bucket, a dunk, to start the second half. To end the half, TAMU got a 3 pointer taken off the board because the ball was still in the players hands. The coach comes in and HAMMERS them to cover the perimeter (especially Uptown Funk). The players come out playing hard and Pickett posts them up in the paint while they all run out and guard the perimeter. Pickett hits a guy under the basket who dunks it.
At this point, it was late. So I turned off the TV and went to bed knowing PSU was 98% assured of winning. Why? well, not only the point disparity at that time but because you could see that TAMU players saying "WTF" and losing their spirit to compete.
Charles Barkeley said Texas A&M would be "too athooletic" for Penn State and it "wouldn't even be that close"
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That's the fun part of this year...lots of experts look wrong very often. A&M was a good matchup for us...Texas not so much but I'm not surprised. Barkley and others thought A&M would win due to their athleticism...A&M was a team many thought was underseeded while Penn State simply had a hot March to barely get in as a 10.
OldiesAtTheGaff
Well-Known Member
with the score 5-9--->watch this highlight vid at 1:10-1:20 mark at 1/2 speed--->the replay zooms in on pickett--->he looks left but passes to funk on his right. "Surgical" was one of Buzz 's word for it. It's also where "sport" crosses over to "art" and becomes a thing of beauty.
I laugh but I was surprised how well we matched up. That may well have been coaching as it looked like TAMU abandoned their game plan to force the ball inside and exploit their size advantage. My guess is that they don't often have a size advantage and it wasn't natural for them. But PSU looked much more athletic than I expected. Having said that, PSU's game plan was to have Pickett create and either take the basket if they don't double team him or dish it to who left open when the double team happened. That was like, our only play.
Surprised people can't put themselves out of their routine for one night when it's a special event. I'm not even that big of a basketball fan, but I was really glad to get a chance to see it in person. I'm in my 50s and worked a full day then drove a couple of hours mostly on I-80 into 30 mph winds and snow to get there just as the game started. Did have some thoughts of turning around a time or two but pressed on. Luckily they pushed tip-off back to 9:15 as we got to the parking lot around 8:55. Puttered around Des Moines for a bit after the game (teen-aged sons saw a lighted pedestrian bridge they wanted to go across even though it was in the 20s). Got home at 4 this morning (we made a couple of stops along the way including a cat nap at a rest area). I was still ready for work at 9. It's a once-every-20-year kind of event historically for PSU to get to the tourney and win a game. PSU having an opening-round game anywhere close to me might be even rarer. Hopefully, Shrewsberry stays and makes getting us into the tournament a regular thing, but right now it's something you can't count on seeing again for a while. I would have kicked myself if I missed it. Met a father and son on the parking lot shuttle who drove 15 hours from the Lancaster County area to get to the game. That's dedication - 30 hours in the car for what might have been just one game.
PSU is quietly playing really high level defense. Even if they give up some offensive rebounds and aren't the most athletic team, as a unit they rotate and really work to not give up easy shots.
Right now, it can be argued that Duke, Texas and PSU are playing the best basketball in the country, and by saying this I don't mean to imply that PSU is one of the three best teams. It's a little unfortunate that they have to play another one of those schools in the second round, but it's a great opportunity. If somehow they can beat Texas, their Sweet 16 game would be manageable, against a Pitt, Iowa State or Xavier.
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