Well these are the types of losses that coaches worry about early in the season and frankly aren't that uncommon as teams are shaking off the rust. But it certainly was a surprise to see PSU lose by 11 to a team in the Colonial Athletic Conference event though the game was on the road. Penn State was a double digit favorite in this game and UNC-W was 0-2 on the year with losses already to Appalachian State and George Washington.
As usual the game came down to one team having a hot shooting night and unfortunately it wasn't the Lions. Its tough to beat a team that comes out and shoots 7-11 from 3-point range in the 1st half and 10-16 for the game. The shots were falling for UNC-W while Penn State struggled with their defense.
I didn't watch the game but just check the box score and the story is pretty clear. PSU got a whole lot of Talor Battle (29 points including 11-12 from free throw line), but not much from anyone else. Coach DeChellis does not trust his bench, as he basically played his starters the whole game, save 26 minutes for back up guard freshman Tim Frazier. In fact the PSU offense looked to be limited to Frazier and Battle breakdown the UNC-W defense off the dribble and drawing fouls. Otherwise, 4 other bench players only got a few minutes each. There doesn't seem to be any depth.
Contrast that with UNC-W who had 6 players HIT 3 POINT FIELD GOALS. Their bench went 9 players deep, and they are the mid-major playing the Big 10 team. Something doesn't add up.
Let's hope this is an anomoly and not one of those games that we regret come tournament resume time in March.
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