Lions fall flat on Senior Day:
“Things started out pretty well for Penn State’s Jason McDougald on Senior Day.
“With family and friends in attendance at his next-to-last home college basketball game, the seldom-used McDougald scored the game’s opening points against the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday afternoon on a pretty two-handed slam.
“He would get the chance for another dunk later in the contest — but the situation had changed to something he and fellow seniors Kevin Fellows and Jamaal Tate have been all too familiar with during their stay in Happy Valley.
“This time, McDougald’s dunk cut Iowa’s lead to just 22 points.
“Can you say deja vu?
“In yet another one of their lackluster efforts this season, the Nittany Lions (7-20, 1-13 Big Ten) were easily defeated by Iowa (17-10, 5-9), 78-56. Penn State coach Ed DeChellis went so far as to apologize to the seniors afterward, embarrassed by his team’s performance.
“‘Obviously, our start was absolutely horrendous; our first half was horrendous,’ DeChellis said. ‘I don’t have an answer for that; they didn’t have an answer for that. I apologize to the seniors because that’s not the way they should have senior night. Obviously we didn’t do a really good job of preparing them — I didn’t do a very good job of preparing them.’ …”