“Ed DeChellis may not have any WMD’s, but he’s still got a secret weapon or two. He unleashed them both on Purdue last night.
“The press and trap — two high-risk, high-reward defenses, seemed to catch the Boilermakers off-guard last night in the Bryce Jordan Center.
“The Penn State men’s basketball team forced 19 turnovers, helping the team secure its biggest conference blowout win since the 2001 season.
“‘There’s no doubt we struggled a little bit against the press,’ Purdue coach Matt Painter said. ‘Our guys know that teams are going to press them … we’re just short-handed.’
“Short-handed or not, the Nittany Lions (10-5, 2-2 Big Ten) still had some say in the matter: Six different players recorded a steal, including 6-foot-6 freshman Jamelle Cornley, who finished with two.
“‘We normally press every now and then, but we pressed a couple possessions at a time,’ Cornley said. ‘It’s pretty fun, but it’s sometimes very tiring — and I think that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t do it in the beginning of the season.’ …”