Dave Jones:
For the first time in five years, Penn State has won three straight Big Ten games. That is worth some praise if for no other reason than it’s hard to get your feet under you when you’re 0-6.
And that’s where the Nittany Lions were just two weeks ago. Now, not actually that improbably, they stand at 12-10 and 3-6 in the Big Ten and at 98 in the Rating Percentage Index. Yeah, well, it’s still unlikely for the NCAAs.
The sad fact is, had the Lions simply won two of three games they flat-out squandered — Indiana, Minnesota and at Purdue — they would now sit in fourth place in the Big Ten at 5-4. But at least there’s something to talk about.
Penn State fights. Penn State has talent at key spots. That much has been established. You don’t lift yourselves out of such a hole without either.
Now, smart basketball? Not always this team’s forte and that’s what’s impeded it so far and probably will eventually kill it from an NCAA standpoint. They do too many dopey things at late junctures. Simple in-bounds plays have been a continuing adventure.
But guts? This team has it. And it also has one of the very best players in the Big Ten in D.J. Newbill. Nobody in the conference is harder to guard. That remained apparent during the Lions’ maddening 79-68 defeat of Purdue yesterday at the Jordan Center.