Penn State and Nebraska were heading in opposite directions in the Big Ten basketball standings before Wednesday’s game.
PSU had lost seven straight, dropping to the bottom of the conference. Nebraska, meanwhile, had won five of its last six, rising to the top half of the league. With only four games left in the regular season, to say this was a must-win situation for PSU would be an understatement.
PSU’s fight and effort were being questioned after dropping a tough game at home against Washington Saturday. On Wednesday, it looked like it was a team battling for its life.
With the score tied at two, Penn State’s defensive intensity ratcheted up, forcing six Nebraska turnovers during a 12-0 run. By the 4:05 mark, PSU had a 20-point lead and was drowning Nebraska under a 37-17 scoring wave. By halftime, Penn State had forced 11 turnovers, scored 10 points off those takeaways, and had a 23-point lead.
“I thought we set the tone of the game with our defense in the full court to the half court and I thought that got us going,” Mike Rhoades said in his postgame press conference.
That defensive pressure drove one of the most efficient offensive nights in Penn State history.
HISTORICAL CONVERSION RATES
According to Stathead’s database, Wednesday’s season-high 60.7% ย field-goal shooting was the fifth-best mark in program history since the 1938-39 season. Penn State’s 78.8% two-point efficiency was the second-best performance to date, albeit on the 121st most attempts from that distance (33).
Those historical outputs guided the team to is fifth-most points this season and the most its scored against a Power Four school this year.
“I thought our defense early in the game got us some offense,” Rhoades said.
“… I thought today we finished at the rim better than we have in a long time. I think at halftime we had like 26 points, 28 points in the paint. I thought we did a good job of setting the tone of getting downhill and finishing.”
Penn State tied a season-high 52 points in the paint and shot 18-22 on layups. A big reason for this success on the interior was Yanic Konan Niederhauser.
KONAN NIEDERHAUSER DOMINATES
From the jump ball, Rhoades used Konan Niederhauser heavily, featuring him on four of Penn State’s first 10 possessions.
The first two times, the big man turned the ball over. After that, though, he was lights out, scoring on his next five possessions. The highlight of his perfect half was this alley-oop he slammed home, but his last bucket exemplified the promise the 7-footer possesses.
Konan Niederhauser caught the ball at the elbow and looked to pass. Once nothing materialized, he brought out his “do-it-yourself” kit and scored on a spinning layup.
The junior Northern Illinois transfer scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half, flexing his muscle as Penn State grew its lead.
“I thought he did a really good job following the scout report of how we wanted to get him the ball and where,” Rhoades said. “When it becomes a vertical game for him, that’s to our advantage. He did a great job sealing and being strong with it.”
In the six games when Konan Niederhauser has recorded 15 more offensive possessions (per Synergy Sports), he has averaged 20 points on 63.5% shooting. Only two of those games have come in the Big Ten, but when he has had more opportunities, he has produced.
Penn State will have four more games to try for the Big Ten tournament. If Wednesday’s performance is any indication of how the rest of the season could go, the Nittany Lions could have a chance to extend its season into March.
