Penn State men’s basketball’s young squad is struggling this year against more mature, more experienced Big Ten teams.
Coach Mike Rhoades warned fans there would be ups and downs and growing pains associated with this team of eight freshmen, two sophomores, two juniors and one senior, and he was more right than he hoped to be.
Penn State is currently 1-12 in the Big Ten.
Some of the Big Ten losses have been downright ugly, and some of have been encouraging due to only losing by single-digits to ranked opponents in Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan and Purdue.
Despite the record, there are some bright spots, and two of them are freshmen 7-foot forwards.
These Twin Towers are Ivan Juric and Justin Houser.
JURIC
Juric is from Zagreb, Croatia and is one of the four international talents on the team. Coming out of Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kansas, Juric has established himself, already, on the team as the “go-to big man” inside. He’s also responsible for guarding the opposing team’s best big man threat. Juric has surprised his coaches with how quickly he’s progressed.
Coach Rhoades complimented the big man as having the “highest basketball IQ” on the team. He also said that Juric is soft-spoken off the court, but when on the court, he is probably the best communicator.
Juric is currently fourth on the team in scoring averaging 9.5 points per game. He’s also grabbing a team-high 5.3 rebounds per game and is shooting a team-high 54% from the field.
JUSTIN HOUSER
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Houser is from the Phelps School in Malvern, Pa., and was originally planned to be redshirted this season and learn from Yanic Konan Niederhauser.
Since Niederhauser was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of last year’s draft, the team’s plans changed for Houser.
YANIC KONAN NIEDERHAUSER GETS DRAFTED IN THE FIRST ROUND BY THE LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
Penn State needed more inside reinforcements to compete in the Big Ten this season.
Houser’s ceiling is high, no pun intended. His playing time has steadily increased as he is showing his untapped potential in each game played. When Juric had to take a two-game absence due to the flu, Houser was thrown into the fire and he impressed with the time he was given.
Against Minnesota, which is Penn State’s only Big Ten win of the season so far, Houser played 8:27 and scored 2 points on 1-of-1 shooting, grabbed 3 rebounds, dished out 1 assist and had 1 block.
At Michigan, Houser played 21:36, scored 6 points on 2-of-5 shooting, had 2 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
Then in the latest game against USC with Juric back in the lineup, the 7-footer played 12:06, drilled a three pointer, grabbed 3 rebounds, dished out 1 assist and had 3 blocked shots.
One can imagine the future when Juric and Houser will be in the game at the same time. This has not needed to be utilized yet this season due to appropriate, in-game matchups, but the time will surely come when the Twin Towers will be in the game, together, causing havoc.
