Game Grades: Penn State vs. ULM

Story posted December 13, 2015 in CommRadio, Sports by Dan Correa

After a dominant 14-point victory over the Canisius Golden Griffins (3-6) Thursday night, Penn State (7-3) continued its Return to Rec homestand series and edged the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (4-5) 54-50 on Saturday at Rec Hall.  With the win, Penn State has won three of its last four games.

Here are the game grades for Penn State’s victory over Louisiana-Monroe.

Backcourt: B+

Guard Shep Garner collected only eight points, and was scoreless from three-point range (0-3), but did go 3-7 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line.  Garner’s performance was one uncharacteristic from his offensive performances in the previous two games against Canisius (11 points) and at George Washington (22 points), where he scored a combined 33 points.  The Nittany Lions shot 32.7 percent from the field (18-55). Good news for Penn State is that they only gave up three steals in the game, and countered with six steals of their own. Garner had two of those six steals, while guard Devin Foster added one.  Penn State also had 16 points off of turnovers for the game, compared to the Warhawks’ four.    

Frontcourt: A

 The Nittany Lions outscored the Warhawks 30-20 inside the paint.  Penn State had two players in double figures for the game; forward Brandon Taylor (16 points) and forward Payton Banks (10 points).  Center Jordan Dickerson had a team-high seven blocks, while Penn State tallied 12 blocks in the entire game, compared to Louisiana-Monroe’s mere three.  Although Penn State was outrebounded 47-31, Brandon Taylor finished with seven rebounds and Dickerson added five boards.    

Bench: A 

Penn State outscored the Warhawks in bench points, 10-2, with eight of their bench points coming in the first half.  Josh Reaves scored nine of the team’s 10 bench points, with seven of them scored in the first half as well.    

Coaching: B

Penn State held the Warhawks to 33.9 percent from the field for the entire game.  The Nittany Lions did a better job defensively in the second half of the game, limiting the Warhawks to 30.3 percent scoring (10-33), whereas in the first half Penn State allowed a 38.5 percent field goal clip (10-26).  Penn State led 25-24 by first half’s end, and outscored Louisiana-Monroe 29-26 in the second half, with the game tight throughout.  

 

The Nittany Lions play Saturday, Dec. 19 at Drexel with opening tipoff set for 7p.m. at The Palestra.

 

Daniel Correa is a junior who is currently majoring in broadcast journalism. You can contact him at dec5271@psu.edu.