Double Dribble: December 9, 2020

**Double Dribble is the new article series that will be produced each Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the duration of the College Basketball season. The TSR team (and occasionally guests), will give their opinion on the games that have taken place and the games that look ahead. 

NICK

Kansas State in Freefall

The Wildcats were going to be bad this year, everyone knew that. But a thirteen point loss to Fort Hayes State in which they were dominated nearly the entire night?! I sure didn’t see that coming. It’s going to be a long year in Manhattan…

Detroit Falls Back to Earth

The Titans were extremely impressive last week in two narrow defeats against Michigan State and Notre Dame. I expected they would beat Kent State, on their home floor too, but the Titans lost by fourteen. Matt Johnson, who had played so well against Michigan State, struggled from the floor (2/8). Antoine Davis, the go-to player for the Titans, was held to only 21 points as he was 7/21 shooting. This team is much improved, and they will make an improvement in the Horizon League standings, but this was a frustrating setback.

Blue Devil Blues

The Duke basketball team had lost two non-conference games at home in nearly twenty years. They now have lost two non-conference home games in a week, including their first ever B1G/ACC Challenge loss (9-1). Granted, losses to Michigan State and Illinois are hardly shameful, as they are Top 6 teams nationally, but you have to wonder if Coach K would be calling for “reassessing playing during the pandemic” if he was undefeated? You don’t see Mark Few, Scott Drew or Fran McCaffrey complaining…

SAM  

What the hell happened to Purdue?

Yikes. If you were flipping back and forth between the two games, saw Purdue was up 18 at the half, and decided that you’re time was going to be occupied by the back and forth battle that was Kansas-Creighton, well then we’re twins. The Boilermakers dominated the first 20 minutes. 7’4 freshman unicorn Zach Edey was a perfect 4-4 from the field and had 8 points, as did fellow big man Trevion Williams. A Miami team minus stud point guard Chris Lykes made just 5 field goals and shot an abysmal 22.7% in the first stanza. Now’s about the time you regret taking the over in this one, and turn it off for good. Slowly but surely, Miami chipped away in the second half. By the time I realized what in the world was going on, Edey had fouled out with 3 and a half minutes to go and things unraveled for good from that point. Miami shot 60% in the second half, and Kameron McGusty had 15 of his game high 18 to help lead the charge. Purdue absolutely turtled, scoring just 22 points in the final 20 minutes. As poorly as the Canes shot in the first, Purdue was worse in the second at 20.7%. This looks like the same Purdue we saw last year: When they make a lot of shots, coupled with their defense, they can play with anyone. When they don’t, they’re really, really bad. It’s truly wild to think it was just three seasons ago this team had a lineup with the sniping ability of Carsen Edwards, Vince Edward, Dakota Mathias and Ryan Cline off the bench.

Penn State is the Big Ten Wild Card

Penn State went on the road to Virginia Tech and completely dominated the #15 Hokies from start to finish. PSU got off to a 17-3 start over on ESPN News(Shoutout the ESPNU 7PM Minny-BC OT thriller!!) and kept on going. They shot a blistering 52% on threes. The most impressive part of this win for the Nittany Lions? Leading scorer coming in at 20+ ppg Seth Lundy had a goose egg, and it still didn’t matter. Guards Izaiah Brockington and Myreon Jones combined for 38 points and 6 three pointers. The depth Penn State has in the backcourt is truly scary, and should and will keep Big Ten opponents up at night. Lundy, Brockington, Jones, defensive ace point guard Jamari Wheeler, Myles Dread, and Sam Sessoms give Penn State 6 legit Big Ten guards. Yes, this team doesn’t have much of a post presence. Yes, you can’t play 6 guards at once, you can, at most, play 4. But this is a PSU team with a heck of a backcourt, and can be scary good when they’re on, the drubbing of Va Tech  being Exhibit A. It’s a murderers row to start Big Ten play starting this Sunday in Ann Arbor and game #2 bringing Illinois to town. But this is a team who is an end of regulation meltdown against Seton Hall from being undefeated. And Jim Ferry is no Pat Chambers, but he’s really letting this group get up and down, like it should, and it’s clear he has them motivated. Could Penn State once more finish in the Big Ten cellar? Absolutely. But to think they will be a pushover in this league is laughable. And one thing I know for sure: Penn State basketball is going to be fun as hell to watch this season.