Penn State suffered arguably its most embarrassing loss of the season to date, an 80-46 listless blowout against Pitt.
Pitt made five of its first eight three-pointers and raced out to an early 15-6 lead
in the first six minutes. Penn State was ice cold, making just two of its first 11 field goals.
Freddie Dilione largely carried the offense in the first half, scoring 10 of the team’s first 15 points and pulling in three rebounds. The offense largely struggled, but the defense continued to fall apart as Pitt swelled the lead to 31-15 with under seven minutes left in the first half.
Pitt took a 40-20 lead to the half. Only Dilione and Kayden Mingo made a field goal in the first half, Pitt had five more rebounds, and Penn State committed three more turnovers. Not a winning formula for the Nittany Lions in the opening half, to say the least.
Pitt was ice cold to open the second half, and Penn State had several chances to close within 10 points, but they missed their window. The Panthers ran the lead back to 51-32 midway through the half, and Roman Siulepa scored 7 straight points for Pitt to extend the lead to 56-34. It was all downhill from there, as the offense continued to struggle, and the Panthers ran away with an 80-46 win.
Player of the Game
Freddie Dilione- 23 points, 10-17 FG, six rebounds
Dilione scored half of Penn State’s points in the game and was the only player to put much of anything together on offense today.
Random Observations
- Lid on the Basket- Penn State shot a putrid 33% from the floor. Not going to win any games with shooting this poor.
- One-Man Band- Penn State players not named Freddie Dilione went 8 for 38 from the floor. This team is easy to stop when only one player can score.
- Embarrassment- Pitt is not a good team and has losses to some awful teams this season. They beat Penn State by 34 today. No way to spin this one.
What’s Next
Penn State will be idle until next Monday, December 29, when they will face North Carolina Central at the BJC. Tipoff is scheduled for 1pm on Big Ten Network.
