[Herky] Penn State shocks No. 6 Hawks

[Sue Bailey]

Penn State shocks No. 6 Hawks

By Scott Dochterman,The GazetteUNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Inexplicable 
things seem to happen at Penn State.

Less than two weeks after stopping then-Big Ten coleader Indiana, the 
Nittany Lions did the same thing to Iowa last night in a 79-75 win at 
Bryce Jordan Center. The teams played just two weeks ago in Iowa City, 
and the No. 6 Hawkeyes bludgeoned Penn State, 73-49. Well, this 
encounter was quite different.

'You can't just show up to play,' said Iowa guard Peter Jok, who scored 
a game-high 28 points. 'You've got to play your game every time youplay. 
We knew they were ready for us tonight. They made 3s, and they had a 
great game.' The Nittany Lions (1313, 4-9 Big Ten) missed 19 of 20 
3-point attempts in Iowa City. Wednesday, they drilled seven of 14 in 
the first half alone. Penn State sank just 30.4 percent from the field 
at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. At University Park, Penn State players hit 46.4 
percent of their shots and nearly 56 percent in the first half.

Penn State guard Shep Garner shoots the ball against the defense of Iowa 
guard Anthony Clemmons during the first half Wednesday at the Bryce 
Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.

USA Today Sports


------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a promising start, the game quickly slipped into a quagmire for 
the Hawkeyes (20-6, 11-3 Big Ten). The Nittany Lions scored on seven of 
eight possessions - including five 3-pointers over that span - to slice 
a sevenpoint deficit into a sevenpoint lead. Four different Penn State 
shooters connected on 3-pointers during the run.

Perimeter shooting caused the most damage early. Iowa led 12-4 early, 
then Penn State guard Shep Garner hit consecutive 3-pointers to bring 
the Nittany Lions within 12-10. After Iowa took a 22-15 lead, Garner 
again nailed back-to-back 3s.

Iowa struggled to rotate on defense on several of the 3-pointers, which 
left Garner and his teammates wide open in the corner.

'We obviously wanted to do a better job on Garner than we did,' Iowa 
Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'To his credit, he made four, three of them 
on ball screens. We needed to be up and on him, we were not. So that got 
him going.

'Our rotations were not as good as they needed to be. To their credit, 
they moved the ball and got it to open people. If you give them 10 3s 
and they moved the ball. They shot it with confidence, executed ... 
that's going to open everything up.' 'They hit us with stuff we pretty 
much expected,' Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons said. 'But we didn't counter 
off what they were doing quick enough. Garner got hot and we tried to 
adjust to him, then (Brandon) Taylor got hot and we tried to adjust to 
him.'Adding to the problem, Iowa's offense failed to compensate at the 
other end. The Hawkeyes missed their final seven shots of the half and 
scored only six from the free-throw line in the final 7:31. The second 
half was more of the same.

Iowa looked out of rhythm offensively for the second consecutive game. 
Penn State's physical defense sent the Hawkeyes to the line 35 times but 
made only 25. Penn State, conversely, knocked down 17 of 22 free throws. 
At one seven-minute period in the second half, Iowa scored just one basket.

'It came easy early,' McCaffery said. 'We were up 8-0. Then we didn't 
move the ball as well as we should have or could have. I don't think we 
turned it over that much in the first half. I thought we got good shots. 
We got really good shots, we didn't make them.' Facing a nine-point 
deficit with 1:20 left, Iowa's perimeter shooters got into a better 
flow. Iowa sank four 3-pointers, but it was too little, too late. After 
Jok hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut Iowa's deficit to three points, 
Penn State's Brandon Taylor connected on one of two free throws with 7 
seconds left to ice the game.

'They were just in an attack mode from start to finish, and we were 
never able to adjust to how they were coming atus,' Clemmons said.

The Hawkeyes remain tied atop the Big Ten standings but don't play again 
until next Wednesday when they entertain Wisconsin.

•Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman at thegazette.com 
<mailto:scott.dochterman at thegazette.com>

Iowa guard Mike Gesell loses control of the ball as Penn State guard 
Isaiah Washington defends during the second half last night. The Nittany 
Lions won, 79-75, in University Park, Pa.

Penn State forward Donovon Jack shoots the ball between Iowa forwards 
Nicholas Baer (left) and Dom Uhl (right) during the first half last 
night at the Bryce Jordan Center.

USA Today Sports photos

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