Trending
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Jalen Pickett finished an assist shy of a triple-double and Penn State defeated Quinnipiac, 77-68, on Thursday at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Moving the game time up by four hours because of weather didn't affect Pickett, who is the only player in the country averaging 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. He scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to go with nine assists in his bid for his second triple-double of the season. Pickett also had a steal and no turnovers.
Pickett was aware he was approaching a triple double at the end of the game and set up Andrew Funk for a wide open layup that Funk did not convert. In the final minute, Pickett dished the ball to Myles Dread, who missed a wide open 3-pointer.
"I told Funk and Myles they owe me lunch or something," Pickett said. "It was ridiculous."
Funk added 16 points for the Nittany Lions (9-3). Camren Wynter had 12 points and nine rebounds and Michael Henn had 11 off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting.
Penn State was without Seth Lundy, who was injured in Sunday's win over Canisius and was on crutches.
"He hasn't practiced yet," Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "It's hard to play when you don't get a chance to practice, and it was a quick turnaround. If we were deep into conference play and really needed this game, he probably could have played. Getting him an extra couple days to get 100 percent healthy going into Big Ten season, I thought that was really important."
Tyrese Williams scored 16 points for the Bobcats (9-4), who were playing Penn State for the first time. Ike Nweke and Tymu Chenery both added 12 and Paul Otieno had 10 rebounds.
Nweke made the first two Quinnipiac baskets of the game, including a 3-pointer, but that was the only time the Nittany Lions trailed. Pickett capped a 9-0 run with a jumper for an 11-5 lead. Over the last five minutes of the first half Penn State had a 13-3 run to lead 33-23 at the break.
"These guys are thinking about going home," Shrewsberry said. "Some of them haven't been home since they got here in August. It's hard. This is a chance for college basketball players to go home. They are thinking about Christmas, seeing their friends and everything else. What they aren't thinking about is winning a game, and you see that. Pull up box scores from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and look at teams that have lost games they weren't supposed to because they checked out early. I told our guys check out time was 7:30, and they had to stay focused until that point in time."
The Bobcats went 3 of 14 behind the arc and 4 of 22 inside in the first 20 minutes. Penn State was 12 of 36, 2 of 16 from distance.
Dezi Jones hit a 3 for Quinnipiac to start the second half but Penn State scored the next six and the lead stayed in double figures until the last 43 seconds. The Bobcats made 9 of 17 3s after the break and shot 43% but Penn State shot 50% from the field.
The Nittany Lions face Delaware State on Dec. 29 before resuming Big Ten play against Iowa on Jan. 1.
QUINNIPIAC (9-4): Nweke 5-8 1-1 12, Otieno 2-8 2-2 6, Balanc 3-11 0-0 8, Jones 3-13 0-0 8, Chenery 3-9 3-4 12, Williams 5-16 2-2 16, Riggins 1-4 3-4 5, Lewis 0-1 1-2 1, Reyes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-71 12-15 68.
PENN ST. (9-3): Njie 2-4 4-5 8, Funk 5-13 4-4 16, Pickett 9-23 2-2 21, Wynter 6-13 0-0 12, Dread 1-4 0-0 3, Brown 0-1 2-2 2, Henn 4-5 2-2 11, Mahaffey 0-0 1-2 1, Dorsey 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 1-5 0-0 3, Clary 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-68 15-17 77.
Halftime--Penn St. 33-23. 3-Point Goals--Quinnipiac 12-31 (Williams 4-13, Chenery 3-6, Balanc 2-5, Jones 2-6, Nweke 1-1), Penn St. 6-29 (Funk 2-8, Henn 1-2, Dread 1-4, Johnson 1-4, Pickett 1-5, Brown 0-1, Njie 0-1, Wynter 0-4). Rebounds--Quinnipiac 42 (Otieno 10), Penn St. 37 (Pickett 12). Assists--Quinnipiac 15 (Chenery, Lewis 4), Penn St. 17 (Pickett 9). Total Fouls--Quinnipiac 15, Penn St. 11. A--3,804 (15,261).