Texas Basketball: Analyzing 3 biggest threats Penn State poses

Slowing the fast break

Running in transition is a big component of Texas’ game this season. Behind the efforts of senior guard Marcus Carr and sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter, Texas is averaging more than a dozen fastbreak points per game this season. That is good for second in the Big 12 (only behind the TCU Horned Frogs) and top 50 in the country.

Penn State is almost the pure opposite when it comes to the emphasis that it places on running the fastbreak game this season. The Nittany Lions are scoring fewer than half as many fastbreak points per game as Texas this season, at a clip of just 6.1.

That may lead some to think that Penn State is just not a team adept at playing in transition on either end of the floor. This school of thought is pretty far from the truth, though.

Penn State just likes to slow down the pace, regardless of what end of the floor it is playing on. Penn State is one of just five major conference teams this season that is scoring and allowing fewer than 6.5 fastbreak points per game, meaning it intentionally likes to avoid running in transition too often game in and game out.

All in all, if there was any part of this list that I would say is the least threatening of the ways that Penn State could challenge Texas, it would be the fastbreak element. While running in transition is a pretty significant part of Texas’ game this season, the Longhorns are still 6-2 when scoring fewer than eight fastbreak points.