Texas Basketball: Five things to know about Penn State

In an NCAA Tournament First Round full of upsets, Texas basketball fans went to sleep soundly on Thursday night after the Longhorns opened its 2023 NCAA Tournament campaign with an impressive 81-61 win over Colgate.

The Raiders were deemed by many as a dangerous 15 seed, but Texas kept them at arm’s length for most of the game. Colgate never got closer than seven in the second half.

The beauty about the NCAA Tournament is the quick turnarounds, and the Longhorns will be back out there on Saturday night, squaring off against No. 10 seed Penn State.

The Nittany Lions dispatched Texas A&M in Round One 76-59 and hold a 9-2 record dating back to Feb. 14. Since mid-February, Coach Micah Shrewsberry’s squad is rated in the top 20 in most national metrics.

The Nittany Lions are a more than capable ten seed and have all the makings of a squad that can make a deep run in this tournament.

As a Big Ten team, Texas basketball fans may be unfamiliar with this Penn State squad. I compiled five “things to know” about Coach Shrewsberry’s 10th-seeded Nittany Lions to prepare you for the Horns’ Second Round matchup in Des Moines.

What Texas basketball fans should know about Jalen Pickett and the 10-seed Penn State

1. Jalen Pickett is that dude

Jalen Pickett may be one of the more underrated college basketball superstars of recent memory. The fifth-year senior is the catalyst of Penn State’s well-oiled offense and was selected as a Second Team All-American for his performance this season.

Pickett averages 17.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game. He is a do-it-all offensive player with as much versatility in his toolbox as anyone in the country. Despite standing at 6-foot-4, Pickett is very comfortable playing with his back to the basket out of the low post. In this position, he can survey the defense and decide whether to rise up over the defender or kick it to one of the plethora of shooters on this roster.

No. 22 proved his March mettle against Texas A&M, scoring 19 points, dishing eight assists, and grabbing seven rebounds in Penn State’s first tournament victory since 2001. If Texas wants to slow down this explosive Nittany Lion offense, it starts with limiting one of the most crafty offensive players in the country.

2. This team can really shoot it

Similar to Texas’ previous opponent, Penn State is one of the best shooting teams in the country. The Nittany Lions shoot the ball at a 39 percent clip from three (5th nationally) and have an effective field goal percentage of 55.7 percent (8th nationally).

Penn State plays without a true big man about 42 percent of the time. This allows their bevy of shooters to run freely off the ball while creating chaos and confusion for opposing defenses. When watching this team on film, one thing becomes apparent: they move without the ball as well as any team in the country. It will be vital for the Longhorns to play team defense with awareness of everyone on the court at all times.

The good thing for the Horns? Colgate came into their First Round matchup as a terrific three-point shooting team who played cohesively on offense and moved with purpose without the ball. Texas held the Raiders to three made three-pointers. Let’s see if they can do it again.

3. A mid-major All-Star team?

In today’s era of college basketball, the transfer portal reigns king. Just look at this Texas team. Its top six scorers are all transfers. Penn State is constructed in a similar way, with three of its top four scorers transferring into Happy Valley. The difference for Coach Shrewsberry is that he plucked those three guys from the mid-major level.

The aforementioned Jalen Pickett played three years at Sienna, earning All-Conference honors every year in the MAAC. Andrew Funk, who dropped 27 points on Texas A&M, spent his first four years of college at Bucknell. Another starting guard, Camren Wynter, was a 3x All-CAA selection in four years at Drexel.

Coach Shrewsberry assembled a team of hard-nosed, talented basketball players who have a chip on their shoulder from being under recruited out of high school. These Penn State players have been doubted many times before, so coming into this Round of 32 game against Texas is nothing new for them.

4. The Nittany Lions are peaking at the right time

There is nothing more satisfying for a coach or team than to be playing your best basketball when March rolls around. Look no further than last season, where the eighth-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels came within a possession of winning the whole Tournament. UNC won six of their last seven games before the tournament and used that momentum to power all the way to Monday night in New Orleans.

This Penn State team believes they are on that same path.

The Nittany Lions were on the outside looking in before they flipped a switch in mid-February. Since Feb. 14, Penn State is 9-2 with wins over seven tournament teams in that span. Since that date, they rank 19th in T-Rank on Bart Torvik, a trusted college basketball advanced analytics tool. They played themselves off the bubble and into a position as a very dangerous NCAA Tournament team.

College basketball is a game of momentum, and Penn State has it.

5. Don’t play ’em close

Penn State is one of the most adept teams in the country at closing out tight games. Since Mar. 1, the Nittany Lions are 5-1 in games decided by four points or less. They have multiple players, like Pickett, Funk, and Seth Lundy, who are fearless in taking (and making) clutch shots.

As a team, they shoot 74 percent from the free-throw line and turn it over only 8.7 times per game. That mark is the second-best in the country and a primary reason this team is so capable in crunch time. They get a good shot every time down the floor and will make their free throws with a tight lead. The Longhorns do not want to be in a battle with a mistake-free Penn State team at the under four-minute mark of the second half.