Penn State took the floor against Northwestern Saturday night looking for their second straight win. Myles Dread was once again absent, putting more pressure on Jamari Wheeler, Sam Sessoms, Izaiah Brockington, and Seth Lundy. Both teams were sloppy and off the mark early on, with Northwestern missing their first four three-point attempts, and the Nittany Lions committing multiple turnovers. It may have taken Northwestern four minutes to score their first points, but they hit two buckets in a row to take a 5-4 lead five minutes into the contest.
The pace of the game remained a little sluggish midway through the first half, with plenty of fouls and turnovers, but both teams answered each other when they did connect-whether it was Northwestern’s Boo Buie (the half-brother of Talor Battle) kissing high off the window, or Brockington knifing down the lane with his usual instinct for the hoop.