Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1462941
4 4 A P R I L 2 0 2 2 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State senior guard Sam Ses- soms drove to the rim with 2 min- utes, 39 seconds left, taking the 11th-seeded Nittany Lions one step closer to the improbable. His lay-in brought Penn State within one point of third-seeded Purdue in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on March 11. Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter called timeout, perhaps as stunned as the pro-Purdue crowd that had gathered at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to watch their team roll. Disregarding the fatigue they must have been feeling while playing their third game in three nights, the Nittany Lions nearly rallied back from a 12-point deficit. But Sessoms' basket was as close as they would get before their opponent's talent took over. Purdue's Jaden Ivey should be a top-five pick at the NBA Draft this coming summer. There is no- body on Penn State's roster with a re- motely similar set of tools. The Lions had kept him mostly contained for the better part of 38 minutes, but those last two minutes were all he needed to lift his team into the next round. First, he got to the free-throw line to restore Purdue's three-point lead. Then came the real show. Pursuing a rebound that had kicked out toward the three- point line, Ivey controlled the ball just enough to nudge it between Sessoms and Penn State senior guard Jalen Pickett, directing it where only he could chase it down. Now at a full sprint, he split an- other pair of Nittany Lions who had con- verged to defend the low block, laying it in without much difficulty. With a burst of athleticism that this collection of Nittany Lions could only dream of replicating, Ivey ended Penn State's season. The immense effort it took to beat Minnesota and Ohio State in the first two rounds of the tournament, then claw back into this game, had been wiped aside. Even as Penn State celebrated a mini- postseason run at the end of Micah Shrewsberry's first season as head coach, Ivey reminded everyone just what it is that the Nittany Lions are up against as they look to build a program. The Boiler- makers advanced as 69-61 winners. "We knew how tough it would be," Shrewsberry said postgame. Certainly, though, Penn State came away from its three-day visit to Indi- anapolis with more than just a heart- breaking end to its season. The Nittany Lions handled bot- tom-seeded Minnesota in a relatively straightforward 60-51 victory to open the proceedings on March 9. Then came the real highlight the following night: a 71-68 upset of sixth-seeded Ohio State. The Nittany Lions fell behind by dou- ble digits in that game, too. But this time they had enough fuel in the tank to get over the finish line. Sessoms and Pickett combined for 34 points, and the Nittany Lions outscored the Buckeyes 32-14 in the paint. MEN'S BASKETBALL The Late Show A surprising sprint to the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals shows what Penn State is capable of doing — and also what it's up against D A V I D E C K E R T | DAV I D E C K E R T 9 8 @ G M A I L . C O M Senior guard Jalen Pickett gave Penn State a lift when he announced after the team's loss to Purdue at the Big Ten Tournament that he plans to return for the 2022-23 season. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL