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Posts Tagged Talor Battle

Film Session: Defending the three

by in Film Session | December 28th, 2010

As I noted in TMA last night, the Hoosiers gave up several wide-open 3-point attempts in the first half against Penn State, ones that allowed the Nittany Lions to shoot 50 percent (5-of-10) in the first 20 minutes of the contest.

Here’s a detailed look at three straight Penn State possessions which resulted in nine quick points. What was once an 8-7 lead for the Hoosiers quickly turned into a 16-8 deficit and Tom Crean called a timeout to try and pick up the pieces.

No. 1:

Tim Frazier brings the ball up for Penn State as David Jackson calls for a pick:

Jackson sets the pick for Frazier:

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2010-2011 ITH Season Preview: Penn State Nittany Lions

by in Commentary | November 8th, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - MARCH 11: Guard Talor Battle #12 of the Penn State Nittany Lion stands on the court during the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the first round of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 11, 2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)It’s time for Inside the Hall’s team-by-team breakdown of the Big Ten Conference. Today: The Penn State Nittany Lions.

If I asked for the five longest-tenured coaches in the Big Ten, (and you weren’t, you know, reading a post entitled “2010-2011 ITH Season Preview: Penn State Nittany Lions) would it take less than 10 minutes to realize Ed DeChellis is on that list? What’s that? You knew that? Oh. Well it took me 10 minutes.

Either way, isn’t that sort of baffling? Ed DeChellis, he of the 200-216 career record, he who has been to exactly one NCAA Tournament — with East Tennessee State in 2003, the same year he made the switch to Penn State — has been in his job longer than Matt Painter at Purdue or Thad Matta at Ohio State.

It was never made clear to me how DeChellis was a good call for Penn State, beyond his links to the program as an assistant under Bruce Parkhill. His record at ETSU (proud alma mater of Kenny Chesney, by the way) was rather underwhelming, with the lone NCAA appearance counting as one of his four winning seasons in seven years in Johnson City.

All this historical rambling is a way of covering for the fact that there’s not much to talk about for the Nits this year. Outside of the outstanding Talor Battle, Penn State returns no scorers that averaged better than 10 points per game last year. Andrew Jones brings experience down low, but a senior who averaged just six and five last year in the post hardly breeds optimism.

There’s some hope in the freshman class, particularly with point guard Taran Buie. Half-brother of Talor Battle, Buie was recruited by the likes of Georgia Tech, Maryland, Syracuse and Xavier, and it’s certainly plausible that Buie and Battle could create a rather dangerous backcourt together. (Buie hasn’t quite been on his best behavior, though, in recent months.)

Realistically, that’s probably Penn State’s best hope, for better or for worse. Battle is a lethal scorer that can hurt opponents from almost anywhere on the court. In fact, it’s probably fair to say Battle is the Big Ten’s best pure offensive player. He’s also proven rather tough, playing through various maladies last season when his team needed him.

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That’s a wrap: Hoosiers fall in opening round of Big Ten Tournament

by in Recaps | March 12th, 2009

Predictably, there will be no March Madness for Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers.

Indiana (6-25) concluded the 2008-2009 campaign with a 66-51 loss to Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The loss was the 10th straight for Indiana.

The result was never really in doubt as the Nittany Lions (22-10) opened the game with a 26-8 run and IU was never able to draw closer than nine the rest of the way.

“They’re a good team, ” Crean said. “Very well coached, as is the rest of this league. And I hope they get in the NCAA.”

Verdell Jones continued his late season breakout and was the only IU player in double figures with 23 points. Jones shot 7 of 11 from the field and hit 5 of 5 free throws.

“This season is definitely a learning experience,” Jones said. “But I think the most we got out of this season is if you work hard and listen to what the coaches say you can improve by leaps and bounds.”

Kyle Taber, Nick Williams and Daniel Moore added five points each. Taber, a former walk-on who played for four coaches at IU, reflected on his career after the loss.

“I’m sad to see it end, ” Taber said. “I mean, it was so much fun playing here at Indiana, and I was just glad to be a part of it for five years.”

Penn State advances to a quarterfinal game on Friday night at 9PM ET against Purdue. Jamelle Cornley led three Nittany Lion players in double figures with 22 points. Stanley Pringle added 16 points and David Jackson had 10.

Talor Battle, the Big Ten’s leading scorer with 17.3 points per game, was held to three points on just three shot attempts, but dished out six assists and had four steals.

Big Ten Tournament not so kind to Hoosiers: The loss against Penn State drops IU to 8-12 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament. IU is now 13-6 in games played at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Dumes misses finale: Junior guard Devan Dumes did not dress and missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. Dumes finished the season as IU’s leading scorer at 12.7 ppg.

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Hoosiers fall to Penn State in Happy Valley

by in Recaps | March 9th, 2008

th_23659_gamerecap_122_111lo.jpgA game that Indiana hoped would be a tuneup for the Big Ten Tournament turned into a nightmare Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania.

The Hoosiers (25-6, 14-4 Big Ten) shot a dismal 21 percent from three-point range and committed 17 turnovers in a shocking 68-64 overtime loss to Penn State.

The loss dropped Indiana to third place in the Big Ten and sets the Hoosiers up for a 9PM quarterfinal Friday in the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Eric Gordon scored 26 points, but shot just 8 of 24 from the field including 4 of 16 from behind the three-point line. Gordon also committed five turnovers. D.J. White posted another double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Jamarcus Ellis did not travel with the team and reports indicate that he was suspended for disciplinary reasons. Jordan Crawford started in place of Ellis and scored five points on 1 of 8 shooting.

For Penn State (15-15, 7-11), D.J. Jackson had 13 points, Jeff Brooks added a career-high 12 and Talor Battle had 10. Ed DeChellis’ club was playing with its leading scorer, Jamelle Cornley, who sat out with a knee injury.

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The Morning After: Penn State

by in Morning After | January 21st, 2008

jamarcus1.jpgThis probably shouldn’t be called The Morning After, since it’s coming in the afternoon; my apologies. A weekend visit from the brother and Dr. Martin Luther King Day pushed this back on the list of priorities, but here it is. Also, I’m planning a midseason report some time in the near future. Keep your head on a swivel for that. Onward:

– As much as I pride myself on taking in — and caring about — every game the Hoosiers play, it was hard not to feel apathy yesterday. After two tight, well-contested wins (a big road win at a revitalized Minnesota and a blood-feud victory over Illinois), it was pretty hard to ratchet up any emotion for Penn State. Minus Geary Claxton, the Nittany Lions are on paper arguably the worst team in the Big Ten, which is saying something.

But the Nittany Lions shattered that early yesterday. Not only did they push the Hoosiers to the limit on defense, they were somehow consistently effective on offense, hitting threes and slicing to the hoop and exposing a truly light IU defensive effort.

If I may use a Simmonsian analogy, the game reminded me of an open gym performance between a team of high school buddies and a bunch of out-for-the-exercise scrubs. Playing with friends at the SRSC or the HPER, it was easy to get trapped into games playing against kids who looked like they’d never touched a basketball before. Within one or two possessions, you know you’re going to kill this group of band geek-looking dudes; why try too hard? So you lay off on defense. You take goofy bad shots on offense. You try to flex ability rather than play to win, and before you know it the scrubs start making a few ugly chucks here and there and the score is tied at 10-10. What the hell just happened? Usually, the better team wakes up, says “Let’s go” about a hundred times, and runs the idiots off the court. Sometimes the damage is already done and the scrubs win. Fortunately, the Hoosiers finished with the former yesterday.

Right around the ten minute mark, you could actually read Jamarcus Ellis’ lips as he screamed “Let’s go!” after a defensive stop. You could feel IU realizing the urgency of the moment. They proceeded to pick up the pace on defense, tighten things up on offense, and won going away. The way good teams do.

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