Dec. 9, 2007

Recap |  Box Score

Penn State Head Coach Ed DeChellis

Why were you better with the zone in the second half?

I was disappointed the way we played in the first half and the way we guarded in the first half. We were playing against them instead of them playing against us. We didn't really start out any better in the first 3-4 minutes of the second half. So, we just thought we would play some zone in the second half, calm down a little bit, and make them a little bit off balance. It worked. They only scored 30 something points the second half. You know some days it works some days it doesn't. We just had to try something else. In the first half I was really disappointed in our defense.

Did we see the real Taylor Battle tonight?

Well I hope so. He wants to do well. He's a competitive kid. He took some big shots, he made some big plays tonight, and hopefully he has his confidence back. You know he is a good player. I keep telling him 'you know, you are a good player, play like a good player.' Hopefully that helped him tonight. You know, this game is all about confidence. Things didn't go well for him shooting the basketball early on. You know you struggle early, and then the next thing that happens is that you are thinking instead of playing.

How much does it add to the offense when Battle can make the outside shot?

Well it is easier to open things up, get open shots. When he is making shots and Mike is making shots, its pretty good. And then they have to go out and play him harder. I think he is better off the ball now. Now he could get in the seams like how he did and get other guys open. But if he doesn¹t hit the shots, nobody will play him.

What was the difference with the foul line situation tonight?

Nobody helped us in the second half. We didn't shoot too well from the free throw line. 12-of-24, which is poor. At the end of the game we needed to put them away and we missed several free throws. That was disappointing. But, we tried to run at them at the second half and got some fouls. Its not like we did something different.

I said that I was a little more than disappointed It's not the way we play and the way we are. I don't think we showed much toughness in the first half. We really showed a lot of toughness in the second half and some resiliency. And that's the team I think we are. You know we were trying to play a little too cool in the second half for some reason. The second half I thought we got our juices going and I thought we played well and made good basketball plays.

How long did that last three seconds take?

Again, if we made free throws, we would be walking out of there with a 10-point lead. We just needed to make free throws down the stretch and guys that normally make them finish it off. We got to finish off games. We have to make free throws.

PENN STATE PLAYER QUOTES

Taylor Battle

Did something change to just start making you feel hot?

I think in the first half, or up until the last ten minutes, I didn't really take a lot of shots. I wasn't being aggressive. That last ten minutes I was open and I was shooting with confidence and I was knocking them down.

How great of a feeling was it to pump the crowd up and score that nine straight points?

It felt good just to get us up winning. Not really for myself. But it was helpful because I was not making my shots. I guess someone told me I was 4-for-4 before I hit the last shot. That is the most important fact to me that we won tonight.

Jamelle Cornley

What changed in the second half?

Our intensity changed. We were better on the defensive end. When we went to the 2-3 zone, we were smaller going with D.J., Geary and I on the front line. We communicated a lot. We didn't go over their sets that much. Communicating is what changed the tempo and at the same time, we got some stops in the first half. We weren¹t getting any stops. But now we got some stops and we got some rebounds.

How much more dangerous are you guys when Taylor makes shots?

I think that speaks for itself. When you've got a guard who can not only drive with the ball, but start hitting shots at the same time, those are problems for the other team because now you don¹t know how to guard them. He has been in a slump but he has been getting in extra shots. And those are things we are going to need come Big Ten season.

Geary Claxton

What was the key to you guys staying out of foul trouble in the second half?

We weren't grabbing and reaching and using our bodies. Because when you reach, they are always going to call those fouls. So that is what we tried to do during the second half.

Did that help you being able to be more aggressive?

Oh yeah, definitely. We didn't want to put them on the free throw line. We didn't let them get to the basket. So it all worked out.

Seton Hall Head Coach Bobby Gonzalez

Opening Statement:

I am very disappointed that we lost. We came up a little bit short, but I think our players played outstanding. We controlled the game I think for about 35, 36 minutes. In the second half they did a good job at slowing down the game and making it a possession game. One of the things that happened, and certainly I don't want to take any credit away from Penn state because they made plays to win the game, but Paul Gause hurt his groin and that just really hurt us. With Eugene Harvey's four fouls and Brian Laing's four fouls and Paul getting hurt, we could not press the way we wanted to and keep the pressure up. All of a sudden it turned into a half court possession game, they started hurting us inside with Claxton and Cornley. Their zone did a good job while we didn't do a good job of getting the ball to a high post or short corner against the zone. We ended up taking too many threes. I was proud of our freshman Jeremy Hazell, he had 21 points. We had five guys in double figures. We scored 86 points, shot 43% from three, 44 for the field, and 77 from the line. There is not much more we could have done. There was a huge free throw box out play that Cornley came up with the ball and laid it in, that was a big play. The last thing is that Talor Battle, who was shooting at 11% from three on the year, had a three to tie it in regulation and two threes in overtime, it is just one of those things. We took our chances with him and sometimes kids make shots at home that they don¹t make on the road and he made three big shots. He made three huge threes to change the complexion of the game.

How big of your scouting report was Talor Battle?

Well, I mean we thought that he was important because he pushes the ball up the floor and he is clever. We also thought that he is a freshman and we might be able to turn him over. Last year when we beat Penn State at home, we got 13 steals and we turned them over 21 times. We knew that this was a different team at home, a little more talent and athleticism. Geary Claxton is a big, big, big time player. He is a go-to guy. He played terrific. I thought that we didn¹t expect Battle to hit three threes.

How much different is Penn State from last year?

I think they are a little quicker, a little more athletic, with a little more depth then last year. They have two tough inside guys that are undersized, but they are warriors. When Cornley and Claxton can play together they are a tough match-up. I don't want to leave Morrissey out, he is a very good shooter; he hit five threes, three in the first half. We thought we could be up fifteen or twenty by half time if he didn't hit those threes, because we were really playing good basketball. He kept them alive and made it a ten point game.

Were you expecting the zone in the second half?

Definitely, because I think that going into this game we were shooting 30% from three and I think they were worried about guarding our penetration. Harvey was getting in the lane, and we were a little too quick for them in the first half. In the second half, I expected them to play zone. I figured we would see zone the rest of the way. I was just a little frustrated when our guys in terms of getting the ball to the high post and short corner against zone, didn't do a better job. We didn't do that at certain key plays.

When both Brian and Eugene had four fouls and Paul injured, did you feel the game slipping away?

A tiny bit. When you are on the road you have to win by 10 to win by 2, so to speak. I knew that it wasn't going to be easy. I knew we were going to need a break, a big shot, a big stop. The thing that I am proud of with our kids is that we had control of the game for 36 minutes. Penn came back and got the momentum of the game, then we re-took the lead to get it to 85-80.

That is something that if you are not a good team you can't do. Jeremy Hazell hit a three and we ran a back screen lob play to Laing for a dunk. That put us up 85-80. I thought at that point we were going to win the game.

At that point when you weather a run in someone else's building and then you come back and re-gain the lead and momentum, usually you find a way to win. When they survived that right there, the free-throw box out put back by Cornley, three by number 12, that was when I said that this just might not be, it might not be meant to be.