Plotnick | Poor backcourt play has Miller off-guard

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn entered its season opener with Penn State expecting big numbers from standout Talor Battle.

So the dynamic junior’s 27 points Friday wasn’t too much of a shock considering that Penn’s defense showed a particular inability to contain dominant scorers last season.

But what was unexpected was the lack of offensive production from Penn’s starting backcourt, as Darren Smith and Zack Rosen combined for 11 points on 3-for-19 shooting and an even worse 2-for-13 three-point percentage.

Yet coach Glen Miller appeared unwilling to bench the two — both Rosen and Smith logged over 30 minutes and Smith even attempted more shots in the second half than in the first.

After the game, Miller didn’t name the subpar guard play as one of the major factors in his team’s loss. He only touched on his backcourt’s inability to score in reference to the team’s general lackluster three-point shooting. (Penn was 5-for-23 from long distance.)

“We got three-point happy,” he said. “We talked about that at halftime and really I was not pleased. We didn’t make the adjustment; we came out taking ill-advised threes again.”

Instead of addressing the play of his guards — Rosen and Smith combined for seven turnovers — Miller pointed to the foul trouble of usual leading scorer Tyler Bernardini.

“I’m just saying that Tyler took himself out of the game with some careless fouls, and it’s been a problem in practice,” he said. “What would have happened if he was in the game for 28, 32 minutes which he should have played? I don’t know.”

The junior’s two personal fouls were certainly a problem in the first half, as Miller restricted him to eight minutes.

But in the second half, Miller subbed Bernardini out on nearly all defensive plays, making it virtually impossible for the forward to establish a rhythm when Penn needed him most (he was 0-for-2 from the floor in that half). In fact, he didn’t even foul out, finishing with four fouls in 17 total minutes.

Yet isn’t a fouled out Bernardini just as inneffective as a benched one?

Facing an even stronger Villanova team tonight, Penn needs a better showing from its backcourt and less fouls from Bernardini so that Miller isn’t faced with the same dilemma.

Lauren Plotnick is a sophomore environmental studies major from Potomac, Md., and is Associate Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian She can be contacted at dpsports@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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