Friday, November 9
University Park, Pa.
7:30 p.m.
University of North Florida
0-2
72
at
87
Penn State
1-0
1
2
F
North Florida
28
44
72
Penn State
40
47
87
Team Stats
UNF
PSU
FG%
.422
.474
3FG%
.185
.381
FT%
.591
.714
RB
38
39
TO
15
15
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG/F
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Mark Selders
Chilly Shooting Costs Men's Basketball Against Penn State
11/9/2018 10:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OPENING TIP
Score:Â North Florida 72, Penn State 87
Records:Â North Florida (0-2) | Penn State (1-0)
Location:Â Bryce Jordan Center (University Park, Pa.)
The Short Story:Â The North Florida men's basketball team struggled to find a consistent offensive flow in a hard fought 87-72 road loss at Penn State on Friday night. Garrett Sams led UNF with 16 points.
GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore | Full Game Book
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Junior Garrett Sams reached double digits for the second straight game, finishing with a team high 16 points
- Fellow junior Noah Horchler scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds en route to posting his second consecutive double-double
- Ezekiel Balogun also netted 10 points for UNF, while Ivan Gandia-Rosa chipped in 7 assists and 7 points
- Ospreys shot 42 percent from the floor but made just 5 of 27 three-point attempts (18.5 percent) and were 13-22 from the free throw line (59 percent)
- Lamar Stevens paced the Nittany Lions with a double-double of 22 points/10 rebounds
- The bigger PSU squad held a slim 39-38 advantage on the glass
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- North Florida held a slight lead through the opening minutes of play behind baskets from Garrett Sams and Wajid Aminu
- UNF went cold for several minutes as Penn State grabbed the lead following a 7-0 spurt
- The game remained a one-possession margin until a 9-0 surge by the Nittany Lions pushed them in front, 23-16
- Sams hit back-to-back baskets followed by a basket by Ivan Gandia-Rosa to trim the deficit to a single point (23-22)
- Another scoring drought plagued the Ospreys with UNF missing nine consecutive shots in a three-minute span
- Noah Horchler snapped the North Florida skid but PSU was able to close out the half with a 40-28 lead
Second Half Notes
- The two squads traded baskets early in the closing stanza with UNF getting to within eight (45-37) after another basket from Gandia-Rosa
- Penn State would maintain a lead of 10-15 points for much of the second period as the Ospreys were unable to sustain an offensive surge
- Ezekiel Balogun drilled his first trey of the season cutting the PSU lead to 11 (66-55) with 8:24, but the Nittany Lions outscored UNF 13-6 over the next four minutes of action to seize control of the game
- PSU connected on 5 of 9 three-point tries in the half to prevent a rally by the Ospreys
INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- North Florida missed its first 19 three-point attempts before making 5 of its final 8 treys
- Balogun hit a pair of threes on the night to lead the Ospreys
- Freshman Cam Copeland made his collegiate debut and made his first career shot attempt
- UNF collected 11 offensive rebounds to just 9 for PSU
- All of Horchler's 10 rebounds were on the defensive end
- Ospreys had seven different players notch a steal in the contest
LAST WORD
"It's one of those things that you want to look at the statistics or the shooting and say if we would have made more shots or free throws then... The bottom line is we had some toughness tonight and did some really, really nice things. We competed and played some different lineups with guys playing some minutes that haven't played before. With eight minutes to go it was an 11-point game on the road, playing for the second time in three nights. I love that part of where we are right now. I don't like the part that we weren't able to really hone in on and utilize the experience we have to our advantage." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll
NEXT UP
North Florida heads home to host Edward Waters on Wednesday night in the squad's lone contest at UNF Arena in its first seven games.
Â
NORTH FLORIDA MEN'S BASKETBALL | Post Game Presser vs BELLARMINE
Saturday, January 24
NORTH FLORIDA MEN'S BASKETBALL | Post Game Presser vs EKU
Friday, January 23
NORTH FLORIDA MEN'S BASKETBALL | Exhibition Highlights vs Warner
Thursday, October 30
NORTH FLORIDA MEN'S BASKETBALL | BOOT CAMP EXTENDED CUT
Wednesday, October 01
