Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 86-66 loss at Penn State

Playing on the road as a 25-plus-point Vegas underdog without your best player is typically a recipe for disaster. Penn learned that the hard way roughly this time last year against Houston when star guard Clark Slajchert suffered a season-ruining ankle sprain in an 81-42 beatdown.

By those standards, the Quakers’ Sunday trip to the Bryce Jordan Center to face Penn State was a (relative) success. Despite being without the services of junior wing Ethan Roberts, Penn went toe-to-toe with the Nittany Lions for roughly 25 minutes in an 86-66 defeat.

The Quakers (4-9) went to the locker room down just 34-31 at halftime and were within two points of Penn State (11-2) after senior big man Nick Spinoso bounced in a three-pointer from the left wing to make it a 38-36 game with 17:40 to go in the game. The Nittany Lions responded with an extended 13-3 run to push their advantage to double digits and built a bigger lead from there.

Penn State big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser scored five points in the game-deciding run. He finished with a 19-point, 15-rebound double-double.

What could Penn fans take away from a respectable showing against an NCAA Tournament contender?

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 81-42 blowout loss at No. 3 Houston

Senior guard Clark Slajchert didn’t return after rolling his ankle in Penn’s 81-42 loss at No. 3 Houston. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Penn was always going to have trouble competing on the road against Associated Press No. 3 Houston, which ranks first in overall efficiency margin and first in defensive efficiency on KenPom.

But what happened to the Red and Blue on Saturday was worse than what any Penn fan could reasonably have predicted. Houston delivered an 81-42 beatdown, which was the visitors’ worst loss since they endured a 114-55 humiliation at the hands of Duke on New Year’s Eve in 2009.

Houston (13-0) started the game on an 18-0 run. Penn (8-6) did not score until more than nine minutes had passed in the first half, when freshman Sam Brown drained a long contested three-pointer off a feed from classmate Tyler Perkins.

The ugly final score wasn’t even the worst thing about Saturday. Senior Clark Slajchert rolled his ankle midway through the first half and did not return.

There’s not much to take away from a “burn the tape game,” but you can start with how …

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