The first half of this game was truly an exercise in duality. The Tide started off the first 10 minutes of the game out-manned, out-matched, and out-hustled. They looked totally asleep at the best of times, and comatose the rest of it. The Nittany Lions jumped out to a 23-9 lead before Alabama finally woke up and started putting forth a little effort.
Everything flipped all at once, and suddenly Penn State went nearly 8 minutes without scoring a point— time period in which Alabama scored 24 unanswered points. It truly was a team effort too. John Petty was probably the best of the bunch, showing off plenty of moves under the basket and slick passes in the lane (it’s amazing what Petty can do when he remembers that he can do a whole lot more than just shoot threes), but Donta Hall, Herb Jones, Riley Norris, and Dazon Ingram got in on the action as well.