Three games into the season, Penn State’s offense already is in midseason form.
The Nittany Lions aim to continue their unbeaten streak Saturday afternoon when they visit Philadelphia to face La Salle as part of the Basketball on Broad: Autumn Invitational.
Penn State (3-0) hasn’t necessarily dominated its first three opponents, but coach Mike Rhoades certainly would have signed up for wins over Fairfield, New Haven and Navy to begin the season.
With a team full of freshmen, transfers and international newcomers, the Nittany Lions had the potential to get off to a slow start. However, that has not been the case, in part thanks to Fred Dilione V, one of the few veteran returnees.
“(The key is) sharing the ball,” Dilione said. “We all share the ball with each other. We just work hard in practice, and we all get along with each other, so it translates to the game.”
Penn State is averaging 14 assists per game — nearly a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio — and the team is collectively shooting 50.3% from the field while averaging 81 points per contest.
Dilione (11.0 ppg) is coming off his best game of the young season, as he chipped in 19 points in Tuesday’s 80-71 triumph over Navy.
“Coach always talks about it, just finding ways to win,” said Dilione, who has made just 1 of 8 shots from 3-point range this season. “The long ball is not falling, so just find other ways to score.”
La Salle (2-1) defeated Coppin State and Monmouth by a combined 41 points to begin the season before falling at Temple on Tuesday by a 90-63 margin. The Explorers shot 37% from the field and knocked down just four 3-pointers while allowing 12 from beyond the arc by the Owls.
Rob Dockery led La Salle with 11 points.
“We told our guys, if you look at the breakdown of our roster and look at wins and losses at their schools, their previous schools, a lot of guys haven’t had a ton of success,” La Salle coach Darris Nichols said. “Winning two games, how do you handle that? I don’t think we handled it very well.”
