Penn State men’s basketball’s disappointing defeat to Rutgers on Tuesday night was hardly a pretty game to watch for either fan base.

Despite shooting an ugly 37% from the field and recording eight turnovers in the first half, the Nittany Lions still managed to carry a 33-28 lead into the locker room. This was thanks in no small part to a strong defensive effort from just about every player on the court for Pat Chambers’ squad, as they held Rutgers to an even worse 31% shooting and didn’t allow any threes.

In the final 20 minutes, though, things changed. The Scarlet Knights began to score at a more efficient clip and began to dominate the glass on the offensive side.

Penn State’s offense, on the other hand, struggled to find any sort of consistent success, as Lamar Stevens’ eight points represented the only scoring for the Nittany Lions until a Myreon Jones three with 9:39 left in the second half.

Aside from a couple of bursts from that pair, Penn State’s only other second-half scoring came on one free throw from Mike Watkins and an uncontested dunk from Izaiah Brockington in the final seconds. While the goal is to never allow a slow offensive performance to impact your team’s defensive effort, Chambers made clear that this wasn’t the case for Penn State in the second half.

“Rutgers was crashing the glass, and we didn’t do our job. In the first half we did our job, second half we didn’t,” Chambers said. “We defend and rebound, that’s our identity, that’s what we’re supposed to do. [Poor shooting] can’t determine how hard you play on the defensive end.”

The numbers back up Penn State’s head coach pretty clearly, as Rutgers finished with 26 rebounds in the second half compared to the Nittany Lions’ 13. The Scarlet Knights consistent rebounding effort allowed for them to earn several easy opportunities inside and cause plenty of contacts, as eight of their second-half boards came on the offensive end. The home squad didn’t mind the physicality either, as Rutgers flourished when given opportunities at the line, shooting an impressive 22-for-29 on the night.

While the Nittany Lions finished with three players in double-figures, their prolonged scoring lulls — most notably the one to open the second half — were a clear factor in their defensive effort.

It’s not hard to understand why that happened, as it’s obviously frustrating to constantly watch your shots fall in-and-out and will inevitably affect how fast you move down the floor. But Chambers explained that it’s something that his squad will need to learn from and not allow to happen again in a stacked Big Ten conference.

“There’s a lot of good teams in this league this year,” Chambers said. “We’ll learn from this, we’ll watch film, and we’ll get up tomorrow and get better. That’s what we have to do, we have another incredible opponent on Saturday [in Wisconsin].”

As of now, Tuesday’s loss serves as a fairly small blemish on what’s been a dream season for this Penn State squad. The Nittany Lions still hold an impressive 12-3 record, and a loss to a talented Rutgers team that is now 11-0 on its home court isn’t cause for any extreme concern.

Some nights, shots don’t fall. Tonight was clearly one of those games, as Penn State went an abysmal 6-for-26 from the three-point line. While the Nittany Lions will certainly have more matchups where the ball quite simply doesn’t go in the hoop too often, they can’t let it change their gritty style of defensive play.

While you can bet that defense will be a point of emphasis for Penn State at practice over the next few days, Chambers’ mentality on shooting hasn’t changed.

“Keep shooting,” Chambers said. “Just like I’d tell you if we were playing pick-up. Keep shooting.”