Sophomore forward Gavin Schilling was a monster for the Spartans Wednesday night, dunking with authority and cleaning up the boards to help propel the Spartans to a 66-60 win against Penn State.
Despite his eye-popping stat line — 11 points and 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end — he and head coach Tom Izzo discussed his tendency to go up for the ball with one hand after the game. For all of Schilling’s effort, he still left something on the table.
“He goes up with everything with one hand,” Izzo said, mentioning that Schilling blamed his tendency to go for balls with one hand as a bad habit. “He has a little bit of a shoulder problem, and maybe that’s a little bit too. But he’s going up one hand all the time and he should be going up two hands. And if he goes up two hands, he too, he misses at least three dunks. That’s six more points for us, six more for him.”
It wasn’t a flawless performance by Schilling, but his energy was one of the main reasons why MSU was able to grind out a tough win against the Nittany Lions. MSU’s offense was sloppy, as it has been throughout the season, but Schilling’s effort was a primary consistency.
The sophomore forward is still realizing his potential, but Izzo is satisfied with the production from Schilling and junior forward Matt Costello, who had 10 points.
“He’s been very active and he’s battling in there, he’s tipping balls loose,” Izzo said of Schilling. “Like I said, I have no complaints with Schilling and Costello. I think those guys are playing, not at the highest level, but I think they’re playing pretty well right now.”
Schilling was responsible for several highlight reel plays, catching lobs from senior guard Travis Trice and faking out a Penn State defender for another dunk in the second half.
“The game has slowed down for me and I’m feeling more comfortable when I get the ball, doing my moves, my teammates are looking for me,” Schilling said.
Trice described Schilling’s ability to finish at the rim as dream-like.
“It’s a point guard’s dream, especially when you go down there and get in trouble,” Trice said. “You kinda got someone who can bail you out.”
