The ‘Penn State’ chants volleyed back and forth, bouncing off the walls inside Madison Square Garden as thousands of white-clad Penn State fans tried to drown out the sound stemming from a smaller but boisterous group of Utah supporters.

The 11,175 fans who showed up to what was essentially a consolation game about 230 miles away from the Nittany Lions’ home arena were loud and engaged.

Penn State gave them plenty of reason to be, shooting over 55 percent from the field as the Nittany Lions eventually suffocated the Utes in an 82-66 victory on March 29, 2018.

ESPN ran the headline ‘Believe the Hype! PSU Drops Utah for NIT Title’ as a nod to hip-hop star Flavor Flav, who showed up to the game wearing a clock around his neck supporting his cousin, then-Penn State guard Shep Garner.

There was energy. There was interest. Penn State basketball was fun.

RELATED

Not a year later, Penn State basketball is no longer fun.

In fact, it’s absolutely unwatchable.

Before we go any further, it’s important to make the distinction between ‘unwatchable’ and ‘bad.’

The Nittany Lions are an unequivocally bad basketball team. Their 7-10 overall record and 0-6 Big Ten mark are enough to prove as much.

But their brand of basketball is what makes them unwatchable.

They don’t score. In six conference games they’ve surpassed the 60-point mark just twice. One of the toughest schedules in the country hasn't done them any favors, but every game looks the same.

They’re stagnant offensively. They don’t move the ball. They can’t score near the rim. They can’t create open shots for their star, Lamar Stevens, because they lack secondary scoring options threatening enough to divert the defensive attention away from him. They have the fewest assists of any Big Ten team and the third-most turnovers.

All of these deficiencies combined to make for one of the ugliest on-court products coach Pat Chambers has produced in his tenure at Penn State, eight years in. And it came to a head before a national audience on CBS Sunday against No. 6 Michigan State.

This Penn State offense is tough to watch. Brutal that this game is on national television. — Dylan Burkhardt (@umhoops) January 13, 2019

Penn State's offense is heave and hope. Can't get anything going. MSU is just tougher, more seasoned - and has a guard who can create for everyone. — Graham Couch (@Graham_Couch) January 13, 2019

This is incredible. pic.twitter.com/wjecTIN0tg — Big Ten Geek (@bigtengeek) January 13, 2019

The team was flat. The students didn’t show up in the same numbers they had previously this season, opting instead to watch the Eagles’ playoff run come to a screeching halt. And the game was ugly.

So what are the consequences of so many ugly showings?

All of a sudden, a program that feels like it was really headed in the right direction is once again stuck in the mud, miring in the bottom of the Big Ten in a year that once held so much optimism.

That’s how it’s been in recent Penn State basketball history. The Nittany Lions have been unable to follow up one successful year with another, in the process undoing most of the progress they made previously.

This showing probably stings a little extra for Penn State die-hards, who are forced to watch three freshman guards take their lumps a year after enjoying a backcourt comprised of two of the best guards in program history in Tony Carr and Garner.

And so the wheel of failure continues to turn, and Penn State fans begin hoping for the next outlier season, a rare positive showing to break up the monotony of disappointment.