UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team dropped a tough 69-61 battle to Minnesota Tuesday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Nittany Lions owned a four-point halftime lead, but Minnesota shot nearly 70 percent from the field in the second half to leave Happy Valley with the road victory.
D’Marco Dunn led Penn State with a career high-tying 18 points. Zach Hicks and Ace Baldwin Jr. followed with 11 points apiece, while Nick Kern Jr. added 10 points and seven rebounds. The Nittany Lions played without starting big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser due to injury.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Nittany Lions started 0-for-6 from the field, but a strong defensive effort limited the early damage as Minnesota was just 2-for-8 from the field with two turnovers and the Gophers owned a 4-0 lead six minutes into the game.
- D’Marco Dunn scored Penn State’s first basket at the 13:44 mark and Dominick Stewart followed with a triple before Dunn added two more points from the free throw line and Penn State quickly pulled in front 7-4 just under eight minutes into the contest.
- The Nittany Lion defense kept Minnesota to 5-for-19 from the field with seven turnovers through the first 16-plus minutes of action. The Nittany Lions made five of six field goals from the 7:28 mark to the 4:21 mark to string together a 10-5 run that put Penn State ahead 20-13 at the under-4 media timeout.
- A Dunn triple at 2:11 gave Penn State its first double-digit lead at 25-15, but the Gophers responded with six unanswered points to close the half and trim the Nittany Lion lead down to 25-21 heading into the locker room.
- Penn State’s lead was at seven following an Ace Baldwin Jr. 3-pointer two minutes into the second half that put the score at 32-25.
- The Gophers made four-straight field goals to claw back within one at 36-35 four minutes later and Penn State clung to a one-to-three-point lead through the next four minutes until the Gophers knotted the score at 44-44 with 10:05 on the clock.
- The Nittany Lions went cold and Minnesota used a 12-2 run over a 8:18 stretch to take a 56-48 advantage with 4:46 to play.
- The Gophers stretched their lead to 11 at 63-52 with 2:41 left on the clock. Freddie Dilione V scored four-straight points to pull the Nittany Lions within 63-56 with just over two minutes to play, but it would be as close as Penn State would get the rest of the way as Minnesota closed out the 69-61 road victory.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State played without starting forward Yanic Konan Niederhauser (12.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg) due to injury. The Nittany Lions were without co-captain Puff Johnson (10.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg) for the fifth-straight game.
- The Nittany Lion defense limited Minnesota to a 38.5 field goal percentage in the first half, but the Gophers shot 60.6 percent from the field in the second half.
- D’Marco Dunn tied his career high with 18 points and pulled down a season-high six rebounds. He added three assists.
- Ace Baldwin Jr. tallied his 1,600th career point with his seventh point of his 11-point, five-assist effort.
- Kachi Nzeh started his first game as a Nittany Lion in the absence of Konan Niederhauser. Nzeh finished with three rebounds and a blocked shot.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions head out West for a California road swing, beginning with a 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT Saturday showdown at UCLA. Penn State then takes on USC Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
The 2024-25 Penn State men’s basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.