CANCUN, Mexico – The Penn State men's basketball team will play Wright State in the first game in the Riviera Division of the Cancun Challenge held at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. Tipoff is 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 20, and the contest will be broadcast by CBS Sports Network.
This is only the second meeting between the two schools with the Nittany Lions holding a 1-0 series advantage.
Possible opponents on the other side of the bracket, Bradley and SMU, play in a 6 p.m. matchup on Tuesday with the winners of the Nov. 20 games advancing to the Riviera Division championship game at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
WATCH: CBS Sports Network
Thad Anderson (pxp) & Pete Gillen (analyst)
STREAM: https://www.cbssportsnetwork.com/
(subscription required)
LISTEN: Penn State Sports Network
Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
GoPSUsports.com/lionvision | Affiliates
Satellite: XM 386 | Internet 973
LIVE STATS: Penn State vs. Wright State
SOCIAL: Twitter @PennStateMBB & @Coach_Chambers | Facebook | Instagram @PennStateMBB.
ROSTER: Penn State | Wright State
SCHEDULE: Penn State | Wright State
GAME NOTES: Penn State | Wright State
MEDIA GUIDE: Penn State | Wright State
WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS
Coach: Scott Navy (Delta State, 1988)
Wright State Record: 48-23 (3rd season)
Career Record: 458-263 (24th season)
2018-19 Record: 3-1, 0-0 Horizon League
2018-19 Leading Scorer
#1 Bill Wampler, Jr., F - 16.8 ppg
2018-19 Leading Rebounder
#11 Loudon Love, So., C - 8.8 rpg
2018-19 Assists Leader
#31 Cole Gentry, Jr., G - 3.5 apg
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
Coach: Patrick Chambers (Philadelphia, 1994)
Penn State Record: 115-123 (8th season)
Career Record: 157-151 (10th season)
2018-19 Leading Scorer:
#11 Lamar Stevens, Jr., F - 24.0 ppg
2018-19 Leading Rebounder:
#11 Lamar Stevens, Jr., F - 10.3 rpg
2018-19 Assists Leader:
#23 Josh Reaves, Sr., G – 4.7 apg
PENN STATE PROBABLE STARTERS
F -- 11 -- Lamar Stevens – Jr. | 2018-19 ppg: 24.0 | rpg: 10.3
Note: 4th car dbl-dbl @ DePaul with 25 pts/12 reb
F -- 21 -- John Harrar – So. | 2018-19 ppg: 4.3 | rpg: 5.3
Note: Over 50% FG, 2nd on team at 5.3 rpg
G – 2 -- Myles Dread -- Fr. | 2018-19 ppg: 14.3 | rpg: 3.7
Note: Car best 19 pts at DePaul, 17 pts in opener
G – 5 -- Jamari Wheeler -- So. | 2018-19 ppg: 1.7 | rpg: 2.7
Note: 2nd highest steals total on team
G – 23 -- Josh Reaves -- Sr. | 2018-19 ppg: 14.3 | rpg: 3.7
Note: Leads team in FG%, 3FG%, FT%, stls, assts
SERIES RECORD vs. WRIGHT STATE
Penn State and Wright State have met only once before with the Nittany Lions winning 72-50 at the Bryce Jordan Center on Dec. 3, 2016.
STARTING 5
Patrick Chambers is 24-22 overall at neutral sites with an 18-17 mark in games as the Nittany Lions' head coach. This is the first in-season trip outside the U.S. for the Nittany Lions since traveling to the Puerto Rico Tipoff in the 2012-13 season.
Penn State was 5-2 in neutral site games in 2017-18, going 4-1 at Madison Square Garden (2-1 at Big Ten Tournament, 2-0 at NIT) with a 1-1 mark at Barclays Center. The Nittany Lions won 11 games away from the Bryce Jordan Center in 2017-18, most since 2000-01 (11).
Senior guard Josh Reaves currently leads Penn State in FG percentage (60.9), 3-FG percentage (54.5), FT percentage (81.8), and in assists (14) and steals (10).
Penn State is ranked No. 4 nationally for 3-point field goal defense, allowing opponents a success rate of only 17.5 percent.
Junior forward Lamar Stevens, who has started every game since arriving on campus in 2016-17, would make his 76th consecutive start vs. Wright State Tuesday night.
LAST TIME OUT – DEPAUL OUTLASTS 72-70 LIONS IN OT
Penn State battled back from a 10-point deficit with 3:41 left in regulation, but DePaul outlasted the Nittany Lions in overtime to win the Gavitt Tipoff Games match up, 72-70 in Wednesday in Wintrust Arena.
Junior forward Lamar Stevens recorded his third-straight game with 20+ points and his second double-double of the season with 25 points and a career-high-tying 12 rebounds. Freshman Myles Dread netted a career-high 19 points, including five triples, and Josh Reaves added 13 points, tied his career-high total of eight assists and had four steals.
DePaul's Eli Cain made a field goal within the first minute of the overtime period and then Jalen Coleman-Lands and Matt Strus each added a free throw to give the Blue Demons the four points they needed for the win.
In a game of runs, Penn State and DePaul traded double-digit leads as three different Nittany Lions scored in the final 3:41 to erase the Blue Demons' 10-point lead for the 68-68 score at the end of regulation.
Stevens scored five points and Dread, and Jamari Wheeler each had a basket on the offensive side while DePaul missed three shots, had another blocked, missed a pair of free throws, and had three turnovers to leave the door open for Penn State's comeback.
In the first half, Penn State stormed to an 11-0 lead and kept DePaul without points until the 15:45 mark. DePaul grabbed its first lead of the game, 27-26, with 4:20 left in the first half. Three minutes later DePaul had extended it to a seven-point advantage after four Penn State missed shots and three turnovers gave possessions back to the Blue Demons.
Max Strus finished the game with 21 points for DePaul while Gage added 14 and Olujobi 13. Jaylen Butz collected a game-high 15 rebounds.
BY THE NUMBERS
8 – Senior guard Josh Reaves had a career-best eight assists at DePaul.
9 – With 10 steals in three games, senior guard Josh Reaves ranks ninth in the nation with 3.33 steals per game.
25 – Rasir Bolton scored 25 points vs. Jacksonville State. The last time a freshman scored 25 points in a game was Lamar Stevens vs. Maryland (Feb. 7, 2017).
44 – Dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season, Penn State has 44 wins vs. only 3 losses when it holds an
opponent to less than 70 points.
75 – Junior forward Lamar Stevens has started every single game (75) for Penn State since arriving on campus.
87 – Penn State's 87 points vs. North Florida were the most in a season opener in the coach Patrick Chambers era and most since 2000-01 (87).
115 – Coach Patrick Chambers, in his eighth year at Penn State, has 115 victories and is closing in on the win total of Jerry Dunn
(117, 8 years).
