Nittany Lions Face Strong Tournament Field at Emerald Coast Classic Friday-SaturdayNittany Lions Face Strong Tournament Field at Emerald Coast Classic Friday-Saturday
PSU Athletics/Selders

Nittany Lions Face Strong Tournament Field at Emerald Coast Classic Friday-Saturday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team heads to Florida for Thanksgiving weekend action at the Emerald Coast Classic Friday and Saturday at Northwest Florida State's Raider Arena. The Nittany Lions open the holiday tournament Friday against LSU at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network and will then face either Oregon State or Wake Forest Saturday at either 4 or 7 p.m. ET. The Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • Penn State rides a two-game win streak into its Thanksgiving weekend trip to sunny Florida for the 2021 Emerald Coast Classic.
  • The Nittany Lions open action in Niceville, Fla. Friday against LSU. The winner of the Penn State-LSU game advances to take on the winner of the Oregon State-Wake Forest game Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, while the third-place game is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.

 
LAST TIME OUT

  • The Nittany Lions are coming off a gritty 85-74 comeback victory over previously undefeated Cornell Monday night in Penn State's most recent action.
  • Penn State used 3-point firepower and a 21-7 game-closing run in the final six minutes to secure the victory. The Nittany Lions trailed by as much as 10 with 7:52 left in the first half and the comeback win marked the first time that Penn State erased a 10-plus point deficit to come back and win since Nov. 28, 2020 vs. VMI.
  • Penn State trailed 67-64 with six minutes to play before a trey from senior Jalen Pickett was followed by three more Nittany Lion three-pointers, two from senior Sam Sessoms and one from senior Myles Dread, to comprise a 12-4 streak that turned Penn State's three-point deficit into a five-point lead at the 3:38 mark. The Nittany Lions' free-throw shooting and defense took it from there, as Penn State shot 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final three minutes and held the Big Red to a 1-for-8 clip from the field en route to the 85-74 victory.

 
AGAINST THE EMERALD COAST CLASSIC FIELD

  • Penn State is 3-2 all-time against the 2021 Emerald Coast Classic Field.
  • The Nittany Lions are set to meet LSU for just the second time in program history Friday. In the only previous contest against the Tigers, Penn State topped LSU 78-70 in the East Regional Semifinals en route to the Nittany Lions' 1954 NCAA Final Four appearance.
  • Wake Forest and Penn State met most recently in the B1G/ACC Challenge with the Nittany Lions taking a 76-54 win in December 2019 for a 2-1 series edge.
  • A neutral site game at the 1966 Kentucky Invitational was the only time Penn State and Oregon State faced each other, a double-overtime 64-61 win for the Beavers.

 
SCOUTING LSU

  • The Tigers bring an unblemished 5-0 mark to Florida for the Emerald Coast Classic. LSU has picked up early-season wins over Belmont (83-53), McNeese State (85-46), Liberty (74-58), Texas State (84-59), and Louisiana-Monroe (101-39), but Penn State will be the first Power Five team on the slate for the Tigers this season. 
  • LSU's high-octane offense averages 85.4 points per game and is led by Darius Days' 19.2 points per contest. Tari Eason contributes 13.6 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game, while four other Tigers have chipped in nine or more points per game. LSU made an NCAA Tournament appearance a season ago and finished the 2020-21 season at 19-10 overall and 11-6 in SEC play.

 
SCOUTING OREGON STATE

  • The Beavers look to get back on track after a tough start to the season as Oregon State heads to Florida with a 1-4 overall mark. OSU's lone win of the young season came in its season opener against Portland State (73-64), but the Beavers have since dropped four-straight contests to Iowa State (50-60), Tulsa (58-64), Samford (77-78) and Princeton (80-81).
  • Warith Alatishe leads the Beavers with 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Maurice Calloo (12.8 ppg) and Jarod Lucas (11.0 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points. OSU made a magical run to the Elite Eight a season ago and finished 20-13 overall and 10-10 in the PAC-12.

 
SCOUTING WAKE FOREST

  • Wake Forest is a perfect 5-0 on the season and heads to Florida with victories over William & Mary (77-59), Western Carolina (87-75), Charleston Southern (95-59), N.C. A&T (87-63) and Kennesaw St. (92-61). The Emerald Coast Classic will be Wake Forest's first games away from their home arena this season.
  • The Demon Deacons own the tournament field's highest-scoring offense at 87.6 ppg and Wake is avering 9.8 three-pointers per game. Alondes Williams leads the team with 19.4 ppg, while Daivien Williamson chips in 15.0 ppg.

 
MAKE IT RAIN

  • Penn State made a program-record tying 15 3-pointers in Monday night's win over the Big Red. It has happened twice before, against Purdue in 2001 (2/7/01) and again against Hartford in 2008 (11/20/08).
  • Senior Sam Sessoms led the way with a blistering 6-for-7 effort from deep. Junior Seth Lundy followed with five treys on 5-of-8 shooting, while four other Nittany Lions chipped in one trey apiece.
  • Penn State entered the game not having made more than six 3-pointers in a game this season.

 
THE BIG THREE

  • Penn State's returning veteran trio of John Harrar, Seth Lundy and Sam Sessoms lead the way for the Nittany Lions through the first four games of the season.
  • The trio of returning Nittany Lions has combined for 66.6 percent of Penn State's scoring production (193 of 290 points) while shooting a combined 60.9 percent (70-of-115) from the field.
  • Harrar, Lundy and Sessoms are also contributing 59.9 percent (91 of 152) of Penn State's rebounding.

 
UP NEXT

  • Following two games at the Emerald Coast Classic, Penn State returns home for a big week in Happy Valley that begins with a Big Ten/ACC Men's Basketball Challenge matchup with Miami at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday night on ESPNU.
  • The Nittany Lions then remain home to open Big Ten play against Ohio State Sunday Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.