UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team faces its first true road test of the season Tuesday night when the Nittany Lions travel to Clemson for the ACC/Big Ten Men's Basketball Challenge presented by Continental Tire. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: ESPNU – Wes Durham (pxp) & Dan Bonner (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network with Steve Jones & Dick Jerardi – 103.7 FM & 1450 AM
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 383 | SXM App. Ch. 973
- LIVE STATS: Live Stats
- GAME NOTES: Penn State Notes | Clemson Notes
OPENING TIPS
- Penn State is set for its first true road game of the season Tuesday night when the Nittany Lions travel to Clemson for the ACC/Big Ten Men's Basketball Challenge.
- The Nittany Lions are 6-1 on the season, with their only loss being a two-point defeat to RV/RV Virginia Tech in the Charleston Classic Semifinals.
- Preseason All-Big Ten selection Jalen Pickett leads Penn State in points (15.1 ppg), rebounds (6.6 rpg), assists (7.6 apg) and steals (10). Seth Lundy (12.3 ppg) and Andrew Funk (10.6 ppg) follow.
IF PENN STATE BEATS CLEMSON
- Penn State would move to 7-1 on the season for the first time since the 2019-20 slate.
- The Nittany Lions would improve to 12-10 all-time in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
- The Tigers are 5-2 on the season, including a 4-0 mark at home.
- Clemson is coming off a 1-1 trip to the Emerald Coast Classic over the weekend. The Tigers dropped a tight 71-74 decision to Iowa Friday evening in the tournament opener before bouncing back with a 67-59 win over Cal Saturday.
- Clemson's only other loss of the season came on Nov. 11, a 58-60 setback at South Carolina.
- The Tigers have also defeated The Citadel (80-69), USC Upstate (81-70), Bellarmine (76-66) and Loyola Maryland (72-41).
- Chase Hunter leads the Tigers with 16.6 points per game, 5.3 assists per game and a team-best 18 3-pointers. Hunter Tyson (12.7 ppg) and Brevin Galloway (11.1 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.
AGAINST CLEMSON
- Penn State and Clemson are set to meet for the fifth time in program history and first time since 2005.
- All four of the previous meetings between the two teams have come in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, with the Tigers owning a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series.
- The Nittany Lions won the first-ever meeting on Dec. 1, 1999, but Clemson has won the last three matchups.
READY FOR THE CHALLENGE
- Penn State has won six of its last eight ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups and is set for its first road test of the season as this year's Challenge sends the Nittany Lions south to take on Clemson.
- The Nittany Lions are 11-10 all-time in 21 Big Ten/ACC Challenge appearances.
- Penn State is 5-5 all-time in Challenge road games, including a 75-55 road win at then 15th-ranked Virginia Tech in 2020, the Nittany Lions' most recent Challenge road game.
- All four of Penn State's previous meetings with Clemson have come in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the most recent coming in 2005.
- The Big Ten has won the last three Challenges, posting an 8-6 record in 2021, 7-5 record in 2020 and an 8-6 record in 2019. The leagues split 7-7 in 2018.
6-1
- Penn State is off to its first 6-1 start since the 2019-20 season. Three of the Nittany Lions' six wins have come over teams currently ranked in the top 90 of the KenPom rankings, and Penn State's only loss was a two-point neutral site defeat to RV/RV Virginia Tech.
- The Nittany Lions opened the season with a pair of 25-point wins over Winthrop (93-68) and Loyola Maryland (90-65). Penn State earned a pair of closer victories over Butler (68-62) and Furman (73-68) before falling to the Hokies (59-61) in the Nittany Lions' first loss of the season. Penn State bounced back in the Charleston Classic finale to take down Colorado State (68-56) before beating Lafayette (70-57) at home on Black Friday.
- Five Nittany Lions are averaging 8.6 or more points to lead the Penn State offense. Preseason All-Big Ten selection Jalen Pickett leads the way with 15.1 points, 7.6 assists and 6.6 rebounds per game. Seth Lundy (12.3 ppg), Andrew Funk (10.6 ppg), Camren Wynter (9.6 ppg) and Myles Dread (8.6 ppg) follow.
FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS
- Penn State and Nittany Lion players rank in the top 25 in the nation in a number of statistical categories as of Nov. 27:
| Team Stat | Value | National Rank |
| 3FG made/game | 12.3 | 3 |
| 3FG% | 42.2% | 9 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio | 1.74 | 11 |
| Effective FG% | 0.587 | 11 |
| Fewest turnovers/game | 9.7 | 13 |
| Fewest fouls/game | 13.9 | 24 |
| Player Stat | Value | National Rank |
| Total assists – Jalen Pickett | 53 | 3 |
| Assists/game – Jalen Pickett | 7.6 | 5 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio – Jalen Pickett | 5.3 | 6 |
| 3FG% - Myles Dread | 52.6% | 21 |
| Total 3FG made – Myles Dread | 20 | 29 |
| Total 3FG made – Andrew Funk | 20 | 29 |
MAKE IT RAIN
- Penn State ranks third in the nation with 12.3 3-pointers made per game. The Nittany Lions are shooting the long ball at a 42.2 percent (86-204) clip, a mark that ranks ninth in the country.
- Penn State (12.3/game, 42.2 3FG%) and Utah State (12.8/game, 47.8 3FG%) are the only two teams in the country that average 12 or more 3-pointers per game while shooting at least 40 percent from beyond the arc.
- The 3-point line has existed in the college game for 36 years. Heading into this season, Penn State had never made more than 15 3-pointers in a single game, but the Nittany Lions did so twice in the first two games of the season. Penn State drilled a program-record 18 3-pointers in the Nov. 7 season opener against Winthrop, besting the previous school mark of 15 that was reached on three occasions, most recently on Nov. 21, 2021 against Cornell. The Nittany Lions followed that up with 16 treys on Nov. 10 against Loyola Maryland.
- Penn State has made double-digit 3-pointers in six of its seven games this season.
THE MAESTRO
- Preseason All-Big Ten selection Jalen Pickett has put on a show through the first seven games of the season, leading the Nittany Lions in points (15.1 ppg), rebounds (6.6 rpg), assists (7.6 apg), blocks (4) and steals (10).
- Pickett ranks third in the country with 53 assists thus far this season (as of Nov. 26), while his 7.6 assists per game rank fifth and his sparkling 5.3 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks sixth.
- Pickett put together the second triple-double and first points-rebounds-assists triple-double in Penn State history Nov. 14 against Butler with his 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. Penn State's only other triple-double came in 1998 when all-time great Calvin Booth tallied 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocks against Dayton in an NIT game.
- Pickett's triple-double was just the eighth turnover-free triple-double by a collegiate player in the last four seasons. It was the first triple-double by a Big Ten player since the 2020-21 season when Ayo Dosunmu of Illinois reached the milestone on Feb. 22, 2021.
- The Rochester, N.Y. native followed his triple-double performance with a strong three-game showing at the Charleston Classic to earn All-Tournament team honors. He averaged 15.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 6.0 apg in Penn State's three tourney games.
1-2 PERIMETER PUNCH
- Penn State guards Myles Dread and Andrew Funk have provided a lethal 1-2 punch on the perimeter as the two Nittany Lions both rank in the top 30 in the nation with 20 made 3-pointers thus far into the season (as of Nov. 27).
- Dread is shooting a Big Ten-best 52.6 percent (20-38) from downtown, a mark that ranks 21st amongst Division I players.
- Dread returned to Penn State for his fifth season to utilize his extra year of eligibility and already has his name etched in the Penn State record books. Dread has drained 252 career 3-pointers, the fifth-most in Penn State history. Funk, a graduate transfer, came to Penn State after a stellar four-year career at Bucknell. He owns 1,304 career points and 210 career 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
- Penn State will have a week layoff before opening Big Ten play against Michigan State on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. from the Bryce Jordan Center and the game will be nationally televised on the Big Ten Network.
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.