Men’s Basketball Hosts Huskers Saturday AfternoonMen’s Basketball Hosts Huskers Saturday Afternoon
Penn State Athletics

Men’s Basketball Hosts Huskers Saturday Afternoon


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team returns home for a Saturday afternoon matchup against Nebraska inside the Bryce Jordan Center. Tipoff is slated for 2:15 p.m. and the game will air nationally on the Big Ten Network.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • Penn State returns home to host Nebraska in the Nittany Lions' only home Saturday game of the year. 
  • The Nittany Lions are 9-1 inside the Bryce Jordan Center this season. Penn State sits 12-6 overall and 3-4 in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions' three conference wins have come against Indiana (85-66), Iowa (83-79) and at then-No. 17 Illinois (74-59).
  • Jalen Pickett leads PSU in scoring (17.7 ppg), rebounds (7.7 rpg) and assists (7.3 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging 17/7/7. Seth Lundy (13.7 ppg) and Andrew Funk (12.4 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.

 
IF PENN STATE BEATS NEBRASKA

  • Penn State would improve to 10-1 inside the Bryce Jordan Center this season.
  • The Nittany Lions would move back to .500 in Big Ten play at 4-4.

 
SCOUTING THE CORNHUSKERS

  • The Huskers are 10-9 on the season and 3-5 in Big Ten play.
  • Nebraska is coming off a 63-60 home win over Ohio State Wednesday night. The Huskers have also earned Big Ten victories against Iowa (66-50) and at Minnesota (81-79, OT).
  • Derrick Walker leads Nebraska with 13.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game while Sam Griesel follows with 11.4 points per contest. Keisei Tominaga leads the Huskers with 29 made 3-pointers and a 37.7 3FG%.

 
AGAINST NEBRASKA

  • The Nittany Lions and Huskers meet for the first of two times in the next 15 days Saturday.
  • Penn State owns a 13-11 advantage in the all-time series and has won four of the last six meetings with the Huskers, but those two Nebraska wins have both come inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
  • Penn State and Nebraska met just once last season, with the Huskers spoiling Penn State's home finale to the tune of a 93-70 win on Feb. 27, 2022. The Huskers raced out to a 49-31 halftime lead and never looked back. Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy each scored 12 points to lead Penn State, while Dallion Johnson chipped in 11.

 
THE NITTANY LIONS

  • Penn State's bread and butter boils down to four things: they're experienced, they take care of the ball, shoot the ball well from 3-point range, and capitalize on opportunities at the free throw line.
  • The Nittany Lions own the nation's most experienced roster per KenPom. Penn State leads the country in fewest turnovers per game (8.7) and ranks fourth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.69). The Nittany Lions are fond of the three ball, making the fifth-most 3-pointers per game (10.9) in Division I while shooting 39.6 percent from beyond the arc. Penn State's 3-point shooting percentage (39.6% - 9th) and free throw shooting percentage (77.6% - 15th) both rank in the top 15 in the nation.

 
BUILDING THE RESUME

  • Penn State is off to a 12-6 start to the 2022-23 season, its best since start through 18 games since the 2019-20 team started 13-5.
  • The Nittany Lions sit 3-4 in conference play after a tough seven-game stretch to open Big Ten action. The seven Big Ten teams Penn State has already faced are a combined 31-21 (.596) in conference play, while the six teams Penn State has yet to face are a combined 17-26 (.395) in B1G action.
  • Penn State's two best wins were a pair of dominant Quad 1 victories: a 15-point road win at Illinois (currently 32 in NET rankings) on Dec. 10 and a 19-point thumping of Indiana (currently 23 in NET rankings) on Jan. 11 for the Nittany Lions' largest win over the Hoosiers in program history.
  • Penn State has no bad losses on its resume. The Nittany Lions suffered a two-point neutral-site defeat to Virginia Tech (60 in NET) and a double-overtime road loss at Clemson (59 in NET) in non-conference play. All four of Penn State's conference losses have come against teams that currently sit in the top half of the conference standings in Purdue (first), Michigan (tied fourth), Michigan State (tied second) and Wisconsin (tied fourth).

 
NATIONAL NUMBERS

  • Penn State and Nittany Lion players rank in the top 25 in the nation in a number of statistical categories as of Jan. 20:
Team Stat Value National Rank
Fewest turnovers per game 8.7 1
Assist-to-turnover ratio 1.69 4
3FG made/game 10.9 5
3FG% 39.6% 9
FT% 77.6% 15
Effective FG% .558 20
Player Stat Value National Rank
Assist-to-turnover ratio – Jalen Pickett 3.74 2
Assists per game – Jalen Pickett 7.3 4
3FG made/game – Andrew Funk 3.1 19

 
HOME COOKIN'

  • Penn State is 9-1 when playing inside the Bryce Jordan Center this season. The Nittany Lions only loss in Happy Valley this season was the Big Ten opener against Michigan State (58-67) on Dec. 7.
22-23 Stat BJC Elsewhere
Points per game 78.1 70.0
FG% 48.7% 43.8%
3FG% 41.7% 36.7%
Assists per game 17.5 11.4
Turnovers per game 8.0 9.6

 
17/7/7

  • Jalen Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 17 points (17.7) per game, 7 rebounds (7.7) per game and 7 assists (7.3) per game.
  • Only one men's college basketball player in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) has finished the season averaging 17/7/7. Michigan State's Denzel Valentine finished the 2015-16 season averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game en route to first team All-America honors and Big Ten Player of the Year accolades.

 
THE MAESTRO

  • Jalen Pickett was named to both the midseason watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy and Sporting News Midseason All-America Third Team this week. The point guard ranks second in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.74) and fourth in assists per game (7.3).
  • The Rochester, N.Y. native is the only Big Ten player that ranks in the top 10 of the conference statistical standings in scoring (sixth), rebounding (10th) and assists (first). 
  • Pickett owns eight 20-plus point games this season, four of which have come in Penn State's seven Big Ten games. He is currently averaging 20.3 ppg, 9.4 rpg, and 6.6 apg while shooting 53.3% from the field, 50.0% from 3-point range and 80.8% from the free throw line in conference play.
  • The 6-4 guard has five double-doubles this season and 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.

 
FIVE 1,000 POINT SCORERS

  • The Nittany Lions are one of four teams in the country with five 1,000-point scorers on their 2022-23 roster - Myles Dread (1,017 points), Andrew Funk (1,454 points), Seth Lundy (1,006 points), Jalen Pickett (1,870 points) and Camren Wynter (1,820 points).
  • San Diego, UAB and Missouri are the only three other teams that have five active 1,000-point scorers on their 2022-23 rosters.
  • Seth Lundy was the most recent Nittany Lion to reach the mark, becoming the 39th all-time member of Penn State's 1,000 career point club on Jan. 11 against Indiana. Myles Dread accomplished the feat one week earlier on Jan. 4 in Penn State's road game at Michigan.

 
ELITE EFFICIENCY FOR LUNDY

  • Senior Seth Lundy is producing at an elite level on both ends of the floor through the first 18 games of the season. The Paulsboro, N.J. native is the only player in the Big Ten and one of just three players in the country to be averaging 10+ points (13.7 ppg) and 6+ rebounds (6.2) per game while shooting more than 55% from two (56.3%), 40% from three (42.1%) and 80% from the free throw line (82.0%).
  • Lundy's having his most consistent year in the Blue & White and has scored in double figures in all but two games this season. In addition to his offensive consistency, Lundy serves as one of the team's top defenders and is consistently tasked with guarding the opposing team's best players.

 
LETHAL PERIMETER PUNCH

  • Penn State's trio of Myles Dread, Andrew Funk and Seth Lundy have provided a lethal 1-2-3 punch on the perimeter as all three are shooting over 40% from deep with at least 35 made 3-pointers.
  • Andrew Funk has made a Big Ten-best 3.1 3-pointers per contest at a 41.8 percent clip. Seth Lundy is shooting 42.1 percent from behind the arc while draining 2.4 treys per game. Myles Dread (2.1 3-pointers/game) is converting his looks from deep at a team-best 43.7 percent clip.
  • Funk and Lundy became the first Big Ten duo in the last 20 seasons with seven made 3-pointers in the same game in Penn State's Jan. 11 win over Indiana. The pair both shot 7-for-12 from deep en route to the 19-point Penn State victory.

 
UP NEXT

  • Penn State heads to New Jersey to take on #23 Rutgers at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening on the Big Ten Network.

 
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.