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Penn State Athletics

Men’s Basketball Travels to Rutgers Tuesday Night

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team hits the road for a midweek battle at Rutgers Tuesday night at Jersey Mike's Arena. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • Penn State looks to continue building its resume with another Quad 1 road opportunity Tuesday night at Rutgers.
  • Penn State sits 13-6 overall and 4-4 in Big Ten play, one game behind Rutgers in the Big Ten standings. The Nittany Lions' four conference wins have come against Nebraska (76-65), Indiana (85-66), Iowa (83-79) and then-No. 17 Illinois (74-59).
  • Jalen Pickett leads PSU in scoring (17.4 ppg), rebounds (7.9 rpg) and assists (7.2 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging 17/7/7. Seth Lundy (13.8 ppg) and Andrew Funk (13.0 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.

 
IF PENN STATE BEATS RUTGERS

  • Penn State would earn its third Quad 1 victory of the season.
  • The Nittany Lions would move into a tie with Rutgers in the Big Ten standings at 5-4.

 
SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

  • The Scarlet Knights are 13-6 overall and 5-3 in Big Ten play. Rutgers is 11-2 when playing in Jersey Mike's Arena.
  • Rutgers owns the Big Ten's best and one of the nation's stingiest defenses. The Scarlet Knights allow just 57.6 points per game overall, but have given up 62.6 points per conference contest.
  • Loyola Maryland transfer Cam Spencer leads Rutgers with 13.4 points per game, while big man Clifford Omoruyi is averaging a double-double with 13.2 ppg and 10.2 rpg.

 
AGAINST RUTGERS

  • Penn State and Rutgers meet for the 80th time in program history Tuesday night, with the Nittany Lions owning a 45-34 advantage in the all-time series.
  • The Nittany Lions have won four of the last six meetings.
  • The two teams met twice last season, with the home team winning each matchup. Penn State took down Rutgers 66-49 in Happy Valley before the Scarlet Knights handed the Nittany Lions a heartbreaking 58-59 loss in the regular-season finale in New Jersey.
  • Penn State rallied back from a 15-point second-half deficit to tie the game at 55 with two minutes to play, but came up just one shot shy of stealing the road victory in the most recent meeting in Piscataway on March 6, 2022.

 
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 (8.8) and ranks second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.66). The Nittany Lions are fond of the three ball, making the fifth-most 3-pointers per game (10.9) in Division I while shooting 39.4 percent from beyond the arc. Penn State's 3-point shooting percentage (39.4% - 10th) and free throw shooting percentage (77.7% - 15th) both rank in the top 15 in the nation.

 
BUILDING THE RESUME

  • Penn State is off to a 13-6 start to the 2022-23 season, its best since start through 19 games since the 2019-20 team started 14-5.
  • The Nittany Lions sit 4-4 in conference play after a front-loaded start to Big Ten play. The eight Big Ten teams Penn State has already faced are a combined 37-29 (.560) in conference play, while the five teams Penn State has yet to face are a combined 15-23 (.394) 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 31 in NET rankings) on Dec. 10 and a 19-point thumping of Indiana (currently 19 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 (55 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 five of the conference standings in Purdue (first), at Michigan (tied second), at Wisconsin (fourth) and Michigan State (fifth).

 
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. 23:
Team Stat Value National Rank
Fewest turnovers/game 8.8 1
Assist-to-turnover ratio 1.66 2
3FG made/game 10.9 5
3FG% 39.4% 10
FT% 77.7% 15
Effective FG% .560 17
Player Stat Value National Rank
Assists/game – Jalen Pickett 7.2 4
Assist-to-turnover ratio – Jalen Pickett 3.24 5
3FG made/game – Andrew Funk 3.2 15

 
TRANSFER TUSSLE

  • Tuesday's Penn State at Rutgers game features two of the Big Ten's most impactful transfers in Penn State's Andrew Funk and Rutgers' Cam Spencer. The two are quite familiar with each other after both transferring in from the Patriot League - Funk from Bucknell and Spencer from Loyola Maryland.
  • Funk is averaging 13.0 ppg and a Big Ten-best 3.2 3-pointers per game this season in the Blue & White. Spencer leads Rutgers with 13.4 ppg and 2.3 3-pointers per contest.
  • Both earned All-Patriot League honors at their previous institutions a season ago. Funk averaged 27.5 ppg in his two meetings against Spencer's Loyola team last season, while Spencer averaged 18.5 ppg in his two meetings against Funk's Bucknell team.

 
17/7/7

  • Jalen Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 17 points (17.4) per game, 7 rebounds (7.9) per game and 7 assists (7.2) 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 last week. The point guard ranks fourth in the nation in assists per game (7.2) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.24). 
  • The Rochester, N.Y. native is the only Big Ten player that ranks in the top 10 of the conference statistical standings in scoring (seventh), rebounding (eighth) and assists (first). 
  • Pickett owns eight 20-plus point games this season, four of which have come in Penn State's eight Big Ten games. He is currently averaging 19.3 ppg, 9.9 rpg, and 6.4 apg while shooting 54.9% from the field, 45.0% from 3-point range and 77.8% from the free throw line in conference play.
  • The 6-4 guard has six 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 (1,022 points), Andrew Funk (1,477 points), Seth Lundy (1,022 points), Jalen Pickett (1,882 points) and Camren Wynter (1,826 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 19 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 (13.8 ppg) and 6+ rebounds (6.0) per game while shooting more than 55% from two (56.7%), 40% from three (42.2%) and 80% from the free throw line (81.5%).
  • Lundy is 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 39 made 3-pointers each.
  • Andrew Funk has made a Big Ten-best 3.2 3-pointers per contest at a 42.4 percent clip. Seth Lundy is shooting 42.2 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 42.4 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 returns home Sunday for a rematch with Michigan inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions will host their annual THON game with tipoff slated for noon on the Big Ten Network.

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