UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team is back on the road this weekend to take on Minnesota Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – Cory Provus (pxp) & Shon Morris (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones & Dick Jerardi
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 389 | SXM App Ch. 979
- LIVE STATS: Live Stats
- GAME NOTES: Penn State Notes | Minnesota Notes
OPENING TIPS
- Penn State looks to build momentum when the Nittany Lions travel to Minneapolis for a meeting with the Gophers Saturday night.
- The Nittany Lions are coming off a 93-81 home win over Illinois Tuesday that included a dazzling 41-point performance from Jalen Pickett.
- Pickett leads PSU in scoring (18.1 ppg), rebounds (7.4 rpg) and assists (7.0 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging 18/7/7. Seth Lundy (14.6 ppg) and Andrew Funk (12.6 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.
IF PENN STATE BEATS MINNESOTA
- The Nittany Lions would win their second true road win of the season.
- Penn State would defeat the Gophers in Minneapolis for just the fourth time in series history and for the first time since 2015.
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
- The injury-plagued and youthful Gophers are 7-16 overall and 1-12 in Big Ten play.
- Minnesota's lone conference win of the season came on Jan. 12 in a 70-67 road victory at Ohio State.
- Dawson Garcia leads the Gophers with 14.9 ppg and 6.3 rpg, but has missed the last five games due to injury. Jamison Battle (12.4 ppg) and Ta'lon Cooper (10.5 ppg) follow.
AGAINST MINNESOTA
- The Nittany Lions and Gophers meet for the only time this regular season Saturday night when Penn State looks for its third-straight win against Minnesota.
- Penn State is 3-22 when playing the Gophers in Minneapolis. The Nittany Lions will be looking for their first road win at Minnesota since 2015.
- The teams met three times last season including a matchup in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The home team won each of the two regular-season contests a season ago. Minnesota claimed the season's first meeting 76-70 on Feb. 12 at Williams Arena before the Nittany Lions won 67-46 in Happy Valley on Feb. 17. Penn State took down the Gophers 60-51 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on March 9 on the back of a 22-point, 7-rebound, 4-assist performance from Jalen Pickett.
QUALITY WINS
- Penn State owns three dominant Quad 1 wins, all of which have been double-digit victories.
- The Nittany Lions earned a regular-season sweep of Illinois (currently 28 in NET rankings), beating the Illini 74-59 on Dec. 10 in Champaign and 93-81 on Feb. 14 in Happy Valley. Penn State handed Indiana (currently 17 in NET rankings) its largest loss of the season on Jan. 11, an 85-66 thumping for the Nittany Lions' largest win over the Hoosiers in program history.
- The Nittany Lions also own three Quad 3 wins in home victories over Iowa and Michigan and a neutral site win against Furman.
- Penn State is 9-0 in Quad 3/4 games. The Nittany Lions have only lost one game to a team outside of the NET top 75, with that loss coming on the road at Nebraska (93 in NET) on Feb. 5.
OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
- Penn State has several opportunities ahead to grab more quality wins, as four of Penn State's five remaining regular-season games are currently Quad 1 opportunities.
WINNING NUMBERS
- In Penn State's 15 wins this season, the Nittany Lions are averaging 79.3 points per game while giving up just 64.5 points per contest (+14.8 scoring margin). Penn State is shooting 50% from the field and 42.1 percent from 3-point range in its 15 wins.
CLOSE CALLS
- Eight of Penn State's 11 losses this season have come by single digits, with five of the 11 losses being decided either in overtime or by six points or less.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
- Penn State and Nittany Lion players rank in the top 20 in the nation in a number of statistical categories as of Feb. 17:
| Team Stat | Value | National Rank |
| Fewest turnovers per game | 8.8 | 3 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio | 1.64 | 4 |
| 3FG made per game | 10.9 | 4 |
| 3FG% | 38.9% | 11 |
| Effective FG% | .561 | 14 |
| Player Stat | Value | National Rank |
| Assists per game – Jalen Pickett | 7.0 | 4 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio – Jalen Pickett | 3.18 | 4 |
| 3FG% - Seth Lundy | 45.5% | 6 |
| 3FG made per game – Andrew Funk | 3.04 | 19 |
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
- Jalen Pickett is two rebounds away from 700 career rebounds, which will put him upwards of 2,000 career points, 700 career rebounds and 700 career assists.
- Pickett will become the only Division I men's college basketball player to reach career marks of 2,000/700/700 in at least the last 37 years (since 1985-86 season).
- Pickett's marks entering Saturday's game are 2,022 career points, 698 career rebounds and 779 career assists.
18/7/7
- Jalen Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points (18.1) per game, seven rebounds (7.4) per game and seven assists (7.0) per game.
- Only one college basketball player in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) has finished the season averaging 18/7/7. 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
- Point guard Jalen Pickett is the engine that makes Penn State go. Pickett ranks in the top five nationally in both assists per game (7.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.18) while engineering a Penn State offense that ranks third in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (8.8) and 14th in effective field goal percentage (.561).
- Pickett and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis are the only two Big Ten players that rank in the top 10 of the conference statistical standings in scoring, rebounding and assists. Pickett ranks fourth in scoring, eighth in rebounding and first in assists.
- The six-foot-four guard has played his best in Big Ten play, averaging 19.6 points per game, 8.0 rebounds per game and 6.4 assists per game through 15 conference contests.
- The Rochester, N.Y. native's season highlights include a 41-point game, ten 20-point games, six double-doubles and one triple-double. 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.
- Pickett has picked up quite a bit of national recognition over the last few weeks: Naismith Player of the Year Midseason Team, Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List, Top 10 candidate for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List, and Sporting News Midseason All-America Third Team.
40 PIECE
- Jalen Pickett recorded the first 40-point game by a Penn State player since 1961 in Penn State's win over Illinois on Feb. 14. Pickett dazzled with 41 points and eight assists on a 75% shooting effort - 15-20 FG, 5-9 3FG, 6-6 FT.
- His 41 points set a Bryce Jordan Center record and are the most points scored by a Big Ten player this season. It marked the sixth 40-point game in Nittany Lion history and first since 1961. He is just the third player in program history to have a 40-point game (Jesse Arnelle 4x, Gene Harris).
THE BIG TEN'S BEST SHOOTING DUO
- Penn State's duo of Andrew Funk and Seth Lundy have provided a lethal 1-2 punch on the perimeter as they both rank first and second in the Big Ten in 3-pointers made per game and 3FG%.
- Andrew Funk has made a Big Ten-best 3.04 3-pointers per contest at a 40.9 percent clip. Seth Lundy leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth in the nation with a 45.5% 3-point shooting percentage while ranking second in the conference, behind only Funk, with 2.8 triples per game.
ELITE EFFICIENCY FOR LUNDY
- Senior Seth Lundy is producing at an elite level. Lundy is one of only two power conference players (also Missouri's Kobe Brown) to be averaging double-digit points (14.6) and six-plus (6.2) rebounds per game while shooting at least 50% from two (54.3%), 40% from three (45.5%) and 75% from the free throw line (79.7%).
- 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.
HEY YE
- Freshman Kanye Clary has provided a key spark to the Penn State offense over the last two games. He's averaging 14.5 points per game on a 63.2 FG% with zero turnovers in the last two games combined.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions travel to Ohio State Thursday night for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff in Columbus on the Big Ten Network.
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.