UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team travels to Northwestern Wednesday night for its final road game of the regular season. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – Cory Provus (pxp) & Stephen Bardo (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
OPENING TIPS
- Penn State looks to get back on track with another Quad 1 opportunity Wednesday night at Northwestern.
- The Nittany Lions have won three of their last four games, but are coming off a tough 59-56 loss to Rutgers Sunday night.
- Pickett leads PSU in scoring (18.5 ppg), rebounds (7.3 rpg) and assists (6.8 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging 18/7/6. Seth Lundy (14.3 ppg) and Andrew Funk (11.8 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.
IF PENN STATE BEATS NORTHWESTERN
- The Nittany Lions would earn their fourth Quad 1 win of the season.
- Penn State would win its third-straight Big Ten road game.
- The Nittany Lions would beat Northwestern for the fourth-straight time.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
- The Wildcats are in the midst of one of their best seasons in program history, sitting at 20-9 overall and 11-7 in Big Ten play. Their 11-7 conference record puts them in a four-way tie for second place in the Big Ten standings heading into the final week of the regular season.
- The Wildcats have dropped their last two games to Illinois and Maryland, both road games, after stringing together a five-game winning streak that included home wins over ranked teams in Purdue and Indiana.
- All-Conference candidate Boo Buie leads the Wildcats with 17.2 points and 4.5 assists per game. Chase Audige follows with 14.6 ppg.
AGAINST NORTHWESTERN
- The Nittany Lions and Wildcats meet for the first and only time this regular season Wednesday night.
- Penn State has won six of the last seven meetings with the Wildcats, including three-straight leading into Wednesday's contest.
- The Nittany Lions earned a regular-season sweep of Northwestern last season. Penn State defeated NU 74-70 in Evanston on Jan. 4 and 67-60 in Happy Valley on Feb. 25. Seth Lundy averaged 17.5 ppg in the two games combined, while Jalen Pickett averaged 14.5 ppg.
QUALITY WINS
- Penn State owns three Quad 1 wins, two of which have been double-digit victories.
- The Nittany Lions earned a regular-season sweep of Illinois (currently 33 in NET rankings), first beating the Illini 74-59 on Dec. 10 in Champaign. Penn State handed Indiana (currently 18 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 earned their most recent Quad 1 victory on Feb. 23 with a 75-71 road win at Ohio State (currently 63 in NET rankings).
- The Nittany Lions also own four Quad 2 wins in home victories over Illinois, Iowa and Michigan, in addition to a neutral site win against Furman.
- Penn State is 10-0 in Quad 3/4 games. The Nittany Lions have only lost one game to a team outside of the NET top 90, with that loss coming on the road at Nebraska (92 in NET) on Feb. 5.
OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
- Penn State has opportunities ahead to grab more quality wins, as both of Penn State's remaining regular-season games at Northwestern and at home against Maryland are currently Quad 1 opportunities.
THE THREE IS KEY
- The 2022-23 Penn State team (29 games played) has already set the program single-season team record for 3-pointers made in a season (currently at 311). The previous school record stood with the 2017-18 team's 294 treys (39 games played, NIT Champions). The Big Ten record for 3-pointers in a season is 365, which was set by Purdue in 2018-19 (36 games, Elite 8) while Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry was an assistant coach on Purdue's staff.
- Penn State ranks fourth in the nation with 10.7 3-pointers made per game. The Nittany Lions are shooting the long ball at a 38.8 percent (311-802) clip, a mark that ranks 12th in the nation.
OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
- Penn State has seen drastic offensive improvement in year two under head coach Micah Shrewsberry. The Nittany Lions currently rank 14th in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency metric (points scored per 100 possessions (adjusted for opponent)). Penn State ranked 131 last season.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
- Penn State and Nittany Lion players rank in the top 25 in the nation in a number of statistical categories as of Feb. 28:
| Team Stat | Value | National Rank |
| Fewest turnovers per game | 8.6 | 1 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio | 1.65 | 4 |
| 3FG made per game | 10.7 | 4 |
| 3FG% | 38.8% | 12 |
| Effective FG% | .559 | 15 |
| Player Stat | Value | National Rank |
| Assist per game – Jalen Pickett | 6.8 | 4 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio – Jalen Pickett | 3.19 | 7 |
| FG made – Jalen Pickett | 217 | 17 |
| 3FG% - Seth Lundy | 41.7% | 24 |
18/7/6
- Jalen Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points (18.5) per game, seven rebounds (7.3) per game and six assists (6.8) per game.
- Only two men's college basketball players in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) have finished the season averaging 18/7/6 or better: Michigan State's Denzel Valentine (19.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 7.8 apg - 2015-16) and Memphis' Penny Hardaway (22.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 6.4 apg - 1992-93).
THE MAESTRO
- Point guard Jalen Pickett is the engine that makes Penn State go. Pickett ranks in the top 10 nationally in both assists per game (6.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.19) while engineering a Penn State offense that leads the nation in fewest turnovers per game (8.6) and ranks 15th in effective field goal percentage (.559).
- 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 20.0 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game and 6.3 assists per game.
- The Rochester, N.Y. native's season highlights include a 41-point game, a 32-point game, 12 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 earned several mid/late season honors including 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 and Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List.
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 2.86 3-pointers per contest at a 40.3 percent clip. Seth Lundy leads the Big Ten and ranks in the top 25 in the nation with a 41.7% 3-point shooting percentage while ranking second in the conference, behind only Funk, with 2.68 triples per game.
WYNTER IS COMING
- Camren Wynter has kicked it up a notch over the last three games. He's averaging 16.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg and 3.0 apg while shooting 62.1% (18-29) from the field and 75.0% (9-12) from 3-point range over the last three games.
ELITE EFFICIENCY FOR LUNDY
- Senior Seth Lundy is producing at an elite level. Lundy is one of only 18 Division I players to be averaging double-digit points (14.3) and six-plus (6.2) rebounds per game while shooting at least 50% from two (53.9%), 40% from three (41.7%) and 75% from the free throw line (79.3%).
- Lundy is having his most consistent year in the Blue & White and has scored in double figures in all but four 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.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions return home for Senior Day, presented by the Penn State Alumni Association, Sunday when Penn State hosts #21 Maryland to close out the regular season. Next week's Big Ten Tournament is set for March 8-12 at the United Center in Chicago.
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.