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Penn State Athletics

Men’s Basketball Takes on Texas A&M in First Round of NCAA Tournament Thursday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 10 seed Penn State men's basketball team takes on No. 7 seed Texas A&M in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Thursday night at approximately 9:55 p.m. ET/8:55 p.m. CT from Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • The No. 10-seed Nittany Lions are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 and are set to face off with No. 7 seed Texas A&M in Thursday's first round.
  • Penn State enters the NCAA Tournament having won eight of its last 10 games, including a run to the Big Ten Tournament title game last weekend.
  • All-American Jalen Pickett leads PSU in scoring (17.9 ppg), rebounds (7.3 rpg) and assists (6.7 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging 17/7/6. Honorable mention All-Big Ten picks Seth Lundy (14.4 ppg) and Andrew Funk (12.1 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.

 
IF PENN STATE BEATS TEXAS A&M

  • Penn State would face the winner of No. 2 seed Texas/No. 15 seed Colgate in Saturday's Round of 32 with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.
  • The Nittany Lions would win their first NCAA Tournament game since 2001.

 
LET'S DANCE!

  • The Nittany Lions are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 and 10th overall. Penn State (22-13) has earned the No. 10 seed in the Midwest region and will take on seventh-seeded Texas A&M (25-9) Thursday in Des Moines. The winner of Thursday's first-round game advances to Saturday's second round to take on the victor of No. 2 seed Texas (26-8) and No. 15 seed Colgate (26-8).

 
HOW WE GOT HERE

  • The Nittany Lions are 22-13 overall and finished Big Ten play at 10-10. The Nittany Lions made a run to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game, falling to regular-season and tournament champion Purdue Sunday.
  • Penn State was 14-11 overall, 5-9 in Big Ten play and coming off a four-game losing streak heading into Feb. 14's game vs. Illinois. Since Feb. 14, the Nittany Lions have gone 8-2 with five Quad 1 wins.
  • Penn State owns seven total Quad 1 wins, with five of those coming in a 16-day stretch between Feb. 23 and March 11.
  • Four of the last five wins have been by three points or less. Entering the road win at Northwestern on March 1, the Nittany Lions were 0-3 this season in games decided by three points or less.

 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES

  • The Aggies are the No. 7 seed in the Midwest region of the NCAA Tournament. Texas A&M is 25-9 overall and finished SEC play at 15-3. The Aggies advanced to the SEC Tournament Championship game last weekend, falling to eventual tournament champion Alabama.
  • Texas A&M enters the NCAA Tournament having won 10 of its last 12 games. The Aggies are making their 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2018.
  • Aggies' head coach Buzz Williams is taking his third different team to the NCAA Tournament. Wade Taylor IV leads Texas A&M with 16.5 points and 4.0 assists per game. Tyrece Radford follows with 13.2 points per game.

 
AGAINST TEXAS A&M

  • The Nittany Lions and Aggies meet for the fifth time in program history in Thursday's NCAA Tournament first-round matchup.
  • The Aggies have won all four previous meetings and the two teams are set to meet for the first time since the 2017 Legends Classic in Brooklyn.
  • Penn State is 12-26 all-time against current members of the SEC. The Nittany Lions' last win over an SEC team came on Dec. 14, 2019 when Penn State defeated Alabama 73-71 inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

 
A CHANCE TO DANCE

  • The 2019-20 Penn State team was projected to make the 2020 NCAA Tournament before the postseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two of this year's veteran leaders that were on that 2020 Penn State team, Myles Dread and Seth Lundy, will finally get their chance to dance.
  • Jalen Pickett's Siena team was the regular-season MAAC Champion in 2020 and had just won its tournament quarterfinal game before the remainder of the 2020 postseason was canceled. Pickett, one of the nation's top players, will finally get his chance to dance.
  • Assistant Coach Mike Farrelly was on staff at Hostra during the 2019-20 season. The Pride had already won the CAA Tournament and punched their ticket to the Big Dance when the tournament was canceled two days after the CAA Championship game.
  • Only two players on Penn State's current roster have played in an NCAA Tournament: Camren Wynter (Drexel, 2021) and Michael Henn (UC-Davis, 2017).
  • Micah Shrewsberry is set for his first NCAA Tournament as a head coach, but has been an assistant coach in six NCAA Tournaments, including a pair of NCAA National Championship games with Butler in 2010 and 2011.

 
THE SHREWSBERRY EFFECT

  • Second-year head coach Micah Shrewsberry has guided the 22-13 Nittany Lions to just the 12th 20-win season in the 127-year history of Penn State basketball.
  • Penn State is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 (2020 team was projected to make the field before the Covid-19 pandemic canceled postseason play).
  • Shrewsberry guided Penn State to its second-ever Big Ten Tournament championship game and first since 2011. He collected more Big Ten wins (17) in his first two seasons than any other Penn State head coach has previously through their first two seasons.
  • The Nittany Lions finished 10-10 in the Big Ten this season, just the eighth time in Penn State's 31 seasons in the Big Ten that the Nittany Lions have finished .500 or better.

 
MARCH COMES IN LIKE A LION

  • Penn State got a head start on March Madness, earning five wins over NCAA Tournament teams so far in the month of March.
  • Camren Wynter hit back-to-back game-winning shots in the final second of wins at Northwestern (3/1) and against Maryland (3/5) to end the regular season. Penn State, the No. 10 seed, then put together a stellar run in last week's Big Ten Tournament to advance to their first championship game appearance since 2011. The Nittany Lions took down the No. 7, No. 2 and No. 3 seeded teams in Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana (all NCAA Tournament teams) to advance to the second championship game in program history. Penn State faced top-seeded Purdue (a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament) in Sunday's championship game and trimmed a 17-point second-half deficit down to one in the final minute, but the Boilermakers held on for the 67-65 victory.
  • Seth Lundy (17.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and Jalen Pickett (16.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg and 4.5 apg) were named to the All-Tournament team. Penn State was the only team with two All-Tournament selections.

 
THE THREE IS KEY

  • The 2022-23 Penn State team (35 games played) has already set the program single-season team record for 3-pointers made in a season (currently at 364). 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. The Nittany Lions are just one 3-pointer away from tying the Big Ten record and two away from breaking the record.
  • Penn State ranks sixth in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (10.4) and 13th in 3FG% (38.5%). Penn State has made double-digit 3-pointers in 20 games this season, including a program-record 18 triples in two games.

 
17/7/6

  • Jalen Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 17 points (17.9) per game, seven rebounds (7.3) per game and six assists (6.7) per game.
  • Only two men's college basketball players in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) have finished a season averaging 17/7/6 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 ALL-AMERICAN MAESTRO

  • Jalen Pickett is Penn State's first All-American in nearly 70 years. He was named to the Sporting News All-America Second Team Tuesday. Pickett joins Jesse Arnelle as the only two Nittany Lions in program history to earn second-team or higher All-America status. Arnelle collected first-team All-America honors in 1954 from the Helms Foundation and second-team honors in 1955. Pickett is the first Penn State player to ever land on the Wooden Award National Ballot and is also an Oscar Robertson Trophy Late Season Watchlist honoree and Top 5 Finalist for the Bob Cousy Award.
  • Pickett ranks in the top 10 nationally in both assists per game (6.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.04) while engineering a Penn State offense that ranks fourth in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (9.0) and 17th in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency metric.
  • The Rochester, N.Y. native's season highlights include a 41-point game, a 32-point game, 13 20-point games, six double-doubles and one triple-double. He has already set a Penn State single-season assists record through 35 games this season, dishing 234 assists to this point.

 
NATIONAL NUMBERS

  • The Nittany Lions rank in the top 30 in the nation in a number of statistical categories as of March 13:
Team Stat Value National Rank
Fewest turnovers per game 9.0 4
3FG made per game 10.4 6
Assist-to-turnover ratio 1.55 9
3FG% 38.5% 13
Effective FG% .555 17
Player Stat Value National Rank
Assists per game – Jalen Pickett 6.7 5
Assist-to-turnover ratio – Jalen Pickett 3.04 8
FG made – Jalen Pickett 248 13
3FG made per game – Andrew Funk 2.91 26
3FG% - Seth Lundy 40.6% 29

 
ELITE EFFIECIENCY FOR LUNDY

  • Senior Seth Lundy is producing at an elite level. He is the only player in the Big Ten and one of just eight players in the nation that is averaging double-digit points (14.4) and six-plus (6.3) rebounds per game while shooting at least 50% from two (53.4%), 40% from three (40.6%) and 80% from the free throw line (81.0%).
  • Lundy is having his most consistent year in the Blue & White and has scored in double figures in 29 games this season, including five 20-point contests. 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.

 
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 in the top three in the Big Ten in 3FG% and 3FG made per game.
  • Lundy (40.6 3FG%) and Funk (40.5 3FG%) rank 1-2 in the Big Ten and top 30 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage. Funk leads the conference and ranks top 30 in the nation with 2.91 triples per game, while Lundy ranks third in the Big Ten with 2.59 treys per contest.

 
WYNTER IS COMING

  • Camren Wynter has kicked it up a notch over the last nine games. He's averaging 13.3 ppg and 4.1 rpg while shooting 59.2% (45-76) from the field and 68.2% (15-22) from 3-point range in Penn State's last nine games.

 
UP NEXT

  • The winner of Thursday's Penn State-Texas A&M game faces the winner of No. 2 seed Texas/No. 15 seed Colgate in Saturday's Round of 32 with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

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