Penn State Faces VCU Sunday in ESPN Events Invitational FinalePenn State Faces VCU Sunday in ESPN Events Invitational Finale
Penn State Athletics

Penn State Faces VCU Sunday in ESPN Events Invitational Finale

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Penn State men's basketball team wraps up the three-game ESPN Events Invitational Sunday morning when the Nittany Lions match up with VCU at 10:30 a.m. on ESPNU.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • The Nittany Lions close out the three-game ESPN Events Invitational Sunday morning when Penn State takes on VCU.
  • Penn State started the season 4-0, but has since dropped the first two games of the ESPN Events Invitational to #12 Texas A&M (77-89) and Butler (78-88).
  • Kanye Clary is averaging 19.5 points per game on a 51.7 FG%. Ace Baldwin Jr. has contributed 11.8 points per game and a team-best 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

 
SCOUTING VCU

  • The Rams dropped a pair of four-point games in their first two contests of the ESPN Events Invitational to Iowa State (64-68) and Boise State (61-65).
  • VCU is 3-3 on the season in their first year under head coach Ryan Odom who came to Richmond after two seasons at Utah State and five at UMBC.
  • VCU's three wins this season all came at home as the Rams picked up victories over Samford (75-65), Radford (73-50) and Seattle University (60-56).
  • Max Shulga leads the team with 15.8 points per game. Shulga is averaging 2.8 triples per game at a 41.5 percent clip.
  • Zeb Jackson follows with 13.7 points per game. Toibu Lawal leads the Rams with 6.2 rebounds per game in addition to his 9.0 points per contest.

 
AGAINST THE RAMS

  • The Nittany Lions and the Rams have met just once before, a 72-69 Penn State win in Happy Valley during the 2020-21 season.
  • Myles Dread drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Nittany Lions the 72-69 win. Seth Lundy scored 32 points to lead Penn State.

 
A FAMILIAR FOE

  • Penn State meets VCU on Sunday at the ESPN Events Invitational, matching Mike Rhoades and his coaching staff up with their former team.
  • Rhoades came to Happy Valley in March after six seasons as the Rams' head coach in which he guided VCU to three NCAA Tournament appearances, a 129-60 overall record and a 72-32 Atlantic 10 Conference record. In his 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach prior to arrival at Penn State, Rhoades, a Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania native, produced a 373-189 record, a winning percentage of .664, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and nine national postseason appearances.
  • The 2023-24 Nittany Lion roster is also home to two former VCU Rams who followed Rhoades to Happy Valley in Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kern Jr.
  • Baldwin Jr. put together three standout seasons at VCU as a two-time all-conference pick and the 2023 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged double-digit points during both his sophomore and junior seasons and led the Rams in assists in all three of his seasons at VCU, while guiding the Rams to a 68-25 record, two NCAA Tournaments and one NIT appearance through his three seasons at VCU. Kern Jr. played in 66 games throughout his freshman and sophomore seasons at VCU, including starting the final 19 games of the 2022-23 campaign.

 
ESPN EVENTS INVITATIONAL

  • The Nittany Lions dropped their first two games of the ESPN Events Invitational to #12 Texas A&M (77-89) and Butler (78-88). Sophomore Kanye Clary has led Penn State in Orlando with 23.5 points per game on a 58.3% (21-36) clip from the field, 3.5 rebounds per game and 3.5 assists per game. Ace Baldwin Jr. has averaged 13.5 points per game through the two tournament contests, while Nick Kern Jr. has chipped in 10.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

 
CAN'T STOP CLARY

  • With a roster full of new faces, its a returning sophomore that has asserted himself for the Nittany Lions through the first six games of the season in Kanye Clary.
  • Clary has scored 117 points through the first six games of his sophomore season, matching his freshman year total of 117 points (32 games). The Virginia Beach, Va. native played limited minutes behind Penn State's veteran 2022-23 backcourt that included two 2023 NBA Draft picks, a current NBA G League player and five 1,000-point scorers.
  • Clary's 19.5 points per game ranks third in the Big Ten. He has scored in double figures in all six games this season, including three 20-plus point games. Clary is coming off a career-best scoring effort against Butler Friday in which he went off for 28 points and added five rebounds and three assists.

 
GOT AN ACE UP OUR SLEEVE

  • Senior point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. earned well-deserved preseason recognition as a preseason top 20 finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year award as well as being ranked as the No. 40 player on The Almanac's list of Top 100 Players entering the 2023-24 season.
  • Baldwin Jr. has stuffed the stat sheet through his first six games as a Nittany Lion, averaging 11.8 points per game, 3.0 assists per contest and 2.2 steals per game.

 
UP NEXT

  • The Nittany Lions return to action on Saturday, Dec. 2, when Penn State hosts Bucknell at the Bryce Jordan Center for a noon tipoff on the Big Ten Network.

 
The 2023-24 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.