UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team returns home Thursday to host Le Moyne inside the Bryce Jordan Center. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed nationally by Peacock.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TICKETS: Tickets
- PROMOTIONS: Kids under 12 get in free – online offer only
- TV: Peacock – Terry Gannon (pxp) & Robbie Hummel (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 85 & SXM App. Ch. 85
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast | Live Stats
- GAME NOTES: Penn State | Le Moyne
OPENING TIPS
- Penn State returns home to host Le Moyne in the Nittany Lions' penultimate non-conference game of the regular season.
- The Nittany Lions are coming off a heartbreaking one-point overtime loss to Georgia Tech Saturday inside Madison Square Garden. Penn State erased a 10-point second-half deficit to force overtime, but the Yellow Jackets made a pair of game-winning FTs in the final seconds of overtime.
- Kanye Clary is averaging a team-best 17.1 points per game, while Ace Baldwin Jr. has contributed 14.4 points and a Big Ten-best 2.5 steals per game.
IF PENN STATE BEATS LE MOYNE
- The Nittany Lions would improve to 6-1 at home this season.
- Penn State would even its season record to 6-6.
SCOUTING THE DOLPHINS
- The Dolphins are 5-7 on the season in their first year as a Division I program.
- Le Moyne comes to Happy Valley having won its last two games, an 80-54 victory over Dartmouth on Dec. 16 and a 92-72 win over Houghton on Monday night.
- The Dolphins are 1-7 in away games this season, with their lone road win coming at CSUN on Nov. 21 (80-70).
- Luke Sutherland leads the team with 16.0 points per game, while Kaiyem Cleary (13.1 ppg) and Ocypher Owens (10.3 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.
AGAINST LE MOYNE
- Penn State and Le Moyne will meet for the first time in program history on Thursday.
- The Nittany Lions are 38-2 all-time against current members of the NEC.
COMEBACK CATS
- The Nittany Lions have erased double-digit deficits in the second half to rally for a win or force overtime in each of their last two games.
- Penn State trailed #RV/25 Ohio State by 18 with 15:30 to play before coming back to defeat the Buckeyes 83-80 on Dec. 9. The Nittany Lions trailed Georgia Tech by 10 with 8:38 left on the clock before rallying back to force overtime, but eventually falling 82-81 on Dec. 16 at Madison Square Garden.
- The Nittany Lion offense erupted for 54 points in the second half against Ohio State, shooting 61 percent from the floor and 53 percent from deep as it constructed its 18-point comeback. It was the Penn State defense that led the way in the rally against Georgia Tech, as the Nittany Lions forced four Yellow Jacket turnovers and held Georgia Tech to just two field goals and two free throws in the final 8:37 of regulation.
TURN UP THE PRESSURE
- The Nittany Lions have forced their opponents into 16.64 turnovers per game, a mark that leads the Big Ten and ranks 15th in the nation. Penn State forced a season-high 29 turnovers in its win over Morehead State on Nov. 17.
- The Nittany Lions have scored an average of 17.1 points off turnovers per game thus far this season, while Penn State's opponents have only scored 10.4 points per game off Nittany Lion turnovers. Penn State's +5.7 turnover margin ranks ninth in the country.
SOPHOMORE LEAP
- With a roster full of new faces, its a returning sophomore that has asserted himself for the Nittany Lions through the first 11 games of the season in Kanye Clary.
- Clary has seen the largest increase in scoring production by any Big Ten player between this season and this season. The Virginia Beach, Va. native played limited minutes as a freshman behind Penn State's veteran 2022-23 backcourt that included two 2023 NBA Draft picks and five 1,000-point scorers.
- Clary's 17.1 points per game leads the team. He has scored in double figures in nine games this season, including five 20-plus point efforts, while leading the team in scoring in nine of Penn State's 11 games.
| Clary Stat | 23-24 | 22-23 | Increase |
| Points per game | 17.1 | 3.7 | +13.4 |
| FG% | 48.3% | 43.4% | +4.9% |
| Rebounds per game | 3.4 | 0.9 | +2.5 |
| Assists per game | 2.5 | 0.7 | +1.8 |
| Minutes per game | 29.8 | 10.4 | +19.4 |
NEARING 1,000
- Senior point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. enters Thursday's game with 987 career points and needs 13 points to reach the 1,000-career point mark.
- Baldwin Jr. has stuffed the stat sheet through his first 11 games as a Nittany Lion, averaging 14.4 points per game, 3.9 assists per contest and a Big Ten-best 2.5 steals per game.
- He has come up clutch in each of Penn State's last three games. He made a pair of game-tying free throws with four seconds to play to force overtime on the road at Maryland on Dec. 6. The guard then scored both the game-tying and go-ahead baskets in the final minute of Penn State's 83-80 comeback victory over Ohio State on Dec. 9. Baldwin Jr. then came up with a clutch steal with 13 seconds left in regulation to help force overtime against Georgia Tech on Dec. 16.
NOT DUNN YET
- D'Marco Dunn has put together career-best scoring efforts in each of Penn State's last two games.
- Dunn has averaged 16.5 points per game while shooting 52.2% (12-23) from the field and 45.5% (5-11) from deep over the last two games. The junior was averaging 4.3 points per game on a 40.0 FG% (16-40) through the first nine games of the season.
BIG Q
- Graduate student Qudus Wahab owns career marks of 1,140 points and 836 rebounds, making him one of just 15 active Division I players with upwards of 1,000 points and 800 rebounds.
- Wahab is shooting a team-best and career-high 64.4 percent from the field. He is nearly averaging a double-double with 10.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
UP NEXT
- Penn State remains home to host Rider on Dec. 29 in the Nittany Lions' final non-conference game of the regular season. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. and kids under 12 can get in for free.
The 2023-24 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.