DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 10 seed Penn State men's basketball team takes on No. 2 seed Texas in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Saturday night at approximately 7:45 p.m. ET/6:45 p.m. CT from Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. The winner of Saturday night's game advances to next week's Sweet 16.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: CBS – Brian Anderson (pxp), Jim Jackson (analyst) & Allie LaForce (sideline)
- BRACKET: 2023 NCAA Tournament Bracket
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones & Dick Jerardi
- NATIONAL RADIO: Westwood One – Jason Benetti & Robbie Hummel – Sirius Ch. 136
- LIVE STATS: Live Stats
- GAME NOTES: Penn State Notes | Texas Notes
OPENING TIPS
- The No. 10-seed Nittany Lions are coming off their first NCAA Tournament win since 2001 and are set to face off with No. 2 seed Texas in Saturday's second round.
- Penn State has won nine of its last 11 games and earned a 76-59 win over No. 7 seed Texas A&M in Thursday's first round game.
- 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 (14.3 ppg) and Andrew Funk (12.5 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.
IF PENN STATE BEATS TEXAS
- Penn State would advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the 2001 season.
- The Nittany Lions would beat a team ranked in the top five of the AP Poll for the first time since Dec. 10, 2019 when Penn State defeated #4 Maryland 76-69.
SCOUTING THE LONGHORNS
- The fifth-ranked Longhorns are the No. 2 seed in the Midwest region of the NCAA Tournament.
- Texas is 27-8 overall and finished Big 12 play at 12-6.
- Texas earned an 81-61 win over 15-seed Colgate in Thursday night's first-round game.
- The Longhorns won the Big 12 Tournament last week after taking down Oklahoma State, TCU and Kansas. Texas has won five-straight games heading into Saturday night's contest.
- Marcus Carr leads the Longhorns with 15.9 points and 4.1 assists per game. Sir'Jabari Rice follows with 12.9 points per game.
- Timmy Allen averages 10.3 points and a team-best 5.4 rebounds per contest. Tyrese Hunter rounds out Texas' double-digit scorers with 10.2 points per game.
AGAINST TEXAS
- The Nittany Lions and Longhorns meet for the first time in program history in Saturday's NCAA Tournament Second Round.
- Penn State is 59-72 all-time against current members of the Big 12 Conference.
MOVING ON
- The Nittany Lions are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 and 10th overall. Penn State (23-13) is the No. 10 seed in the Midwest region and will take on second-seeded Texas (27-8) Saturday in a Round of 32 matchup in Des Moines.
- Penn State defeated seventh-seeded Texas A&M 76-59 in Thursday's first round. The Nittany Lions shot 59.1 percent (13-for-22) from 3-point range and held the Aggies to a 33.9 FG%. Andrew Funk was 8-for-9 from deep for a game-high 27 points, while All-American Jalen Pickett had 19 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
- The winner of Saturday's Penn State-Texas game advances to the Sweet 16.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
- The Nittany Lions are 23-13 overall and finished Big Ten play at 10-10. The Nittany Lions defeated Texas A&M in Thursday's first round of the NCAA Tournament after making a run to the Big Ten Tournament title game last week.
- 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 9-2 with six Quad 1 wins. Penn State owns eight total Quad 1 wins, with five of those coming in a 16-day stretch between Feb. 23 and March 11.
- Four of the last six 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.
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, 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 finally gets his chance to dance.
- Only two players on Penn State's current roster had previously played in an NCAA Tournament before Thursday: Camren Wynter (Drexel, 2021) and Michael Henn (UC-Davis, 2017).
- Micah Shrewsberry is competing in 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 23-13 Nittany Lions to just the 12th 20-win season in the 127-year history of Penn State basketball.
- Penn State won its first NCAA Tournament game since 2001 and is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 (2020 team was projected to make the field).
- 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.
THE THREE IS KEY
- The 2022-23 Penn State team (36 games played) has already set the Big Ten and Penn State single-season team record for 3-pointers made in a season with 377 triples this season. The previous Big Ten record for 3-pointers in a season was 365, which was set by Purdue in 2018-19 (36 games, Elite 8).
- Penn State ranks fifth in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (10.5) and 3FG% (39.0%). Penn State has made double-digit 3-pointers in 21 games this season, including a program-record 18 triples in two games.
POSTSEASON HONORS
- Jalen Pickett
- Associated Press Second Team All-American
- NABC Second Team All-American
- Sporting News Second Team All-American
- USBWA Third Team All-American
- Wooden Award National Ballot
- Top 5 Candidate for Bob Cousy Award
- Oscar Robertson Trophy Lateseason Watch List
- Consensus First Team All-Big Ten - unanimous media
- Big Ten All-Tournament Team
- Seth Lundy
- All-Big Ten Honorable Mention - coaches & media
- Big Ten All-Tournament Team
- Andrew Funk
- All-Big Ten Honorable Mention - coaches & media
- Academic All-District
NATIONAL NUMBERS
- Penn State and Nittany Lion players rank in the top 20 in the nation in a number of statistical categories as of March 17:
| Team Stat | Value | National Rank |
| Fewest turnovers per game | 9.0 | 4 |
| 3FG made per game | 10.5 | 5 |
| 3FG% | 39.0% | 5 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio | 1.55 | 9 |
| Effective FG% | .557 | 14 |
| Player Stat | Value | National Rank |
| Assists per game – Jalen Pickett | 6.7 | 5 |
| Assist-to-turnover ratio – Jalen Pickett | 3.14 | 8 |
| FG made – Jalen Pickett | 255 | 10 |
| 3FG% - Andrew Funk | 42.0% | 14 |
| 3FG made per game – Andrew Funk | 3.06 | 17 |
| Minutes per game – Jalen Pickett | 36:33 | 20 |
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 has been named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press, NABC and Sporting News. 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 (3.14) while engineering a Penn State offense that ranks fourth in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (9.0) and 13th 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 36 games this season, dishing 242 assists to this point.
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.
- Funk (42.0 3FG%) and Lundy (40.2 3FG%) rank 1-2 in the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage. Funk leads the conference and ranks top 20 in the nation with 3.06 triples per game, while Lundy ranks third in the Big Ten with 2.57 treys per contest.
ELITE EFFICIENCY 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 (14.3) and six-plus (6.2) rebounds per game while shooting at least 50% from two (52.5%), 40% from three (40.2%) and 80% from the free throw line (80.6%).
- Lundy is having his most consistent year in the Blue & White and has scored in double figures in 30 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.
WYNTER IS COMING
- Camren Wynter has kicked it up a notch over the last 10 games. He's averaging 12.2 ppg and 4.0 rpg while shooting 59.0% (46-78) from the field and 68.2% (15-22) from 3-point range in Penn State's last 10 games.
UP NEXT
- The winner of Saturday's Penn State-Texas game advances to next week's Sweet 16 in Kansas City.
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.