Nittany Lions Travel to Take on #1 Purdue SaturdayNittany Lions Travel to Take on #1 Purdue Saturday
Penn State Athletics

Nittany Lions Travel to Take on #1 Purdue Saturday

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team hits the road Saturday to face #1 Purdue in a 2:15 p.m. tipoff from Mackey Arena on the Big Ten Network.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • The Nittany Lions look to make history Saturday afternoon when Penn State travels to Mackey Arena to face #1 Purdue.
  • Penn State sits 2-3 in Big Ten play with conference wins over Ohio State and Michigan. The Nittany Lions have erased double-digit deficits in both of their Big Ten wins this season.
  • Kanye Clary is averaging a team-best 18.8 points per game, while Ace Baldwin Jr. has contributed 13.1 points, a team-best 4.4 assists and a Big Ten-best 2.9 steals per game. Baldwin Jr.'s 2.9 steals per game ranks fifth in the country.

 
IF PENN STATE BEATS #1 PURDUE

  • Penn State would defeat the #1 team in the nation for the first time in program history.
  • The Nittany Lions would earn their first true road win of the Mike Rhoades era.

 
SCOUTING THE BOILERMAKERS

  • The top-ranked Boilermakers are 14-2 on the season and 3-2 in conference play. Purdue is coming off its second loss of the season in its most recent game, a 72-88 road loss at Nebraska. The Boilermakers' only other loss of the season came in the form of an 88-92 overtime defeat at Northwestern on Dec. 1.
  • Defending National Player of the Year Zach Edey leads Purdue with 21.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. Braden Smith (12.8 ppg), Lance Jones (11.1 ppg) and Fletcher Loyer (11.0 ppg) follow.

 
AGAINST PURDUE

  • Penn State and Purdue meet for the first time since last season's Big Ten Tournament Championship game.
  • The Boilermakers own a 46-13 advantage in the all-time series, including a 24-3 edge in West Lafayette, Ind.
  • Purdue has won each of the last seven matchups between the two teams.
  • Penn State trimmed a 17-point deficit down to one in the final minute, but came up just short of completing the comeback in a 67-65 loss to top-seeded Purdue in the 2023 Big Ten Tournament Championship game at the United Center in Chicago. The Boilermakers also won both of last season's regular-season meetings.

 
HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY

  • The Nittany Lions have an opportunity to make history Saturday as Penn State looks for its first-ever win against the nation's top-ranked team.
  • Penn State is 0-14 all-time against the number one team in the nation. Penn State has come close before. The Nittany Lions took #1 Indiana to double-overtime in an 84-88 loss in 1993, fell by one point (49-50) at #1 Temple in 1988 and dropped a 50-56 game in overtime to #1 North Carolina in 1981.

 
COMEBACK CATS

  • Both of the Nittany Lions' conference victories have seen Penn State erase a double-digit deficit to come back and win.
  • The Nittany Lions trailed Michigan by 14 with 3:15 left in the first half on Jan. 7 at The Palestra in Philadelphia. Penn State spent the first 10 minutes of the second half on a 29-12 run to erase the double-digit Michigan advantage and rally back to win 79-73.
  • Penn State's first conference win of the season saw the Nittany Lions erase an 18-point second-half deficit to come back and beat Ohio State 83-80 on Dec. 9 in Happy Valley. Penn State caught fire for a 46-25 run in the game's final 15:30.

 
TURN UP THE PRESSURE

  • The Nittany Lions have forced their opponents into 16.75 turnovers per game, a mark that leads the Big Ten and ranks 14th 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 17.8 points off turnovers per game thus far this season, while Penn State's opponents have only scored 11.1 points per game off Nittany Lion turnovers. Penn State's +5.2 turnover margin ranks seventh in the country.

 
SOPHOMORE LEAP

  • Sophomore guard Kanye Clary has seen the largest increase in scoring production by any Big Ten player between last 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 18.8 points per game leads the team and ranks fifth in the Big Ten. He has scored in double figures in 13 games this season, including nine 20-plus point efforts, while leading the team in scoring in 13 of Penn State's 16 games.
Clary Stat 2023-24 2022-23 Increase
Points per game 18.8 3.7 +15.1 ppg
FG% 48.7% 43.4% +5.3%
Rebounds per game 3.4 0.9 +2.5 rpg
Assists per game 2.8 0.7 +2.1 apg

 
GOT AN ACE UP OUR SLEEVE

  • Senior point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. has stuffed the stat sheet through his first 16 games as a Nittany Lion, averaging 13.1 points per game, a team-best 4.4 assists per contest and a Big Ten-best 2.9 steals per game. His 2.9 steals per game ranks fifth in the nation. Baldwin Jr. collected a Bryce Jordan Center facility record and Penn State single-game program record-tying eight steals in Penn State's most recent game against Northwestern.
  • He scored his 1,000th career point on Dec. 29 in Penn State's win over Rider. Baldwin Jr. sits just 11 assists away from reaching the 500 career assists mark. His 229 career steals rank third amongst active Division I players.
  • Baldwin Jr. has come up clutch as of late. 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.

 
BIG Q

  • Graduate student Qudus Wahab owns career marks of 1,188 points and 875 rebounds, making him one of just 25 active Division I players with upwards of 1,000 points and 800
  • rebounds.
  • Wahab is shooting a team-best and career-high 66.7 percent from the field this season. He tallied his first double-double of conference play in Penn State's most recent game against Northwestern, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

 
UP NEXT

  • The Nittany Lions return home to host #15 Wisconsin Tuesday night at 9 p.m. inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

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