UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team returns to conference action Thursday night when the Nittany Lions travel to Michigan State. Tipoff from the Breslin Center is slated for 7 p.m. on Peacock.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Peacock – Noah Eagle (pxp) & Robbie Hummel (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 380 & SXM App. Ch. 970
- LIVE STATS: Live Stats
- GAME NOTES: Penn State | Michigan State
OPENING TIPS
- Big Ten play resumes Thursday when the Nittany Lions travel to East Lansing, Mich. to face the Michigan State Spartans.
- Penn State has won three of its last four games and sits at 7-6 on the season and 1-1 in Big Ten play.
- Kanye Clary is averaging a team-best 18.2 points per game, while Ace Baldwin Jr. has contributed 13.6 points and a Big Ten-best 2.7 steals per game. Qudus Wahab leads the Nittany Lions with 8.8 rebounds per game to go along with 9.9 points per contest.
IF PENN STATE BEATS MICHIGAN STATE
- The Nittany Lions would earn just their third-ever road win in East Lansing.
- Penn State would pick up its first true road win of the Mike Rhoades era.
SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
- The Spartans are 8-5 overall and riding a four-game win streak into Thursday's resumption of Big Ten play.
- Michigan State is 0-2 in conference play after dropping its December games against Wisconsin (57-70) and at Nebraska (70-77).
- Since starting 0-2 in league action, Michigan State has rattled off four-straight wins, including an 88-64 drubbing of then sixth-ranked Baylor on Dec. 16.
- Tyson Walker leads the team with 20.0 points per game, while A.J. Hoggard (11.3 ppg), Jaden Akins (10.6 ppg) and Malik Hall (10.0 ppg) follow.
AGAINST MICHIGAN STATE
- The Nittany Lions will be looking for just their third-ever road win against Michigan State Thursday. The Spartans lead the all-time series 43-10, including a 25-2 mark in East Lansing.
- Penn State's two previous road wins over Michigan State came in 2020 (2/4/20 - 75-70) and 2009 (2/1/09 - 72-68).
- Penn State and Michigan State meet for the first time since last season's Big Ten opener when the Spartans earned a 67-58 win in Happy Valley on Dec. 7, 2022. The back-and-forth battle saw 12 lead changes and four tie scores and was a one-possession contest until the final two minutes.
BACK TO B1G
- Big Ten play begins in earnest Thursday when the Nittany Lions travel to Michigan State. Penn State is 1-1 in conference action following its December games against Big Ten foes.
- The Nittany Lions opened conference action on Dec. 6 at Maryland, dropping a 75-81 overtime decision to the Terps. The back-and-forth battle saw 17 lead changes.
- Penn State then put together a thrilling comeback to defeat Ohio State 83-80 on Dec. 9 in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions shot 61 percent from the field in the second half to erase an 18-point second-half deficit and come back to defeat the Buckeyes.
- Kanye Clary led Penn State through its first two conference games with an average of 22.0 ppg, while Ace Baldwin Jr. (12.5 ppg), Leo O'Boyle (11.0 ppg) and Zach Hicks (10.0 ppg) followed.
THREE OF FOUR
- Penn State enters January having won three of its last four games, with the only loss being a one-point (81-82) overtime loss to Georgia Tech at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 16.
- The most noticeable difference in the last four games has been Penn State's 3-point shooting - the Nittany Lions have shot 36.7 percent (40-109) from deep in the last four games, compared to their 29.7 percent (65-219) mark through the first nine contests.
- Four Penn State players have shot better than 40 percent from downtown over the last four games, compared to just one Nittany Lion shooting better than 40 percent over the first nine games of the season: Kanye Clary 52.9% (9-17), Leo O'Boyle 45.5% (5-11), RayQuawndis Mitchell 42.9% (3-7) and D'Marco Dunn 41.2% (7-17). Jameel Brown, 61.1% (11-18), was the only Nittany Lion shooting above 40% from 3-point range through the first nine games of the season.
TURN UP THE PRESSURE
- The Nittany Lions have forced their opponents into 16.85 turnovers per game, a mark that leads the Big Ten and ranks 12th 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 17.9 points off turnovers per game thus far this season, while Penn State's opponents have only scored 10.5 points per game off Nittany Lion turnovers. Penn State's +5.5 turnover margin ranks eighth 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 18.2 points per game leads the team and ranks sixth in the Big Ten. He has scored in double figures in 10 games this season, including seven 20-plus point efforts, while leading the team in scoring in 11 of Penn State's 13 games.
| Clary Stat | 2023-24 | 2022-23 | Increase |
| Points per game | 18.2 | 3.7 | +14.5 ppg |
| FG% | 50.8% | 43.4% | +7.4% |
| Rebounds per game | 3.3 | 0.9 | +2.4 rpg |
| Assists per game | 2.8 | 0.7 | +2.1 apg |
| Minutes per game | 30.3 | 10.4 | +19.9 mpg |
GOT AN ACE UP OUR SLEEVE
- Senior point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. has stuffed the stat sheet through his first 13 games as a Nittany Lion, averaging 13.6 points per game, 4.5 assists per contest and a Big Ten-best 2.7 steals per game. His 2.7 steals per game ranks ninth in the nation.
- 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. He scored his 1,000th career point on Dec. 29 in Penn State's win over Rider.
NOT DUNN YET
- D'Marco Dunn has turned it up a notch over the last four games, tallying double-digit points in each of Penn State's last four contests.
- Dunn has averaged 13.8 points per game while shooting 47.2% (17-36) from the field and 41.2% (7-17) from deep over the last four 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.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions make their return to the historic Palestra on Sunday, Jan. 7, when Penn State plays host to Michigan in the City of Brotherly Love.
- The 2023-24 Nittany Lion roster features several student-athletes with Philadelphia-area ties including Jameel Brown (Philadelphia, Pa.; Westtown School), Demetrius Lilley (Philadelphia, Pa.; Lower Merion) and Zach Hicks (Camden, N.J.; Camden Catholic).
- Fans are encouraged to wear white. The game sold out within hours in early November.
- Tipoff is slated for noon and the contest will be televised nationally by the Big Ten Network.
The 2023-24 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.