UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team returns to the Bryce Jordan Center to host Northwestern in a Wednesday night conference battle at 6:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TICKETS: Tickets
- PROMOTIONS: Student Org Night – Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades will donate $1,000 to the student organization with the highest attendance percentage. Student org members should stop by the kiosk at Gate A to scan into Org Central to for their attendance to be counted in their organization's attendance number.
- TV: Big Ten Network – Jason Horowitz (pxp) & Stephen Bardo (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 382 & SXM App. Ch. 972
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast | Live Stats
- GAME NOTES: Penn State | Northwestern
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions return to the Bryce Jordan Center to host Northwestern Wednesday night.
- Penn State sits 2-2 in Big Ten play and is coming off a thrilling 79-73 come-from-behind win over Michigan Sunday afternoon inside the historic Palestra in Philadelphia. The Nittany Lions have erased double-digit deficits in both of their Big Ten wins this season.
- Kanye Clary is averaging a team-best 18.4 points per game, while Ace Baldwin Jr. has contributed 13.6 points and a Big Ten-best 2.5 steals per game. Qudus Wahab leads the Nittany Lions with 8.5 rebounds per game to go along with 9.7 points per contest.
IF PENN STATE BEATS NORTHWESTERN
- The Nittany Lions would earn their sixth-straight win over the Wildcats.
- Penn State would improve to 8-1 in games played inside the Bryce Jordan Center this season.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
- The Wildcats enter Wednesday's game 11-3 on the season and 2-1 in Big Ten play.
- Northwestern is coming off an 88-74 home win over Michigan State Sunday night. The Wildcats also own a conference victory over #1 Purdue (92-88, OT). NU has dropped its only Big Ten road game of the season, a 66-96 loss at #9 Illinois.
- All-Big Ten guard Boo Buie leads the Wildcats with 18.1 points and 4.9 assists per game. Brooks Barnhizer (13.2 ppg), Ryan Langborg (12.1 ppg) and Ty Berry (11.8 ppg) follow.
AGAINST NORTHWESTERN
- Penn State has won five-straight meetings with Northwestern and seven of the last eight matchups against the Wildcats. Each of the last five meetings have been decided by seven points or less.
- Penn State won a pair of overtime decisions against Northwestern a season ago. Camren Wynter hit a game-winning 3-pointer with less than a second to play in overtime to lift Penn State to a 68-65 overtime win in Evanston in the regular season's only meeting on March 1. The Nittany Lions then beat the Wildcats 67-65 in overtime nine days later in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals behind 16 points and a go-ahead 3-pointer from Seth Lundy in the final minute of overtime.
COMEBACK CATS
- Penn State is off to a 2-2 start to Big Ten play and 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 of Penn State's most recent game Sunday afternoon 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.
ALL ABOUT THE DEFENSE
- Penn State's defense has been its biggest predictor of success so far this season. The Nittany Lions have allowed 60.6 points per game in their eight wins, compared to 84.9 points per game in their seven losses.
- Penn State owns a +7.8 turnover margin and has held its opponents to a 38.3 FG% in its eight wins. The Nittany Lions have allowed their opponents to shoot 50.4% from the field in their seven losses, with a slim +2.4 turnover margin.
TURN UP THE PRESSURE
- Penn State's +5.3 turnover margin ranks eighth in the country. The Nittany Lions have forced their opponents into 16.67 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 17.7 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.
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 18.4 points per game leads the team and ranks fifth in the Big Ten. He has scored in double figures in 12 games this season, including eight 20-plus point efforts, while leading the team in scoring in 12 of Penn State's 15 games.
| Clary Stat | 2023-24 | 2022-23 | Increase |
| Points per game | 18.4 | 3.7 | +14.7 |
| FG% | 48.3% | 43.4% | +4.9% |
| Rebounds per game | 3.3 | 0.9 | +2.3 |
| Assists per game | 2.9 | 0.7 | +2.2 |
| Minutes per game | 30.8 | 10.4 | +20.4 |
GOT AN ACE UP OUR SLEEVE
- Senior point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. has stuffed the stat sheet through his first 15 games as a Nittany Lion, averaging 13.6 points per game, 4.3 assists per contest and a Big Ten-best 2.5 steals per game. His 2.5 steals per game ranks 13th in the nation.
- He scored his 1,000th career point on Dec. 29 in Penn State's win over Rider. Baldwin Jr. sits just 16 assists away from reaching the 500 career assists mark. His 221 career steals rank fourth amongst active Division I players.
GETTING IT DUNN
- D'Marco Dunn has turned it up a notch over the last six games, tallying double-digit points in five of Penn State's last six games.
- Dunn has averaged 12.0 points per game over the last six games, compared to his 4.3 points per game through the first nine contests of the season.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions hit the road to face the top-ranked team in the nation Saturday when Penn State travels to #1 Purdue for a 2:15 p.m. tipoff on the Big Ten Network.
The 2023-24 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.