LOS ANGELES – The Penn State men’s basketball team completes its West Coast road trip Tuesday night when the Nittany Lions take on USC from the Galen Center at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – J.B. Long (pxp) & Don MacLean (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: Sirius XM Ch. 389 & SXM App. Ch. 975
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
- GAME NOTES: Penn State | USC
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions wrap up their West Coast swing Tuesday night when Penn State visits USC at the Galen Center.
- The two teams have met just twice before, at the 2014 Charleston Classic and during Penn State's 1954 Final Four run. The Nittany Lions are 2-0 all-time against USC.
- Five Nittany Lions are averaging double-digit points, led by Ace Baldwin Jr.'s 13.7 ppg.
IF PENN STATE BEATS USC
- The Nittany Lions would earn their first Big Ten road win of the season.
- The Nittany Lions would move to 3-0 all-time against the Trojans.
- Penn State would snap its five-game losing streak.
SCOUTING USC
- The Trojans are 13-10 on the season and 5-7 in conference action in their first season in the Big Ten and first season under head coach Eric Musselman.
- USC has dropped its last two games, both on the road, as the Trojans fell 90-72 at Purdue Saturday following a 77-75 defeat at Northwestern on Feb. 4.
- The Trojans are 10-5 overall inside the Galen Center this season.
- Desmond Claude leads five Trojans in double figures with 16.2 points per game. Wesley Yates III (12.5 ppg), Chibuzo Agbo (11.5 ppg), Terrance Williams II (10.6 ppg) and Saint Thomas (10.2 ppg) follow.
AGAINST THE TROJANS
- Penn State and USC meet for just the third time in program history Wednesday night.
- The Nittany Lions own a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series.
- The two teams most recently met on Nov. 23, 2014 when Penn State took down USC 63-61 in the Charleston Classic.
- The first-ever meeting between the Nittany Lions and Trojans came in Penn State's trip to the Final Four of the 1954 NCAA Tournament. Penn State defeated USC 70-61 in the NCAA third-place game on March 20, 1954.
PUT ‘EM ON WATCH
- Graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. earned the following midseason recognition just last week:
HIGH OCTANE
- Penn State is averaging 80.3 points per game, a mark that ranks top 50 in the country.
- The Nittany Lions have scored 80-plus points in 14 of their 24 games this season.
- Penn State's 80.3 points per game currently tracks to best the program record for single-season scoring average of 78.7 ppg that was set by the 1994-95 team.
BALANCED ATTACK
- Five different Penn State players are averaging double-digit points: Ace Baldwin Jr. (13.7 ppg), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (12.7 ppg), Nick Kern Jr. (12.6 ppg), Zach Hicks (11.8 ppg) and Puff Johnson (10.2 ppg).
- Nine players have scored in double figures, with six different players recording 20-plus point games, in the Nittany Lions' balanced offensive attack.
- Seven different players have led Penn State in scoring in a game this season.
TURNING DEFENSE INTO OFFENSE
- Penn State ranks 36th in Division I in turnovers forced per game (14.63) and ranks second in the Big Ten with 8.3 steals per game.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
- Penn State players currently rank in the top 25 in the country in a number of statistical categories through games on Feb. 9:
|
Individual Stat |
Value |
National Rank |
|
FT% - Ace Baldwin Jr. |
93.4% |
4 |
|
Assists per game – Ace Baldwin Jr. |
7.3 |
5 |
|
Blocks per game – Yanic Konan Niederhauser |
2.09 |
22 |
INJURY BUG
- Penn State has been plagued with injuries since the turn of the calendar year, as the Nittany Lions have played each of the last nine games without at least one of their double-digit scorers.
CLOSE LOSSES
- Penn State has been within four points in the final two minutes of seven of its 11 losses this season.
NOWHERE NEAR DUNN
- D’Marco Dunn has turned it up a notch over the last seven games, including putting together two career-best scoring efforts with 18 points against both Michigan State and Minnesota:
|
Dunn |
First 17 Games |
Last 7 Games |
|
PPG |
5.2 |
10.7 |
|
FG% |
38.1% |
44.4% |
|
3FG% |
32.4% |
44.4% |
|
Minuntes/game |
16.7 |
27.3 |
ONE OF ONE
- Graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. is the ONLY active Division I player and one of just nine Division I players since the 1947-48 season (77 years) with 1,500+ career points (1,613), 700+ career assists (787) and 300+ career steals (315).
- Baldwin Jr. is Division I's active career leader in steals (315) and his 787 career assists are second amongst active Division I players.
GOT AN ACE UP OUR SLEEVE
- Ace Baldwin Jr. currently ranks fourth in the country with his 93.4% free throw percentage and fifth in assists per game (7.3).
- He's notched five points-assists double-doubles and has tallied double-digit assists in more games (6) than he did all of last season (4), including a single-game school record 16 helpers on Dec. 14 vs. Coppin State.
CONSISTENCY FOR KERN
- Senior Nick Kern Jr. has scored in double figures in 18 of the last 20 games, including two 20-plus point efforts. He leads the Nittany Lions with 19 double-digit scoring efforts this season and is currently Penn State's leading scorer in Big Ten play, averaging 13.2 points per conference game.
- He has shot 59.4 percent (114-192) from the field this season while averaging 12.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
BIG FELLA BURSTING ONTO THE SCENE
- Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Penn State's mobile and versatile seven-foot forward, is averaging 12.7 points per game, a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game and a Big Ten-best 2.1 blocks per game. The Switzerland native transferred to Penn State ahead of the 2024-25 season following two years at Northern Illinois.
|
PSU (2024-25) |
NIU (2022-24) |
|
|
Points per game |
12.7 ppg |
5.1 ppg |
|
FG% |
62.2% |
51.4% |
|
Rebounds per game |
6.2 rpg |
3.2 rpg |
REWRITING HISTORY
- The Nittany Lions have accomplished the following Penn State milestones through the first 24 games of the season:
- Finished non-conference play at 10-1, marking just the sixth time since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1992-93 that the Nittany Lions have finished regular-season non-conference action with one or fewer losses.
- Big Ten-opening win over #8 Purdue was Penn State's first win over a team ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll since Dec. 2019.
- Started the season 6-0 for the first time in 25 years (since the 1999-2000 season). Started the season 8-1 for the first time in 10 years (since the 2014-15 season).
- Scored 100+ points in back-to-back games for the first time in program history (108 vs. Binghamton, 103 vs. UMBC).
- Scored 80+ points in six-consecutive games for the first time in program history.
- Scored 100+ in three games in the same season for just the second time in program history.
FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
- Head Coach Mike Rhoades has inked the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history and the 21st-ranked class in the country as three highly-touted prospects signed to join the Nittany Lions during the November early signing period.
- Penn State's three-member class ranks 21st in the nation per 247 Sports. The three-member class is comprised of Mason Blackwood (Rochester, N.Y.), Justin Houser (Camp Hill, Pa.) and Kayden Mingo (Farmingdale, N.Y.). The three new Nittany Lions join the program as the Class of 2029 and bring accomplished athletic and academic pedigrees to Penn State.
The 2024-25 Penn State men’s basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.