UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team is back on the road Saturday afternoon to take on Minnesota at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – Lisa Byington (pxp) & Stephen Bardo (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: Sirius XM Ch. 389 & SXM App. Ch. 979
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
- GAME NOTES: Penn State
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions are back on the road Saturday afternoon to face Minnesota for the second time in 18 days.
- Penn State is coming off a dominant 89-72 win over Nebraska Wednesday night at home.
- Five Nittany Lions are averaging double-digit points, led by Ace Baldwin Jr.'s 13.9 points per game. Baldwin Jr. ranks top five in the country in assists per game (7.3) and FT% (93.4%).
IF PENN STATE BEATS MINNESOTA
- The Nittany Lions would win their second-straight game and snap Minnesota's two-game win streak.
- Penn State would earn its first Big Ten road win of the season.
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
- The Gophers are 14-12 on the season and 6-9 in Big Ten play.
- Minnesota rides a two-game win streak into Saturday's game after sweeping their trip to Los Angeles over the weekend. The Gophers took down USC 69-66 on Saturday before defeating UCLA 64-61 on Tuesday.
- Minnesota is 10-6 at home this season, but just 2-5 in Big Ten home games.
- Dawson Garcia leads the Gophers with 19.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Lu'cye Patterson (11.7 ppg) and Mike Mitchell Jr. (10.0 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.
AGAINST MINNESOTA
- Penn State and Minnesota meet for the second time in 18 days Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.
- The Gophers won the season's first meeting 69-61 on Feb. 4 in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions owned a four-point halftime lead, but Minnesota shot nearly 70 percent from the field in the second half to leave the Bryce Jordan Center with the road victory.
- D’Marco Dunn led Penn State with a career high-tying 18 points. Zach Hicks and Ace Baldwin Jr. followed with 11 points apiece, while Nick Kern Jr. added 10 points and seven rebounds. The Nittany Lions played without starting big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser due to injury.
BACK ON TRACK
- The Nittany Lions got back in the win column Wednesday night as Penn State took a double-digit lead less than six minutes into the game and never looked back in a dominant 89-72 win over Nebraska.
- Penn State shot a season-high 60.7 percent from the field, the first time the Nittany Lions have shot 60% or better against a Big Ten opponent in 18 years.
- Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Zach Hicks led six Nittany Lions in double figures with 19 points apiece. Konan Niederhauser scored 15 points in the first half alone while Hicks drilled five 3-pointers in the game. D’Marco Dunn posted 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Freddie Dilione V added 12 points, while Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kern Jr. tallied 10 apiece. Baldwin Jr. added team-best marks of eight assists and six steals, while Kern Jr. added seven assists and six rebounds.
HIGH OCTANE
- Penn State is averaging 79.8 points per game, which currently tracks to best the program record for single-season scoring average of 78.7 ppg that was set by the 1954-55 team.
- The Nittany Lions have scored 80-plus points in 15 games this season.
BALANCED ATTACK
- Five different Penn State players are averaging double-digit points: Ace Baldwin Jr. (13.9 ppg), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (12.4 ppg), Nick Kern Jr. (12.1 ppg), Zach Hicks (12.0 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 leads the Big Ten with 8.4 steals per game and the Nittany Lions rank second in the conference in turnovers forced per game (14.63).
NATIONAL NUMBERS
- Penn State players currently rank in the top 25 in the country in a number of statistical categories through games on Feb. 19:
|
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 |
2.08 |
21 |
|
Steals per game – Ace Baldwin Jr. |
2.27 |
20 |
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 12 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 eight of its 13 losses this season.
- The Nittany Lions and Northwestern both own seven conference losses by six points or fewer this season, the most amongst major conference teams.
PUT ‘EM ON WATCH
- Graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. earned the following midseason recognition:
NOWHERE NEAR DUNN
- D’Marco Dunn has turned it up a notch over the last 10 games, including putting together two career-best scoring efforts with 18 points against both Michigan State and Minnesota:
|
Dunn |
First 17 Games |
Last 10 Games |
|
PPG |
5.2 |
11.4 |
|
FG% |
38.1% |
46.9% |
|
3FG% |
32.4% |
42.9% |
|
Minutes/game |
16.7 |
27.0 |
ONE OF ONE
- Graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. is the ONLY active Division I player and one of just five Division I players since the 1947-48 season (77 years) with 1,600+ career points (1,658), 800+ career assists (807) and 300+ career steals (330).
- Baldwin Jr. is Division I's active career leader in steals (330) and his 807 career assists are third amongst active Division I players. He currently is tied for 20th all-time in career steals in the NCAA record book.
CONSISTENCY FOR KERN
- Senior Nick Kern Jr. is tied for the team lead with 20 double-digit scoring efforts this season and is Penn State's leading rebounder (5.8 rpg) and third-leading scorer (12.1 ppg) in Big Ten play.
- He has shot 58.6 percent (123-210) from the field this season while averaging 12.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
BIG FELLA BURSTING ONTO THE SCENE
- Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Penn State's mobile and versatile seven-foot forward, is averaging 12.4 points per game, a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game and a Big Ten-best 2.08 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 |
12.4 ppg |
5.1 ppg |
|
FG% |
62.0% |
51.4% |
|
Rebounds per game |
6.1 rpg |
3.2 rpg |
REWRITING HISTORY
- The Nittany Lions have accomplished the following Penn State milestones through the first 27 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.