LOS ANGELES – The Penn State men’s basketball team heads to Los Angeles Saturday to take on UCLA inside Pauley Pavillion. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – Guy Haberman (pxp) & Don MacLean (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 | UCLA
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions make their first trip out West to visit new Big Ten member UCLA Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavillion.
- The two teams have met just once before, when 13th-seeded Penn State upset fourth-seeded UCLA, 74-69, in the first round of the 1991 NCAA Tournament.
- Five Nittany Lions are averaging double-digit points, led by Ace Baldwin Jr.'s 14.0 ppg.
IF PENN STATE BEATS UCLA
- The Nittany Lions would earn their first Big Ten road win of the season.
- Penn State would snap UCLA's Big Ten-best six-game winning streak.
- The Nittany Lions would move to 2-0 all-time against the Bruins.
SCOUTING UCLA
- The Bruins are 17-6 on the season and 8-4 in conference action in their first season in the Big Ten.
- UCLA rides a Big Ten-best six-game winning streak into Saturday's matchup in Westwood and the Bruins are 12-1 when playing inside Pauley Pavillion this season.
- UCLA's lone home loss of the season came on Jan. 7, a 94-75 defeat to Michigan.
- The Bruins are coming off a 63-61 win over #9 Michigan State in their most recent game Tuesday night.
- Tyler Bilodeau leads a balanced UCLA attack with 13.9 points per game, while Eric Dailey Jr. is averaging 12.2 points per game. Bilodeau and Dailey Jr. are the only two Bruins averaging double-digit points, but seven UCLA players are averaging six or more points on the season.
AGAINST THE BRUINS
- Penn State and UCLA meet for just the second time in program history Saturday in Los Angeles.
- The Nittany Lions and Bruins meet for the first time since No. 13 seed Penn State upset No. 4 seed UCLA in the 1991 NCAA Tournament inside the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. James Barnes (19 points) and DeRon Hayes (16 points) led Penn State to the first-round upset of UCLA.
PUT ‘EM ON WATCH
- Graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. earned the following midseason recognition just this week:
HIGH OCTANE
- Penn State is averaging 81.4 points per game, a mark that ranks 31st in the country.
- The Nittany Lions have scored 80-plus points in 14 of their 23 games this season.
- Penn State's 81.4 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. (14.0 ppg), Nick Kern Jr. (12.8), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (12.7), Zach Hicks (11.7), and Puff Johnson (10.2).
- 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 26th in Division I in turnovers forced per game (15.13) and leads the Big Ten with 8.7 steals per game.
- The Nittany Lions have owned a 417-285 advantage in points scored off turnovers through the first 23 games of the season.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
- The Nittany Lions currently rank in the top 30 in the country in a number of statistical categories through games on Feb. 5:
|
Team Stat |
Value |
National Rank |
|
FT made per game |
17.1 |
25 |
|
Turnovers forced per game |
15.13 |
26 |
|
Individual Stat |
Value |
National Rank |
|
Assists per game – Ace Baldwin Jr. |
7.7 |
4 |
|
FT% - Ace Baldwin Jr. |
93.3% |
4 |
|
Blocks – Yanic Konan Niederhauser |
46 |
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 eight 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 10 losses this season.
NOWHERE NEAR DUNN
- D’Marco Dunn has turned it up a notch over the last six games, including putting together two career-best scoring efforts with 18 points against both Michigan State and Minnesota:
|
Dunn |
First 17 Games |
Last 6 Games |
|
PPG |
5.2 |
11.3 |
|
FG% |
38.1% |
46.9% |
|
3FG% |
32.4% |
44.0% |
|
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 (1,604), 700+ career assists (787) and 300+ career steals (314).
- Baldwin Jr. is Division I's active career leader in steals (314) 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 7.8 assists per game and fourth in free throw percentage (93.3%).
- 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 19 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 13.5 points per conference game.
- He has shot 59.7 percent (111-186) from the field this season while averaging 12.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 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 23 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.