Nittany Lions Face La Salle At Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena SaturdayNittany Lions Face La Salle At Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena Saturday

Nittany Lions Face La Salle At Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile Arena Saturday

Tipoff from home of NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers set for 1 p.m. on Peacock

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PHILADELPHIA – The Penn State men’s basketball team makes its return to Philadelphia Saturday afternoon when the Nittany Lions face in-state foe La Salle inside Xfinity Mobile Arena. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. and the game will air nationally on Peacock.

FOLLOW ALONG

OPENING TIPS

  • The Nittany Lions head to the City of Brotherly Love Saturday afternoon to face La Salle inside Xfinity Mobile Arena, the home of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.
  • Penn State is off to a 3-0 start to the season for the fourth-straight year and the Nittany Lions are coming off an 80-71 home win over Navy Tuesday night.
  • Four Nittany Lions are averaging double-digit points and Penn State is led by freshman Kayden Mingo who is averaging 15.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Melih Tunca (14.0 ppg), Freddie Dilione V (11.0 ppg) and Dominick Stewart (11.0) follow.

IF PENN STATE BEATS LA SALLE

  • The Nittany Lions would start the season 4-0 for the fourth-straight year and the fifth time in the last seven seasons.

SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS

  • The Explorers are 2-1 on the young season and coming off their first loss of the year, a 90-63 defeat at Temple Tuesday night.
  • La Salle owns a pair of home wins over Coppin State (87-59) and Monmouth (73-60).
  • Jaeden Marshall has led La Salle thus far this season with 16.7 points per game, while Jerome Brewer Jr. follows with 11.0 points per contest. Josiah Harris is La Salle's leading rebounder with 6.7 boards per game and Ashton Walker leads the Explorers with 5.3 assists per contest.
  • The Explorers are in their first season under head coach Darris Nichols. Nichols most recently served as the head coach at Radford University, where he amassed two 20-win seasons in four years (68-63), including a 20-13 record during the 2024-25 season.

AGAINST LA SALLE

  • Penn State and La Salle meet for just the sixth time in program history Saturday afternoon.
  • The two teams most recently played a home-and-home series in 2012 & 2013, with the home team winning each game.
  • Penn State and La Salle first met in the 1954 NCAA Tournament Final Four. The Explorers won that game, 69-54.

3-0

  • Penn State is off to a 3-0 start for the fourth-straight year, marking the first time the Nittany Lions have started 3-0 in four-consecutive years since doing so in eight-straight seasons from 1919-20 to 1926-27.
  • Penn State is averaging 81.0 points per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field. Penn State ranks seventh in the country in fewest fouls per game (11.7) and ninth in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (7.3).

DEPTH ON DISPLAY

  • The Nittany Lions have showcased their depth through the first three games of the season, as Penn State's 38.67 bench points per game ranks second in the Big Ten (behind only Michigan's 42.00 bench points/game) and is a top 50 mark in the country.
  • The Penn State bench has outscored the opponent bench by an eye-popping total of 116-18 through three games this season.

LOOK OUT FOR THE ROOKS

  • The Nittany Lions have two freshmen guards leading the way thus far this season. Kayden Mingo leads Penn State in points (15.7 ppg), rebounds (6.0 rpg) and assists (4.0 apg) through Penn State's first three games, while Melih Tunca follows with 14.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
  • Penn State's eight rookies have combined for the following through the first three games of the year:

Stat

Freshmen (Total)

Freshmen %

Points

127 (243)

52.3%

Rebounds

54 (105)

51.4%

Assists

28 (42)

66.7%

Steals

13 (26)

50.0%

Minutes

215.56 (400)

52.3%

NEW-LOOK NITTANY LIONS

  • The new-look Nittany Lions feature 10 new players this season.
  • Penn State returns just 14.6 percent of points, 11.0 percent of rebounds, 12.5 percent of assists and 15.5 percent of minutes played from last season in its three returners - Freddie Dilione V, Eli Rice and Dominick Stewart.
  • The Nittany Lion roster is the 10th-most inexperienced roster in Division I per Bart Torvik's experience metric. The Penn State roster features one senior, two juniors, two sophomores and eight freshmen.

OUR STATE

  • Penn State’s schedule is set up to take the Nittany Lions all over the state of Pennsylvania. Penn State will travel to Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, the home of the 76ers, on Nov. 15 to face in-state foe La Salle. The Nittany Lions will meet Pittsburgh in a non-conference battle inside the GIANT Center in Hershey on Dec. 21. Penn State also makes its return to the historic Palestra in Philadelphia on Jan. 3 when Penn State hosts Illinois in a Big Ten battle inside the Cathedral of College Basketball.

UP NEXT

  • Penn State returns home to host Harvard Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. inside the Bryce Jordan Center.