UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team battled the ninth-ranked Michigan State Spartans in a single-possession game with less than a minute to play, but the visitors from East Lansing were ultimately able to pull away in the last 55 seconds to take a 76-72 win inside the Bryce Jordan Center Saturday.
Penn State wreaked havoc on both ends of the court in Saturday’s hard-fought affair, forcing 17 Michigan State turnovers while surrendering just nine. PSU’s stellar effort on the defensive end helped spark a 23-4 differential in points off opponent giveaways, allowing the Nittany Lions to remain in the thick of things against their first nationally ranked opponent of the 2025-26 season. The game featured seven ties and six lead changes, with the Blue & White boasting a lead as large as nine with 6:41 remaining in the first half.
Redshirt junior guard Freddie Dilione V led the way for the Nittany Lions, scoring a career-high 23 points while leading the Blue & White in scoring for the third time in the 2025-26 campaign. Dilione V added three assists and three steals across 32 minutes of effort off the pine. Freshman guard Kayden Mingo neared triple-double territory in the back-and-forth battle with MSU, dropping 11 points while setting a career high with eight assists and matching his career-best on the glass with seven boards. Freshman forward Ivan Jurić rounded out a trio of Nittany Lions in double digits with 10 points in 30 minutes.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Jurić came away with the opening tipoff against the Spartan center, but Michigan State notched the opening bucket of the game on a tip-in moments later. MSU was able to open the game on a 9-2 scoring run, but a pair of makes from Mingo and Josh Reed kept the Blue & White with-in one possession around five minutes into the game. The Spartans rattled off an 8-2 scoring stretch from there, but a left-wing triple from Dilione V temporarily halted the MSU momentum at the 12:04 mark.
- Dilione V’s 3-pointer kicked off a 7-0 Nittany Lion scoring run that saw the Blue & White pull within two, but a left corner 3-ball for the Spartans saw the visitors pull ahead by two possessions. A personal 5-0 scoring run from Jurić deadlocked the game at 20-all, and a break-away bucket from Dilione V on a feed from Mingo gave PSU its first lead of the afternoon at 22-20 with just over eight minutes in the first half.
- Penn State’s solid run of success continued out of the under-eight media timeout, as a layup from Tibor Mirtič kicked off a 9-0 Nittany Lion scoring stretch that included Mingo’s first make of the game from long range. PSU’s lead ballooned as large as 31-22 at the 6:41 mark, but the ninth-ranked Spartans began a 5-0 run of their own to make it a 31-27 ballgame at the 4:34 mark of the first half.
- Out of the under-four media break, Melih Tunca splashed a 3-pointer from the right wing to extend the Nittany Lion advantage to seven points. The Spartans went on a quick 6-0 scoring run from there, but a slick crosscourt feed from Mingo to Eli Rice in the left corner resulted in a 3-point basket to make it a four-point affair. MSU hit from deep at the 28-second mark, but a last-second layup from Mirtič closed out a strong 39-36 opening half for Penn State.
- Both defenses earned stops to start the second half of play, but the Spartans worked their way on the board first with a layup. MSU made it a 5-0 run with a left-corner 3-pointer to re-take the lead. The squads traded layups to the tune of a 43-41 Michigan State advantage, but a Spartan layup just before a media timeout made it a 45-41 MSU lead with 15:38 to play.
- Michigan State managed to extend its scoring run to 10-0 and took a 51-41 lead at the 14:35 mark, but a runner from Mingo and an and-one for Rice saw the Nittany Lions pull back within five. Moments later, Jurić connected from distance to make it a one-score game, and Dilione V made a triple of his own to cap off an 11-0 PSU stretch to re-take the lead at 52-51.
- The Spartans embarked on a 7-2 scoring run to take a four-point lead, but a 6-0 Nittany Lion response capped off by an emphatic block by Ciani that materialized into a bucket the other way for Dilione V gave Penn State a 60-58 lead with less than eight to play. Both teams traded blows over the next few minutes to a deadlock at 62-all, but an and-one bucket from Rice put the Nittany Lions ahead by three with 5:22 to go.
- After exchanging makes at the stripe, MSU rattled off a 5-0 scoring run to take a narrow 69-67 lead with just under three minutes remaining. The Blue & White battled as the clock continued to wind down, pulling back within two points with less than 10 seconds to go, but the late scoring burst from the Spartans closed the book on a narrow 76-72 Michigan State win in University Park.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State falls to 8-3 on the season and is now 0-2 in Big Ten play, while #9 Michigan State improves to 9-1 overall and 2-0 against B1G competitors.
- Redshirt junior guard Freddie Dilione V notched his fourth-straight game in double figures, as well as his ninth such performance this season. Dilione V led the Nittany Lions in scoring for the third time this season, totaling 23 points for Penn State in the team’s Big Ten home opener. Dilione V set an overall career high in scoring, surpassing his previous best of 22.
- Freshman guard Kayden Mingo logged double digits for the tenth time this season. The Farmingdale, New York, native tallied 11 points and set a career high in assists with eight while matching his career-best rebounding mark with seven boards.
- Freshman forward Ivan Jurić notched double digits in the scoring column for the sixth time this season, recording 10 points against Michigan State. The Zagreb, Croatia, native has scored 10 or more points in four out of the last five games.
- Freshman forward Tibor Mirtič posted six points in addition to a career-high four steals, besting his previous effort of two against Campbell on December 2.
- Penn State went with the starting lineup of Jurić, Mingo, Stewart, Tunca, and Reed for the fourth-straight game, and fourth time overall this season. The Nittany Lions are now 2-2 when doing so.
UP NEXT
- The Nittany Lions take a brief break for final exams before returning to action on Sunday, Dec. 21, when Penn State takes on Pittsburgh inside the GIANT Center in Hershey. Tipoff is slated for noon on Big Ten Network.