UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team is back on the road this weekend to face Maryland Sunday from the Xfinity Center. Tipoff is slated for noon on Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – Jason Horowitz (pxp) & Earl Watson (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 382 & SXM App Ch. 972
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
- GAME NOTES: Penn State Notes
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions are back on the road this weekend to take on Maryland inside the Xfinity Center.
- Penn State's first six Big Ten games featured four top-20 teams and three top-10 opponents. The six teams Penn State has played thus far in conference play are a combined 28-8 (.778) in B1G action. Four of those six games were decided by single digits.
- Penn State's strong guard trio of Kayden Mingo (14.9 ppg), Freddie Dilione V (14.1 ppg) and Melih Tunca (10.1 ppg) are all averaging double-digit points.
IF PENN STATE BEATS MARYLAND
- Penn State would pick up its first Big Ten win of the season.
- The Nittany Lions would earn just their third-ever road win at Maryland and first since 2021.
- Penn State would snap its four-game losing streak.
SCOUTING THE TERRAPINS
- The Terrapins are 7-10 on the season and 0-6 in Big Ten play. Maryland is in its first season under head coach Buzz Williams who took over in April after six successful seasons at Texas A&M.
- Maryland has lost its last four games, including both in a West Coast road trip to UCLA (55-67) and USC (71-88) earlier this week.
- The Terps' best win of the season came on Nov. 15 at Marquette, an 89-82 victory.
- Pharrel Payne leads Maryland with 17.5 points per game. David Coit (13.8 ppg) and Darius Adams (12.5 ppg) follow. Coit leads the team with 2.8 assists per game while Solomon Washington leads the Terps with 9.2 boards per contest.
AGAINST MARYLAND
- The Nittany Lions head to Maryland's Xfinity Center for the first time in over two years Sunday afternoon. Penn State's last road trip to Maryland came on Dec. 6, 2023, a 75-81 overtime loss for the Nittany Lions.
- Penn State is 2-11 time when playing at Maryland, compared to their 13-3 record when playing the Terps in Happy Valley.
- The two teams last met on March 1, 2025 inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The 16th-ranked Terps came away with a tight 68-64 win in a close game in which neither team led by more than eight points.
RIGHT INTO THE FIRE
- The Nittany Lions, the youngest team in the Big Ten, have faced the conference's fire power right away in the early part of the B1G season. Penn State's first six Big Ten opponents (Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan and UCLA) are a combined 28-8 (.778) thus far in conference play, while Penn State's remaining 11 opponents are a combined 26-40 (.393) so far in Big Ten action.
- Four of Penn State's first six Big Ten games were against top-20 ranked opponents, with three being against top-10 teams, all of which were decided by single-digit margins and an average of 5.5 points:
- Dec. 13 - #9 Michigan State (L, 72-76)
- Jan. 3 - #20 Illinois (L, 65-73)
- Jan. 6 - #2 Michigan (L, 72-74)
- Jan. 10 - at #5 Purdue (L, 85-93)
INJURY BUG
- The Nittany Lions have been bitten with the injury bug as of late:
- Kayden Mingo (14.9 ppg, 4.5 apg, 2.5 spg) - missed last 3 games
- Freddie Dilione V (14.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.7 apg) - missed final 25 mins of last game
- Tibor Mirtič (3.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg) - missed last 2 games
NEW-LOOK NITTANY LIONS
- 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.
- 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.
SHOTS UP
- Redshirt sophomore Eli Rice leads the Nittany Lions with a 44.3 3FG% (27-61). The Gallatin, Tenn. native has turned it up a notch since the return from the holiday break:
|
Eli Rice Stat |
Last 5 Games |
First 12 Games |
|
Points per game |
12.2 |
5.7 |
|
Rebounds per game |
2.2 |
1.3 |
|
FG% |
47.6% |
40.4% |
|
3FG made per game |
2.4 |
1.25 |
|
Minutes per game |
25.6 |
16.8 |
STRONG START FOR THE BIG FELLA
- Freshman Ivan Jurić leads the team with a 56.7 (55-97) field goal percentage while averaging 9.1 points and a team-best 4.4 rebounds per game.
- Jurić owns seven double-digit scoring efforts and put together a career-best 20-point performance against #2 Michigan on Jan. 6.
JUMP FOR JOSH
- Senior Josh Reed was relied upon as a key defensive player in his three seasons at Cincinnati, averaging just 2.8 points per game through 97 career games with the Bearcats, but has made a big offensive jump since transferring to Penn State for the 2025-26 season.
- Reed is averaging 8.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game through 17 games this season. He has scored in double figures in seven games this season after coming to Penn State with just seven career double-digit scoring games through his three seasons at Cincinnati.
- Reed notched his first-career double-double against #2 Michigan on Jan. 6, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
MINGO MAKING HIS MARK
- Rookie guard Kayden Mingo, who has missed the last three games due to injury, is the ONLY freshman in the country averaging 14+ points (14.9 ppg), 4+ assists (4.5 apg), 3.5+ rebounds (3.9 rpg) and 2+ steals (2.5 spg) per game through games on Jan. 15.
- He is the third-highest scoring freshman in the Big Ten and has scored in double figures in 12 of 14 games, including two 20-plus point efforts. Mingo leads the Big Ten and ranks 16th nationally with 2.5 steals per game and he collected a single-game program record-tying eight steals against Sacred Heart on Nov. 29.
- Mingo, the highest-ranked recruit in program history, was named an ESPN Top 50 Impact Newcomer in late October. He was ranked as the No. 34 recruit nationally per 247Sports & No. 39 recruit nationally per ESPN out of high school. He was named the 2025 New York Gatorade Player of the Year following standout senior season at Long Island Lutheran.
STEADY FREDDIE
- Redshirt junior Freddie Dilione V, Penn State's only returning starter from a season ago, has been an improved and consistent presence for the Nittany Lions this season. Dilione ranks second on the team with his 14.1 points per game and third on the squad with 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
- He has scored in double figures in 13 games this season, including a career-best 25-point performance at #5 Purdue on Jan. 10.
|
Freddie Dilione V Stat |
2024-25 |
2025-26 |
Improvement |
|
Points per game |
9.4 |
14.1 |
+4.7 ppg |
|
Rebounds per game |
2.8 |
3.4 |
+0.6 rpg |
|
Assists per game |
1.7 |
2.7 |
+1.0 apg |
|
Turnovers per game |
1.5 |
1.2 |
-0.3 tpg |
|
FG% |
41.6% |
47.9% |
+6.3 FG% |
|
3FG% |
28.9% |
33.3% |
+4.4 3FG% |
|
FT% |
70.9% |
80.0% |
+9.1 FT% |
UP NEXT
Penn State is back in Happy Valley for its Return to Rec Hall game vs. Wisconsin Thursday night. Tipoff from Rec Hall is slated for 7 p.m. and limited single-game tickets are available here.