UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team hits the road to take on #5 Purdue inside Mackey Arena Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. and the game will air nationally on Big Ten Network.
FOLLOW ALONG
- TV: Big Ten Network – Jack Kizer (pxp) & Shon Morris (analyst)
- RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
- NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 372 & SXM App Ch. 372
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
- GAME NOTES: Penn State | Purdue
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions hit the road for a tough test Saturday afternoon when Penn State travels to Mackey Arena to face #5 Purdue.
- The Nittany Lions will be searching for their first Big Ten win of the year.
- Rookie guard Kayden Mingo, who was sidelined with an injury in Penn State's Tuesday night loss to #2 Michigan, leads the Nittany Lions in points (14.9 ppg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals (2.5 spg). Freddie Dilione V (14.3 ppg) and Melih Tunca (10.2 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.
IF PENN STATE BEATS #5 PURDUE
- Penn State would earn its first-ever true road win against a top-five team.
- The Nittany Lions would beat a top-five team for the first time since Dec. 10, 2019 (76-69, #4 Maryland).
- Penn State would earn its fifth win over a top-15 ranked team in the Mike Rhoades era.
SCOUTING THE #5 BOILERMAKERS
- The #5 Boilermakers are 14-1 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in Big Ten play.
- Purdue heads into Saturday's game having won its last six games.
- Purdue's only loss of the season came on Dec. 6, a 58-81 defeat to Iowa State.
- The Boilermakers have taken down Rutgers (81-65), Minnesota (85-57), Wisconsin (89-73) and Washington (81-73) thus far in Big Ten play.
- Purdue leads the Big Ten and ranks top 10 in the country with a 39.4 three-point field goal percentage.
- Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn lead the Boilermakers with 13.8 points per game, while Kaufman-Renn also leads the team with 10.1 rebounds per contest. Reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith averages 13.3 points and a nation-leading 9.5 assists per game.
AGAINST PURDUE
- Penn State and Purdue meet for the first time since the 2024-25 Big Ten opener Saturday afternoon inside Mackey Arena.
- The Nittany Lions will be looking for just their fourth-ever road win at Purdue and first since Feb. 11, 2020.
- Penn State shocked the #8 Boilermakers in the most recent meeting between the two teams on Dec. 5, 2024. The Nittany Lions led by as much as 27 as Penn State collected its first win over a top-10 team since 2019 with the 81-70 victory in Happy Valley.
HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY
- The Nittany Lions have an opportunity to make history Saturday afternoon as Penn State looks for its first-ever true road win against a top-five team.
- Penn State is 0-22 all-time in true road games against top five teams.
RIGHT INTO THE FIRE
- Four of Penn State's first five Big Ten games are against top-20 ranked opponents:
- 13 - #9 Michigan State (L, 72-76)
- 3 - #20 Illinois (L, 65-73)
- 6 - #2 Michigan (L, 72-74)
- 10 - at #5 Purdue
- Penn State's first five Big Ten opponents (Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan and Purdue) are a combined 16-3 (.842) thus far in conference play, while Penn State's remaining 12 opponents are a combined 19-28 (.404) so far in Big Ten action.
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.
80-PLUS
- Penn State is 8-0 this season when scoring 80 or more points. The Nittany Lions are 1-6 when scoring under 80 points.
- The Nittany Lions are averaging 85.9 ppg in their nine wins, compared to their 65.3 ppg in their six losses.
STASHING STEALS
- The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten with 8.2 steals per game. Penn State has led the conference in steals per game in each of Mike Rhoades' two full seasons at the helm.
- Individually, Kayden Mingo leads the conference and ranks 14th nationally with 2.5 steals per game.
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 thus far this season. Dilione ranks second on the team with 14.3 points per game to go along with his 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
- He has scored in double figures in 12 games this season, including career-best 23-point performances against #9 Michigan State and Pittsburgh.
|
Freddie Dilione V Stat |
2024-25 |
2025-26 |
Improvement |
|
Points per game |
9.4 |
14.3 |
+4.9 ppg |
|
Rebounds per game |
2.8 |
3.7 |
+0.9 ppg |
|
Assists per game |
1.7 |
2.5 |
+0.8 apg |
|
Turnovers per game |
1.5 |
1.2 |
-0.3 tpg |
|
FG% |
41.6% |
48.2% |
+6.6 FG% |
|
3FG% |
28.9% |
33.3% |
+4.4 3FG% |
|
FT% |
70.9% |
78.9% |
+8.0 FT% |
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 8.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game through 15 games this season. He has scored in double figures in six games this season after coming to Penn State with just seven career double-digit scoring games through his three seasons at Cincinnati.
- Reed is coming off his first-career double-double Tuesday night against #2 Michigan, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
BIG START FOR THE BIG FELLA
- Freshman Ivan Jurić leads the team with a 55.8 (48-86) field goal percentage while averaging 9.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
- Jurić owns seven double-digit scoring efforts and is coming off a career-best 20-point performance against #2 Michigan on Tuesday night.
UP NEXT
- Penn State returns home to host UCLA Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The game will air nationally on FS1.