SEATTLE – The Penn State men’s basketball team kicks off a two-game road trip to the Pacific Northwest Wednesday night when the Nittany Lions face Washington at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 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: SiriusXM Ch. 391 & SXM App Ch. 981
- LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
- GAME NOTES: Penn State Notes | Washington Notes
OPENING TIPS
- The Nittany Lions make their first-ever trip to the state of Washington to face the Huskies Wednesday night in Seattle.
- Penn State earned its first Big Ten win of the season after Kayden Mingo scored the game-winning shot with one second to play to lift the Nittany Lions to a 77-75 win over Minnesota on Feb. 1.
- Penn State's trio of Freddie Dilione V (14.5 ppg), Kayden Mingo (13.4 ppg) and Josh Reed (10.5 ppg) are all averaging double-digit points.
IF PENN STATE BEATS WASHINGTON
- Penn State would earn its second Big Ten win of the season.
- The Nittany Lions would defeat the Huskies in Penn State's first-ever trip to the state of Washington.
- Penn State would earn its first Big Ten road win of the season.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
- The Huskies are currently 12-12 on the season and 4-9 in conference play during their second season in the Big Ten.
- Washington's four Big Ten wins have come against Northwestern (76-62), Oregon (72-57), Ohio State (81-74) and USC (84-76).
- The Huskies have dropped their last two games to UCLA (73-77) and Iowa (74-84).
- Eight of Washington's 12 wins this season have come at home.
- Hannes Steinbach leads the team with 17.5 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. Zoom Diallo (14.9 ppg), Wesley Yates III (13.8 ppg) and Desmond Claude (13.3 ppg) follow.
AGAINST WASHINGTON
- Penn State makes its first-ever trip to the state of Washington Wednesday for its second all-time matchup with the Huskies.
- The Nittany Lions and Washington met for the first time during the Huskies' first season in the Big Ten during 2024-25.
- The two teams met on Feb. 15, 2025 inside the Bryce Jordan Center with Washington earning the tight 75-73 win. The Nittany Lions had two chances at game-tying or game-winning shots in the final 30 seconds but weren’t able to convert. Washington finished the game shooting 47.8 percent (11-23) from 3-point range.
UNCHARTED TERRITORY
- Penn State makes its first-ever road trip to the Pacific Northwest to face second-year Big Ten members Washington and Oregon this week. The Nittany Lions will be playing their first games in the states of Washington and Oregon.
B1G DUB
- Penn State earned its first Big Ten win of the season on Feb. 1 as rookie guard Kayden Mingo scored on a game-winning left-handed scoop shot with one second left to play to lift the Nittany Lions to a gutsy 77-75 win over Minnesota inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The short-handed Nittany Lions were without big men Ivan Jurić, Saša Ciani and Tibor Mirtič due to illness and injury.
- Redshirt junior Freddie Dilione V led Penn State with 25 points and five rebounds while adding three steals. Senior Josh Reed tallied 18 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Mingo finished with 14 points, 12 of which game in the second half. Sophomore Dominck Stewart rounded out the double-digit Penn State scorers with 12 points, two rebounds and three assists.
INJURY BUG
- The Nittany Lions have been shorthanded as of late, being bitten by the injury bug since the turn of the New Year:
- Eli Rice - out last 2 games
- Saša Ciani- out last 4 games
- Tibor Mirtič - out last 9 games
- Ivan Jurić - out Feb. 1 & Feb. 5
- Kayden Mingo - out Jan. 6, Jan. 10 & Jan. 14
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. The Nittany Lions have played six games against five of the top six teams in the conference standings through games on Feb. 8.
- Penn State's first 12 Big Ten opponents (Indiana, Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan, UCLA, Maryland, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern, Minnesota and USC) are a combined 88-65 (.575) thus far in conference play, while Penn State's remaining five opponents are a combined 25-37 (.403) so far in Big Ten action (through games on Feb. 8).
- Four of Penn State's first five 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.
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.
ONE OF ONE
- Rookie guard Kayden Mingo is the ONLY freshman in the country averaging 13+ points (13.4 ppg), 4+ assists (4.4 apg), 3.0+ rebounds (3.4 rpg) and 2+ steals (2.19 spg) per game through games on Feb. 8.
MINGO MAKING HIS MARK
- Rookie Kayden Mingo is the third-highest scoring freshman in the Big Ten. He leads the Nittany Lions in assists (4.4 apg) and steals (2.19 spg), while ranking second in points (13.4 ppg) and fourth on the team in rebounds (3.4 rpg).
- He has scored in double figures in 15 of 21 games, including two 20-plus point efforts. Mingo leads the Big Ten and ranks 27th nationally with 2.19 steals per game and he collected a single-game program record-tying eight steals against Sacred Heart on Nov. 29.
- Mingo scored the game-winning shot with a second to play in Penn State's first Big Ten win of the season against Minnesota on Feb. 1.
- 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. He has scored in double figures in 18 games this season, including career-best 25-point performances at #5 Purdue (Jan. 10) and against Minnesota (Feb. 1).
|
Freddie Dilione V Stat |
2024-25 |
2025-26 |
Improvement |
|
Points per game |
9.4 |
14.5 |
+5.1 ppg |
|
Rebounds per game |
2.8 |
3.5 |
+0.7 rpg |
|
Assists per game |
1.7 |
2.5 |
+0.7 apg |
|
FG% |
41.6% |
47.4% |
+5.8 FG% |
|
3FG% |
28.9% |
29.8% |
+0.9 3FG% |
|
FT% |
70.9% |
82.5% |
+11.6 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 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game through 24 games this season. He has scored in double figures in 14 games this season after coming to Penn State with just seven career double-digit scoring games through his three seasons at Cincinnati.
|
Josh Reed Stat |
Career Pre-PSU |
2025-26 at PSU |
Improvement |
|
Points per game |
2.8 |
10.5 |
+7.7 ppg |
|
Rebounds per game |
2.1 |
3.9 |
+1.8 rpg |
|
Steals per game |
0.4 |
1.1 |
+0.7 spg |
|
FG% |
38.7% |
50.9% |
+12.2% |
UP NEXT
- Penn State heads to Oregon for a Saturday afternoon showdown at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT on Big Ten Network.