Penn State guard Jalen Pickett joined the 2,000-point club in the first half of the team’s game against Illinois Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.
2K for 22!
Jalen Pickett just entered the 2,000-point club on this 3-pointer.@JalenPickett7 x @PennStateMBB pic.twitter.com/DHBbNgmzor
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 15, 2023
Pickett came into the game needing 19 for 2,000, and ended up scoring 24 in the first half, leading Penn State to a 53-40 halftime lead.
He officially joined the club with a 3-pointer that went in the basket with 2:51 left in the half.
It was one of 10 field goals Pickett made in the first half and one of four 3-pointers. Pickett went 10-12 from the field and 4-6 from 3, adding five assists.
In a season that’s been up-and-down for Penn State collectively (14-11, 5-9 Big Ten), Pickett has been consistent. Coming into Wednesday, Pickett led Penn State in scoring average (17.2 PPG), rebounding average (7.6 RPG) and assists average (6.9 APG). Pickett came in as the Big Ten’s leader in assists, ranking fourth in the country in that category. In November, Pickett became the second player in Penn State history to post a triple-double, doing so in a win over Butler. He joined Penn State great and current Denver Nuggets’ GM Calvin Booth, who accomplished that feat against Dayton in 1998.
Pickett came to Penn State after three seasons at Sienna, where he scored 1,139 of his points. He’s scored 866 in less than two seasons with Penn State. Pickett’s legacy at Penn State individually is secure, but his main goal is to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament, a place the program hasn’t been since 2011. The team will need to get hot down the stretch. It has five games left after Illinois, and still needs to close out the Illini.
