The word egalitarian traces its origins to the late 19th century.
From the French word รฉgalitaire (which gets its prefix รฉgal from the Latin aequalis), egalitarian means “relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.”
In basketball terms, the word can be translated to a team built on the principle of equally distributing responsibility. Everybody contributes to winning in one way or another, and no one player monopolizes opportunities.
It’s more important that the final product (the win, the song, the poem, etc.) is actualized rather than who did what.
Good shots are passed up for great shots, with the ball ping-ponging from player to player until the defense breaks down.
Defensive rotations are crisp, with a willingness to clean up teammate mistakes.
This idea seemed to have evaded me last week, as I posed the question if Penn State was over-reliant on Ace Baldwin Jr.‘s creation abilities and what that could mean once conference play begins. I had overlooked what was at the core of this team, something Mike Rhoades had previously called keeping the ball “hot”.
After PSU’s 103-54 win over UMBC, Rhoades described why his team has to play this way.
“When the ball’s hot and everybody’s getting a piece of it, I think that creates confidence… I always say when guys share the ball and you go from good shots to great shots, the rim gets bigger, the hoop gets bigger… We have to play that way.”
And after two games that needed some Ace magic, the Penn State Ensemble demonstrated what it means to play “hot basketball”.
NICK KERN JR.’S UPPER-CLASS QUARTET IN C(nior) MAJOR
What a luxury it must be for Mike Rhoades to return not only five of his seven leading scorers from last year but experienced veterans.
The top scorers for Penn State in Monday’s game (in order of when they made their impact) were as follows: Zach Hicks (16 points), Puff Johnson (15 points), Baldwin (12 points) and Nick Kern Jr. (20 points). Each of these players had defining moments throughout the game that powered PSU to victory.
To start things off, Hicks scored the first five points for the Nittany Lions, including this prayer at the end of the shot clock:
Banks open in Daytona ๐ค @zhicks1231 #WeAre | ๐บ: CBS Sports Network pic.twitter.com/CoorwYQhss
โ Penn State Menโs Basketball (@PennStateMBB) November 25, 2024
Ten of his 16 points came in the first half, and it just seemed like he knew what the team needed from him during that time.
He was quick to attack closeouts, hitting midrange jump shots or getting to the basket as he did here to end a nearly three-minute scoring drought. That and-one drive gave Penn State a 13-point advantage, but Fordham continued to chip away at it.
The Rams went four minutes making seven straight field goals, outscoring Penn State 16-7, but they couldn’t get the lead.
And this was because Johnson could sense a force imbalance.
Puff Johnson scored nine points in the first half (15 in total) in Penn State’s 85-66 win over Fordham. Photo via Penn State Athletics
Fordham’s 3-2 zone took PSU out of its offensive rhythm, but Johnson continued to flash to the middle and make timely shots, fending off the Rams’ surge.
Amid a potential momentum-swinging run, Johnson, just as Hicks did earlier, calmed things down. He only made two of those push shots during that stretch but they outweighed their value on the scoreboard.
Then, three minutes later, Johnson regained the 13-point lead Penn State had lost, only to see it squandered in the final 91 seconds of the half. The Nittany Lions took an eight-point lead into the locker room, still needing a bit more to pull away.
Enter Ace Baldwin.
After a rather quiet scoring first half, Baldwin came out of halftime and doubled his production in 11 minutes. He made all four of his free-throw attempts, the last two giving Penn State a 16-point lead.
But as he has stated before, he takes pride in setting up his teammates first, which he did seven times on Monday. Most notably, he set up Kern twice, giving oxygen to Kern’s already monster outing.
After all, this section bears Kern’s namesake, and boy oh boy did he compose a masterpiece.
In his first career double-double game, Kern tallied 20 points and snagged a career-high 13 rebounds. 12 of those points came in the second along with eight of those rebounds.
He was clearly the best athlete on the floor Monday and it wasn’t even close. His slashing ability was on full display as he scraped the sky on multiple finishes and flew in from the perimeter for putback layups.
Rhoades has said that Kern brings the juice when he’s in the game, and it was palatable in his second-half performance. Fordham couldn’t keep him away from the basket, and even when they tried to pack the paint, he floated in the air and delivered this pinpoint pass to make it a 20-point game:
Anotha one ๐ฅ 14-1 Nittany Lion run #WeAre | ๐บ: CBS Sports Network pic.twitter.com/MPyKx5DgUe
โ Penn State Menโs Basketball (@PennStateMBB) November 25, 2024
It’s as if this Penn State squad has another level it can reach as the game progresses that no team has been capable of matching.
And it’s not just one player. It is a total team effort on both ends of the floor to win.
Sure, Baldwin may be the primary initiator, but Penn State is at its best when the ball is hot and everyone is making the winning play.
Anyone at any point during a game can get it going and make plays, but those moments exist within the environment of moving the ball and creating advantages for each other.
It’s not about “my turn, your turn.” It’s about “how can I give my teammate the best chance at being successful?”
Monday’s win showcased just that, and the result was a beautiful, harmonic display of basketball, authored by the upperclassmen.
