In Monday’s update to the AP Poll, Penn State received five points.
On Sunday, the Nittany Lions finished nonconference play with an 86-66 win over Penn at the Bryce Jordan Center. They ended regular season nonconference matchups with a 10-1 record, only the fifth time since 1992 they have finished with one loss against out-of-conference opponents.
Penn State Basketball Takeaways: Mike Rhoades Earns 400th Win Despite Team’s Shooting Struggles
Ace Baldwin Jr. led the way in Sunday’s win with a 23-point, 10-assist double-double. While PSU got off to another slow start, the second half resembled much more of how this team wants to play. All four of the Nittany Lions’ 3-pointers came in the second — as they shot 52.9 percent from the field compared to a sub-40 percent effort in the first — and forced 11 Quaker turnovers for 17 points off those takeaways.
Penn State will now head into the full slate of Big Ten play starting on Thursday against Northwestern. The Nittany Lions are 1-1 in conference play, with a win against No. 21 Purdue and a loss to Rutgers. Overall, PSU’s 11-2 start is their best since the 2019-20 season.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.In other rankings, Penn State is 36th in KenPom and 32nd in NET. While Mike Rhoades’ team is in the top 10 in major statistical categories — such as assists, scoring margin, scoring offense and turnovers forced — its nonconference strength of schedule has been one of the weakest in the nation, ranking 359th on KenPom.
When analyzing the quadrant system, Penn State is 0-1 in Quad 1 play and 1-1 in Quad 2 games.
Thursday’s game against Northwestern will be at the Bryce Jordan Center before the Nittany Lions travel to the historical Palestra to take on Indiana on Sunday.
