On Wednesday, Penn State dropped its fourth consecutive game at No. 12 Michigan State, doing no favors for its tournament hopes in the eyes of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Even more troubling, the Nittany Lions wouldn’t be one of the 15 teams in the Big Ten Tournament if the season ended today.
There are 13 games left of conference play, but PSU’s 2-5 Big Ten record gave Lunardi no reason to move Mike Rhoades’ squad back onto the ESPN bracket.
WHAT WILL PENN STATE DO WITHOUT PUFF JOHNSON?
Overall, Penn State is 12-6 (2-5) and won’t play again until Monday when it hosts Rutgers (10-8, 3-4).
While Baldwin returned on Wednesday and had a 20-point, nine-assist performance, PSU finished the game without starting forward Puff Johnson. If Johnson- averaging 10.2 points and 4.4 rebounds- isn’t cleared to play on Monday, it’s most likely that Nick Kern Jr. will get the start as he did against then-No. 13 Illinois. In two starts, Kern is averaging 16 points (41.9 field goal percentage), 6.5 rebounds and three assists. In the two games Kern has started, Penn State’s bench production has been an issue, as it was outscored 62-20 across those two losses.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.PENN STATE AGAINST RUTGERS, UPDATED CONFERENCE BIDS
Rutgers — winners of their last two — will be a Quad 3 opponent for Penn State. However, Rutgers defeated Penn State on Dec. 10, and the Scarlet Knights’ star freshmen duo of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper are the only two players averaging at least 19 points per game on the same team.
In Lunardi’s updated “Bracketology”, the SEC (12) and the Big Ten (11) continue to lead the projected bid count. Here are the updated seedings for the Big Ten:
- 3rd seed Illinois
- 3rd seed Michigan State
- 3rd seed Oregon
- 4th seed Michigan
- 4th seed Purdue
- 6th seed Wisconsin
- 8th seed Maryland
- 9th seed UCLA
- 10th seed Nebraska
- 11th seed Iowa
- 11th seed Ohio State
Lunardi’s next full bracket will be released on Tuesday.
