After taking its third straight loss in the Big Ten, Penn State men’s basketball has fallen in key national rankings.
In two straight weeks, Penn State failed to receive any votes in the AP Poll while also sliding to the 50s in KenPom and NET.
THAT’S THREE STRAIGHT FOR PENN STATE BASKETBALL
In Sunday’s loss to now No. 13 ranked Oregon, PSU held a nine-point lead with six minutes and 34 seconds left. To close the game, though, Oregon outscored Penn State 23-13, as Jackson Shelstead (17 points, eight assists and three 3s) hit the go-ahead bucket with 47 seconds remaining. Freddie Dilione V led all scorers with a career-high 21 points and four 3s.
After four straight games of shooting 21 percent from deep, The Nittany Lions made seven of their 19 attempts against the Ducks (36.8 percent). However, the vaunted Happy Valley defense, without arguably its most disruptive perimeter stopper, didn’t affect the Ducks like other teams, allowing the visitors to make eight of their last 10 shots without a turnover in the final 5:28.
Penn State is now 2-4 in conference play, with a 12-5 overall record. The Nittany Lions will end this three-game ranked stretch on Wednesday at No. 12 Michigan State.
THE WAY FORWARD
When asked about how the team will make sure these losses don’t carry over into the following games, Nick Kern Jr. said, “We just stay tough, stay together, and look forward to the next game.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“We going to win.”
Head coach Mike Rhoades built on Kern’s words by saying, “To build this program, you got to go through some stuff and to get better.”
“We all want to win right away. We all want this right now. I want it just as bad for these guys as they do. But it doesn’t go your way. You’ve got to learn from and build from it. I don’t feel sorry for us. We got to get better. We got to take more responsibility. The Big Ten is a beast. We all know that. But that’s what we signed up for. That’s the fun of it … You got to put your armor on and you got to go to work.”
Wednesday’s game against the Spartans is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in East Lansing, Michigan.
