Penn State basketball is 1-4 in 2025, with its last win coming against Northwestern Jan. 2. PSU recently finished a tough three-game stretch against AP top-17 opponents, accounting for three of its four straight losses.
After Wednesday’s loss to now-No. 8 Michigan State, PSU ranks 49th on KenPom and 47th in NET. In Quad 1 and 2 games, Penn State is 2-6 and is 2-5 in Big Ten games. PSUโs lone Quad 1 win came against Purdue, which ranked 11th in Monday’s AP Poll.
In the Big Ten standings, Penn Stateโs in a three-way tie for 14th place with Northwestern and Ohio State. As its at-large bid hopes dwindle with each loss, PSU will look to remain as one of the 15 teams to make it to the Big Ten Tournament in March. To do so, it will have to take advantage of the final stretch of the conference schedule, as it faces teams with a combined Big Ten record of 27-39 (.409).
The Nittany Lions 12-2 start to the season was their best in five years. As conference play has begun, though, there has been a drop-off in production over the last seven games in major statistical categories:
- 89.6 points per game – 76.3 points per game (last seven games)
- 51.6 field goal percentage – 44.3 (last seven games)
- 37.5 3-point percentage – 26.8 (last seven games)
- 16.9 turnovers forced per game – 12.4 (last seven games)
- 323 bench points – 128 (last seven games)
Monday’s game against Rutgers poses an opportunity for course correction but it won’t be easy. The Scarlet Knights are led by the freshmen duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, who are the only two players averaging at least 19 points per game on the same team. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center.
