Nittany Lions travel to Rutgers-Penn State on Tuesday for the Big Ten Road Battle

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 8-1 Penn State men’s basketball team faces its first real test of the season Tuesday night when the Nittany Lions travel to Rutgers for a Big Ten clash against Peacock at 7 p.m.

FOLLOW WITH

TIPS FOR OPENING

• Penn State is off to an 8-1 start to the season, its best start since the 2014-15 season, and faces its first real test of the year on Tuesday night at Rutgers.
• The Nittany Lions won their Big Ten opener handily, defeating #8 Purdue 81-70 on Thursday night, marking the Nittany Lions’ first top-10 win since 2019.
• Penn State ranks in the top five in the country in FG% (51.9%), PPG (90.1) and steals per game (11.1).

IF PENN STATE BEATS RUTGERS

• The Nittany Lions would start 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since the 2007-08 season and only the fourth time in Penn State’s 32 seasons in the Big Ten.
• Penn State’s 9-1 start to the season would be its best since it started the 2014-15 season at 12-1.

Searching for the Scarlet Knights

• The Scarlet Knights are 5-4 this season and 0-1 in Big Ten play.
• Rutgers has lost four of its last five games, including three in a row heading into Tuesday night’s game against Penn State.
• The Scarlet Knights opened conference play on Saturday with an 80-66 loss at Ohio State.
• Rutgers is 4-0 at home this season and Tuesday’s game will be the Scarlet Knights’ first home game since November 20th.
• Highly touted freshmen Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey lead Rutgers with 23.1 ppg and 17.9 ppg, respectively. They are the only two Scarlet Knights to average double-digit points. Harper leads the team with 4.6 assists per game, while Bailey averages a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game.

AGAINST RUTGERS

• Penn State travels to Rutgers on Tuesday night for the first of two meetings this season.
• The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 46-36 and won their only game last season 61-46 on Jan. 31 in Piscataway. It was Penn State’s first road win at Rutgers since 2019.
• Ace Baldwin Jr. led Penn State with 15 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and five steals. D’Marco Dunn had 14 points and seven rebounds.

B1G TIME

• Early December Big Ten play continues Tuesday night as the Nittany Lions travel to Rutgers for their first true road game of the season. Penn State is seeking its first 2-0 start in conference play since the 2007-08 season (17 years) and just Penn State’s fourth 2-0 start in conference play in 32 seasons in the Big Ten.
• The Nittany Lions opened conference play with a dominant win over #8 Purdue on Thursday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State led by as many as 27 points in the 81-70 win and had a 20-point lead with two minutes left. It was Penn State’s first win over a top-10 team since December 2019 and the first time the Nittany Lions opened Big Ten play with a win since the 2017-18 season. Ace Baldwin Jr. led five Nittany Lions in double figures with 17 points and six assists.

8-1

• The Nittany Lions are off to an 8-1 start to the season, their best start since the 2014-15 season. Penn State started the season 6-0 for the first time in 25 years before suffering its first loss of the season to 2024 Elite Eight team Clemson on Nov. 26 in the Sunshine Slam Championship game.
• Penn State is seeking its first 9-1 start since the team started 12-1 in 2014-15.
• The Nittany Lions rank in the top 10 in the country in field goal percentage (51.9% – 3rd), points per game (90.1 ppg – 4th), steals per game (11th, 1 – 4th), the forced turnovers per game (18.0 – 6th) and the scoring margin (+22.3 ppg – 9th).

WRITE HISTORY… ALREADY

• The Nittany Lions have achieved the following Penn State milestones in the first nine games of the season alone:
  • The Big Ten’s opening win over #8 Purdue was Penn State’s first win over a team ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll since December 2019.
  • For the first time in 25 years (since the 1999-2000 season), he started a season 6-0.
  • Scored more than 100 points in consecutive games for the first time in program history (108 vs. Binghamton, 103 vs. UMBC).
  • Scored more than 80 points in six consecutive games for the first time in program history.
  • Scored more than 100 points in three games in the same season for the second time in program history. The 1954-55 team scored more than 100 points three times.

NATIONAL NUMBERS

• The Nittany Lions currently rank in the top 25 in the country in several statistical categories heading into Dec. 7 games:

Domination

• The Nittany Lions have played 360 minutes of basketball this season and trailed by just 41 minutes and 53 seconds.
• Penn State outscores its opponents by an average of 22.3 points per game, a mark that ranks ninth in all of Division I. All eight of Penn State’s wins were by double digits.

HIGH OCTANE

• Penn State is averaging 90.1 points per game through the first nine games of the season, ranking fourth nationally.
• The Nittany Lions have scored more than 80 points in eight of their nine games this season, including their first six games in which Penn State scored more than 80 points in six consecutive games for the first time in program history.
• The Nittany Lions are shooting 51.9% from the field, ranking third in Division I.

Turn defense into offense

• Penn State ranks in the top 10 in Division I in steals per game (11.1 – 4th) and forced turnovers per game (18.0 – 6th).
• The Nittany Lions had a 206-102 advantage in points scored from turnovers, a 128-83 advantage in second-chance points and a 126-89 advantage in fast-break points through the first nine games of the season. points.

BALANCED ATTACK

• Nine of the 13 players who appeared at Penn State in the first nine games of the season scored in double figures in the Nittany Lions’ balanced offensive attack, with five different players scoring more than 20 points in games.
• Five different players average double-digit points: Ace Baldwin Jr. (15.1 ppg), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (13.3 ppg), Zach Hicks (13.1 ppg), Nick Kern Jr. (11.8 ppg) and Puff Johnson (10.6 ppg).

ONE OF ONE

• Graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. is the ONLY active Division I player with more than 1,000 career points (1,433), more than 600 career assists (691) and more than 250 career steals (290).
• If Baldwin Jr. surpasses the career mark of 1,500 points/700 assists/300 steals, he will become just the ninth Division I player since the 1947-48 season (age 77) and the first since Richmond’s Jacob Gilyard (2017-22). So.
• Baldwin Jr. is the Division I active career leader in steals (290) and his 691 career assists ranks him second among active Division I players.

We have an ace up our sleeve

• Ace Baldwin Jr.’s 8.1 assists per game currently ranks fourth in the country. He averages outstanding marks of 15.1 points, 8.1 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. He posted three point-assist double-doubles and had double-digit assists in as many games (4) as he did all of last season.
• Reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Baldwin Jr. has earned a spot on the Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year watch list this preseason and is also on the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Top 20 Preseason Watch List landed was named a Preseason All-Big Ten selection.

The big guy storms onto the stage

• Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Penn State’s agile and versatile 7-foot forward, leads the Big Ten and ranks seventh in the country with a field goal percentage of 69.2% (45-65). Konan Niederhauser is averaging 13.3 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. The Swiss native transferred to Penn State before the 2024-25 season after two years at Northern Illinois.

ZACH ATTACK

• Senior Zach Hicks ranks 17th in the country and second in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage (49.1%). His 2.89 triples per game lead the conference.
• Hicks has scored in double figures in six of nine games this season and is averaging 13.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 54.8% (40). -73) shoots from the field.

CORE IS COMING

• Senior Nick Kern Jr. has scored in double figures in each of the last six games. He shot 67.2 percent (39-58) from the field while averaging 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

The future looks bright

• Head coach Mike Rhoades signed the top-ranked recruiting class in program history and the 20th ranked class in the country as three highly touted prospects who signed to join the Nittany Lions during the early signing period in November.
• Penn State’s three-member class ranks 20th nationally in 247 sports. The three-member class consists of Mason Blackwood (Rochester, NY), Justin Houser (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania), and Kayden Mingo (Farmingdale, NY). The three new Nittany Lions join the program as the Class of 2029 and bring outstanding athletic and academic pedigrees to Penn State.

Lions in the league

• Penn State is well represented in the NBA and G League organizations this season:
  • Jalen Pickett ’23 – Denver Nuggets – Second Season
  • Seth Lundy ’23 – Atlanta Hawks – Second Season
  • Calvin Booth ’98 – General Manager – Denver Nuggets
  • Izaiah Brockington ’21 – Birmingham Squadron (New Orleans Pelicans)
  • Andrew Funk M’23 – Grand Rapids Gold (Denver Nuggets)
  • Josh Reaves ’19 – Rio Grand Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets)
  • Lamar Stevens ’20 – Motor City Cruise (Detroit Pistons)
  • Andrew Jones ’11 – Head Coach – Raptors 905 (Toronto Raptors)

The 2024-25 Penn State men’s basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.