PSU Drops Hard-Fought Battle to No. 12 Texas A&M

KISSIMMEE, FlA – The Penn State men’s basketball team was within three points in the final minutes, but #12 Texas A&M pulled away in the final five minutes to hand the Nittany Lions their first loss of the season, 89-77, on Thanksgiving afternoon in the opening game of the ESPN Events Invitational.

Sophomore Kanye Clary led Penn State with 19 points, 15 of which came in the second half, and four assists. Senior Puff Johnson tallied 15 points and four rebounds. Senior Ace Baldwin Jr. had 12 points. Junior Nick Kern Jr. was a massive second-half spark with nine points, while Qudus Wahab finished with nine points and five rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• It was a back-and-forth opening 11 minutes of play as six different Nittany Lions scored and Penn State held a slim 17-16 lead at the 9:16 mark. The Aggies were in front 20-17 before seven-straight points from Puff Johnson over a one-minute stretch fueled a 7-2 Penn State run and gave the Nittany Lions a 24-22 lead with 6:09 left on the first-half clock.
• After a lengthy delay for a scoreboard malfunction, the Aggies scored the next 10 points over a 2:25 stretch to pull ahead 32-24 at the 3:44 mark. Penn State trimmed the gap by one in the final minutes of the term, but the #12 Aggies took a 39-32 lead into halftime.
• Texas A&M gained two points on the Nittany Lions through the first five minutes of the second half, going up 51-42, but Penn State responded with an 8-2 stretch to get back within three points of the Aggies with 11:39 to play in the game.
• Penn State hit a cold stretch and trailed by nine at the 8:19 mark, but continued to fight, scoring six points in a minute of action to the Aggie lead back to three points at 66-63 with 6:30 to play.
• Despite a 6-for-7 effort from the field in the final six minutes, the Nittany Lions were unable to get the defensive stops they’d need and fell by a final score of 89-77.

GAME NOTES

• Penn State finished the game shooting a season-best 52.8 percent from the field, but the Aggies shot 59.6 percent and controlled a 56-38 edge in points in the paint.
• Puff Johnson had his most productive game as a Nittany Lion, scoring 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting, 12 of which came in the first half. Johnson added four rebounds.
• Kanye Clary posted his fifth-straight double-figure scoring effort to start the 2023 season, leading the Nittany Lions with 19 points. Clary also paced the Nittany Lions with four assists.
• Nick Kern Jr. set his Penn State career high with nine points in the game thanks to a 3-for-5 effort from the field.
• Junior Zach Hicks connected on his 150th career 3-pointer.

FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Mike Rhoades
“Appreciate the opportunity to be in this tournament. I just thought we couldn’t make enough plays to get back in striking distance. And Texas A&M has a very, very good team. They’ve got vets and they’re tough. And we didn’t get enough stops when we needed them. We got our offense flowing a little bit in that second half. Just couldn’t get stops, couldn’t get 50/50 balls. And that was the difference in the game. You have to get 50/50 balls and I thought they just punished us in the paint today.”

UP NEXT

• The Nittany Lions will now face Butler Friday at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

The 2023-24 Penn State men’s basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.