Penn State huddles during the game with Morehead State. The Nittany Lions took down the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Eagles, 74-51, to move to 4-0 on the season Friday night Nov. 17, 2023 inside the Bryce Jordan Center. Photo by Mark Selders PSU Athletics

Nittany Lions Host Rider in Non-Conference Finale Friday

PublisherDecember 27, 2023Last Updated: December 27, 2023
4 minutes read

UNIVERSITY PARK– The Penn State men’s basketball team returns to action Friday when the Nittany Lions host Rider inside the Bryce Jordan Center. Tipoff of Penn State’s non-conference finale is slated for 2 p.m.

FOLLOW ALONG

OPENING TIPS

  • Penn State hosts Rider in the Nittany Lions’ non-conference finale Friday afternoon inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
  • The Nittany Lions are 6-6 on the season and coming off a 72-55 win over Le Moyne in Penn State’s most recent game on Dec. 21.
  • Kanye Clary is averaging a team-best 17.3 points per game, while Ace Baldwin Jr. has contributed 13.9 points and a Big Ten-best 2.7 steals per game. Qudus Wahab is nearly averaging a double-double with 10.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest.

IF PENN STATE BEATS RIDER

  • The Nittany Lions would improve to 7-1 at home this season.
  • Penn State would wrap up non-conference play with a 6-5 record.

SCOUTING THE BRONCS

  • The Broncs carry a 3-9 overall record and 0-2 mark in MAAC play into Friday’s game in Happy Valley.
  • Rider’s three wins this season have come at Delaware (88-85, OT) and against Stonehill (73-56) and Immaculata (113-67).
  • Mervin James leads the team with 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
  • Allen Powell is the only other Bronc averaging double-digit points, chipping in 10.3 points per contest. Corey McKeithan leads the team with 3.1 assists per game.

AGAINST RIDER

  • Penn State and Rider meet for the sixth time in program history Friday.
  • The Nittany Lions own a 3-2 lead in the all-time series, but Rider has won each of the last two matchups.
  • A buzzer-beating 3-pointer helped the Broncs to a 71-70 win in the last matchup between the two teams on Dec. 22, 2017. The game saw 12 lead changes and three ties with four lead changes coming in the final 83 seconds before Rider’s Frederick Scott scored the buzzer-beating three to send the Broncs home with a win.

WHAT A YEAR IT’S BEEN

  • The Nittany Lions play their final game of the 2023 calendar year Friday when Penn State hosts Rider.
  • Penn State has gone 19-17 in the calendar year 2023, with several key moments in program history occurring in 2023.
    • The Nittany Lions advanced to the 2023 Big Ten Championship game for the first time since 2011 and just the second time in program history.
    • Penn State made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011 in 2023.
    • The Nittany Lions won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2001 in 2023 with a 76-59 win over Texas A&M.
    • Mike Rhoades was hired as the 15th men’s basketball coach in program history on March 29, 2023, and has gotten the Nittany Lions off to a 6-6 start during his tenure.

TURN UP THE PRESSURE

  • The Nittany Lions have forced their opponents into 16.33 turnovers per game, a mark that leads the Big Ten and ranks 17th in the nation. Penn State forced a season-high 29 turnovers in its win over Morehead State on Nov. 17.
  • The Nittany Lions have scored an average of 17.2 points off turnovers per game thus far this season, while Penn State’s opponents have only scored 10.5 points per game off Nittany Lion turnovers. Penn State’s +5.3 turnover margin ranks ninth in the country.

NEARING 1,000

  • Senior point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. enters Friday’s game with 996 career points and needs just four points to reach the 1,000-career point mark.
  • Baldwin Jr. has stuffed the stat sheet through his first 12 games as a Nittany Lion, averaging 13.9 points per game, 4.1 assists per contest and a Big Ten-best 2.7 steals per game. His 2.7 steals per game ranks 10th in the nation.

SOPHOMORE LEAP

  • With a roster full of new faces, its a returning sophomore that has asserted himself for the Nittany Lions through the first 12 games of the season in Kanye Clary.
  • Clary has seen the largest increase in scoring production by any Big Ten player between last season and this season. The Virginia Beach, Va. native played limited minutes as a freshman behind Penn State’s veteran 2022-23 backcourt that included two 2023 NBA Draft picks and five 1,000-point scorers.
  • Clary’s 17.3 points per game leads the team and ranks ninth in the Big Ten. He has scored in double figures in 10 games this season, including six 20-plus point efforts, while leading the team in scoring in 10 of Penn State’s 12 games.
Clary Stat 2023-24 2022-23 Increase
Points per game 17.3 3.7 +13.6
FG% 48.5% 43.4% +5.1%
Rebounds per game 3.5 0.9 +2.6
Assists per game 2.8 0.7 +2.1
Minutes per game 30.2 10.4 +19.8

BIG Q

  • Graduate student Qudus Wahab owns career marks of 1,151 points and 845 rebounds, making him one of just 15 active Division I players with upwards of 1,000 points and 800 rebounds.
  • Wahab is shooting a team-best and career-high 63.2 percent from the field. He is nearly averaging a double-double with 10.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.

NOT DUNN YET

  • D’Marco Dunn has turned it up a notch over the last three games, tallying double-digit points in each of Penn State’s last three contests.
  • Dunn has averaged 14.3 points per game while shooting 46.9% (15-32) from the field and 40.0% (6-15) from deep over the last three games. The junior was averaging 4.3 points per game on a 40.0 FG% (16-40) through the first nine games of the season.

UP NEXT

  • Big Ten play begins in earnest next week when Penn State travels to Michigan State on Jan. 4 for a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Nittany Lions are 1-1 in Big Ten play heading into January.

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

PublisherDecember 27, 2023Last Updated: December 27, 2023
4 minutes read
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