Lost in the Lions’ den By: Greg Maresca
When Penn State lost to Maryland on Saturday 68-64 their hopes of qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament came to an agonizing end on Senior Day, no less. The 16th rank Maryland Terrapins took their first and only lead in the second half at the 14:36 mark. The Nittany Lions rallied to bring the game within one at 65-64 with 1:51 to play, but victory would be an orphan in a brisk afternoon in State College.
Such a fall from grace was no surprise for those who follow the Nittany Lions on the hardwood. Whether you watched the game from press row or somewhere high above the visiting bench or on the Big Ten Network, you witnessed a very competitive contest that ended with Penn State serving once again as one of the three annual anchors of the Big Ten Conference when it comes to men’s basketball.
It is an interesting juxtaposition when you observe the proximity of the basketball program’s home in the Bryce Jordan Center to the ongoing remodeling of Beaver Stadium – a $700-million project that is practically across the street. Beaver Stadium might as well be based on the moon. Talk is nonstop around campus about not only competing for but winning a football national championship. That quest will commence next month with the annual Blue/White game on Saturday, April 26.
This was a basketball squad that, when the season commenced back in early November that now seems like a lifetime ago, had realistic aspirations of punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament. Instead, they will finish the season below .500 going 1-9 in games decided by six points or fewer. Over their last 11 games, the Lions managed two victories.
Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades has his work cut out having to retool a roster that will lose a host of players that include: Nick Kern Jr., D’Marco Dunn, Zach Hicks and Puff Johnson. Enter the unsustainable transfer portal and everyone’s favorite: Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) monies that are a plague on so many programs, nationwide. Such a contagion could infect Penn State leftovers guard Freddie Dilione V and center Yanic Konan Niederhauser who could test the waters and sail away, too. And who could blame them?
With his sophomore season nearly one for the history books, Mike Rhoades has the support of Penn State Athletic Director, Pat Kraft who stated earlier in the week prior to Saturday’s matchup, “I’m more than ever confident of what he (Rhoades) can do here.” Many hardcore fans of the hardwood that are also the limited legion of Bryce Jordan devotees – a place that always seem cavernous and hollow, expressed their madness at being not only left out of the Big Ten tourney but realizing the NCAA’s march dance to the national championship is so out of reach the tournament might as well be played in another galaxy.
Rhoades does have a highly touted recruit arriving on campus next season in four-star guard Kayden Mingo, who is the highest-rated commit in the history of Penn State basketball.
Slightly over 10,000 tortured souls were on hand for the disappointing home finale. Penn State will close out their 2025 campaign on the road against Wisconsin on Saturday, March 8.
