Penn State fell to a tough defeat against the Iowa Hawkeyes in a game that saw them leapfrog the Nittany Lions into 7th place in the Big Ten standings. Penn State now sits in ninth in the standings ahead of a pivotal matchup against Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions fell to the Golden Gophers at home in late January and are looking for revenge and their third road win of the season, with much more at stake in the regular season’s penultimate game.
Last time out against Minnesota, Penn State could not convert on enough possessions to grab the win despite receiving double-digit performances from four players.
Against Iowa, Penn State was massively outperformed at the free-throw line. The Hawkeyes hit 32 free throws compared to the Nittany Lions 13. Iowa is the best free-throw shooting team in the Big Ten at 78.5%, and on Saturday, Penn State will face the conference’s third-worst team at the charity stripe (68.8%).
Point guard [autotag]Ace Baldwin Jr.[/autotag] paces Penn State with 14.1 points per game and a Big Ten-best 2.8 steals per contest. The Nittany Lions will need one or both of [autotag]Zach Hicks[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Kern Jr.[/autotag] to step in and carry some of the scoring load.
Minnesota is led by the Big Ten’s sixth-leading scorer forward, Dawson Garcia, who averages 17.8 ppg on 46.9% shooting. Wing defense against the 6-foot-11 forward will be critical in this matchup, especially after Garcia scored 22 in the last meeting.
Here is how to catch Penn State’s last true road game of the season against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Penn State at Minnesota Men’s Basketball
- Date: Saturday, March 2
- Time: 3:15 p.m. ET
- Channel: Big Ten Network
- Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)