While the majority of attention surrounding Penn State athletics is placed on the football program with them seemingly locking up their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, it’s been an exciting start to the year for the Nittany Lions on the hardcourt.
In the second year under head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag], Penn State men’s basketball got off to their best start in the last 25 years when they beat Fordham on Monday to push their record to 6-0.
It’s been an exciting brand of basketball for the Nittany Lions this season with them pushing the pace and scoring the ball at a high rate to average 96.0 points per game with them scoring over 100 points in three of there first six contests.
Penn State was able to use that momentum to reach the championship game of the Sunshine Slam where they faced off against Clemson.
Unfortunately, that came to an end on Tuesday with a 75-67 loss.
The Nittany Lions were fighting an uphill battle for the majority of the first half after the Tigers broke the gridlock early to take a lead just under three minutes into the ballgame. But, they were able to claw their way back and eventually look the lead, 28-21, after going on an 18-4 run.
Penn State wasn’t able to maintain that and went into the locker room down 38-36 at halftime after Clemson recovered from that poor stretch.
The second half was a battle.
Both teams tried to create separation by going on runs, but neither was able to put things away until Clemson took control of the final six minutes by outscoring Penn State 13-6 to close out the game.
It was a tough loss for the Nittany Lions with a championship trophy on the line, especially when they had played so good on offense to date before putting up this clunker where they shot 46.4% (26-56) from the field and just 22.2% (4-18) from three.
Turnovers and fouls were also a major issue for Penn State.
They turned it over 17 times and committed 19 fouls that gave Clemson 20 tries from the free throw line.
Still, there were positives to take away from this loss with [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] leading all scorers with 20 points while adding 11 assists for yet another double double.
[autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag] also performed well again with 11 points off the bench. [autotag]Yanic Hiederhauser[/autotag] was the only other player in double figures with 14 points and six rebounds.
Despite the loss, Penn State will certainly take the start to their season.
They’ll head back home for a matchup against Buffalo on Dec. 1 before welcoming the current No. 14 team Purdue to the Bryce Jordan Center on Dec. 5.