Tag: Leo O’Boyle

Best photos from the Penn State 2023-24 men’s basketball season

Let’s take a look back at some of the best photos we gathered from throughout the men’s basketball season.

Penn State came into the 2023-24 season with a new head coach and a reworked roster, but the goal remained the same; to make it back to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That goal ultimately was unfulfilled as Penn State went through a challenging year without much luck on the road or on a neutral court, and the first season under new head coach Mike Rhoades has come to a close.

But the season was not without its bright spots and moments worth cherishing and remembering moving into the offseason. It was unexpected Penn State would have much success this year given the circumstances, but the work is already being done to build a program that will be more competitive in the years to come with more frequent trips to the NCAA postseason hopefully on the horizon. But before we look ahead, let’s take a few moments to look back.

Here is a look back at some of the best photos we gathered from this past men’s basketball season.

Penn State basketball comes up short at home vs. Minnesota (photos)

Penn State men’s basketball let one slip away against Minnesota on Saturday night.

Penn State has been enjoying far more success than failure at home in the Bryce Jordan Center this season, but Saturday saw the tables turned on the Nittany Lions. Penn State led Minnesota by 14 points at halftime but could not hold on to the game with a rough second-half performance in an 83-74 loss to the visiting Gophers.

[autotag]Ace Baldwin Jr.[/autotag] led the Nittany Lions with 16 points and [autotag]Qudus Wahab[/autotag] added 15 points to the scoring effort. [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] had 11 points in a relatively down game for him. Minnesota just lit up the scoreboard in the second half with some hot shooting. Minnesota climbed their way to take a lead almost midway through the second half, but Penn State hung around and tied the game at 70-70 with just under three minutes to play. Unfortunately for Penn State, Minnesota responded with a 7-1 run that left Penn State in the rearview mirror for the remainder of the night.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s latest men’s basketball game.

Best photos from Penn State’s upset over no. 8 Wisconsin

Re-live Penn State basketball’s upset of Wisconsin with the best photos from the game.

Penn State’s roller-coaster season continued to experience a new high on Tuesday night. The Nittany Lions handed no. 8 Wisconsin their first loss of the Big Ten season with an 87-83 victory over the Badgers in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Here are some of the best photos from the big win for the Nittany Lions. Kanye Clary led all players in the game with 27 points and Ace Baldwin Jr. added a 20-point effort in the home victory. Baldwin was locked in from beyond the three-point line as he connected on four of his five attempts from three. Penn State led Wisconsin by four points at halftime and stayed even with the BAdgers in a back-and-forth second half.

Penn State heads back on the road, which has not been kind to the Nittany Lions this season, when they face Ohio State on Saturday in Columbus. Penn State took the first game in the regular season against the Buckeyes with a home win in December during the early portion of the Big Ten schedule.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s big night against Wisconsin.

Best photos from Penn State basketball’s home game vs. Northwestern

It was a tough night for Penn State basketball against Northwestern. Here are the best images from the loss.

Penn State suffered a tough loss on their home court Wednesday evening against Northwestern. After a solid start against the Wildcats, Penn State could not keep the momentum going at the start of the second half and then could not quite mount a comeback in front of the home crowd in the Bryce Jordan Center. The 76-72 loss showed some true grit by the Nittany Lions against a Northwestern team with the look of an NCAA tournament-caliber program, but it was just the latest setback in what has quickly become an up-and-down Big Ten schedule for Penn State.

Here are some of the best photos from the game as Penn State now looks for a rebound in their next game. That won’t be easy. Penn State plays at Purdue on Saturday.

Penn State basketball smoked by Michigan State

Penn State was scorched by Michigan State on Thursday night. Here are the best photos from a forgettable night.

Penn State picked a bad night to go up against a Michigan State basketball squad that seemed to do no wrong on Thursday night. Penn State dropped its first Big Ten game of 2024 on the road to the Spartans which was dominated from start to finish by the home team. Penn State lost to Michigan State by a score of 92-61 for what is easily the worst loss so far in the Mike Rhoades era as far as point differential goes.

Kanye Clary led the Nittany Lions with 21 points, but Michigan State had runs all night long that buried Penn State on the scoreboard. Any time Penn State established any sort of brief momentum, the Spartans had an answer. Michigan State led 51-26 at halftime and put things on cruise control in the second half.

The loss drops Penn State back to .500 with a record of 7-7. Penn State is now 1-2 in Big Ten play. Next up for the Nittany Lions is a game against Michigan in The Palestra in Philadelphia.

Here are the best photos from Penn State’s tough night in East Lansing.

Best photos from Penn State basketball’s upset of Buckeyes

Check out the best photos from Penn State basketball’s thrilling come-from-behind victory over Ohio State.

After coming up on the wrong end of the scoreboard in their previous five games, Penn State basketball had a memorable Saturday afternoon with a come-from-behind victory over Ohio State. The Buckeyes had come into the game with just one loss but were left shaking their heads after letting Penn State come back from a double-digit halftime deficit for the win.

Ace Baldwin Jr. gave Penn State the lead for good after clawing all the way back with a late three-point shot in the final 30 seconds of the game. Penn State’s defense and clutch free throw shooting helped keep the Nittany Lions on top as Ohio State battled the rest of the way for one final lead change that never came their way.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s big win in Big Ten play against the Buckeyes.

Penn State basketball comes from behind to upset Ohio State

Ace Baldwin Jr.’s late three-pointer helps lift Penn State to come-from-behind upset over Ohio State.

After trailing by double digits at home at halftime on Saturday afternoon, [autotag]Ace Baldwin Jr.[/autotag] capped a second-half rally with a go-ahead three-pointer in the final minute of regulation to help Penn State upset Ohio State, 83-80, in the Bryce Jordan Center. The win evened Penn State’s record at 5-5 this season overall and 1-1 in early Big Ten play. It also snapped a five-game losing skid by the Nittany Lions.

Baldwin Jr.’s late three-pointer broke a 76-76 tie with half a minute remaining in the game. Penn State stayed in front the rest of the way thanks to some good defense, a key rebound by [autotag]Qudus Wahab[/autotag], and with a couple of key free throws by Wahab.

Baldwin had just 9 points in the win and his late three-pointer was the only one of five he successfully drained. He did record three steals, three rebounds, and five assists in the game.

Penn State was led by starters [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag]’s 19-point effort and double-digits from [autotag]Zach Hicks[/autotag] (11 points) and Wahab (10 points). [autotag]Leo O’Boyle[/autotag] had a big game off the bench with 15 points with four three-pointers made. [autotag]D’Marco Dunn[/autotag] also added 16 points from the bench.

This game marked the return of former Penn State guard [autotag]Evan Mahaffey[/autotag], who transferred to Ohio State in the offseason. Mahaffey had 5 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in his return to the Bryce Jordan Center. Bruce Thornton led the Buckeyes with 17 points.

Penn State will have a week off before its next game, against Georgia Tech in Madison Square Garden in New York next Saturday, Dec. 16. Penn State will return to Big Ten play after the new year on Jan. 4 at Michigan State.

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Penn State comes up short against Butler in ESPN Events Invitational

Penn State falls behind Butler and can’t make a comeback for second loss in ESPN Events Invitational.

Penn State isn’t exactly feeling like they are in the most magical place on Earth after dropping a second straight game in the ESPN Events Invitational in Disney World. The Nittany Lions came up short against Butler in a consolation round game on Friday afternoon, 88-78.

[autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] led Penn State with 28 points, a new career-high for the sophomore guard, and [autotag]Ace Baldwin Jr.[/autotag] had 15 points, but Penn State went cold with its shooting to close out the first half. The cold spell allowed Butler to take a 42-39 lead into halftime after Penn State had been up by as many as 9 points.

Butler went on a solid run to start the second half to build a 10-point lead but Penn State climbed back to within three points following a three-pointer by [autotag]Leo O’Boyle[/autotag] to cap a 7-0 run midway through the second half. Butler had one more good run in them to put some separation between them and Penn State, and that allowed the Bulldogs to seize a victory in the ESPN Events Invitational’s consolation side of the weekend tournament bracket.

 

Penn State will play its final game in the ESPN Events Invitational on Sunday. The Nittany Lions will face the loser of the VCU vs. Boise State game in the other consolation game played on Friday night.

Penn State’s final game of the weekend will be played on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. ET on ESPNU.

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Penn State men’s basketball 2023-24 roster

Here is a look at every player on Penn State men’s basketball roster for the first season under head coach Mike Rhoades.

Penn State will have a new look on the roster for the 2023-24 season. A new head coach and significant roster turnover, including losing two players to the NBA, have led to a roster with a number of transfer players plugging roster holes for the 2023-24 season.

Penn State’s roster includes a total of 10 players who have come from the transfer portal, with a number being added to the roster since the end of last season. That includes star guard Ace Baldwin Jr., one of the top players Rhoades had on his roster at VCU before moving to Penn State. Penn State also added transfers from North Carolina, Lafayette, Miami, and Temple this offseason.

Here is a look at Penn State’s men’s basketball roster for the 2023-24 season.

Penn State basketball adds another transfer portal player

The Penn State basketball roster continues to come together with another transfer addition.

For how bleak it was looking for the Penn State basketball program in early April, there has been a full reset on who will be playing in a Nittany Lions uniform this upcoming season.

It was clear that [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] would have to hit the transfer portal hard if he and his staff wanted to field a roster in his first season as head coach. Despite many of the underclassmen from last season entering their names into the transfer portal because of the coaching change, he was able to convince two of them to come back to State College. He brought two of his former VCU players with him as well and was able to add players from different programs into the mix as well.

It’s been an important stretch for the basketball program who looked to be heading in the wrong direction after their most successful season in over a decade.

On Tuesday, the roster rebuild continued by getting a commitment from Lafayette graduate transfer [autotag]Leo O’Boyle[/autotag].

O’Boyle is a 6’7″ wing who specializes in three point shooting. He’s coming off his career best season where he averaged 11.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 made threes per game on 45.5% shooting from deep. In 109 career games at Lafayette, he started 87 games and averaged 25.3 minutes per game.

O’Boyle is a Scranton, PA native who will spend his final year of college eligibility playing for the Nittany Lions. He will undoubtedly add experience to a roster that is much younger than the senior laden team that played last year.

So far, the commitments that Rhoades and his staff have gotten shows a couple of things. The first being that he clearly prioritizes the ability to make shots. At least three of the players brought in are known for their ability to hit the deep ball. The second is he truly does value length. Size has been lacking for Penn State in recent years. Rhoades was not going to let that happen on his watch. He had a clear vision of the type of player he wanted on the team.

It’s been a really successful transfer portal period for Rhoades and it doesn’t sound like he’s done yet.

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