Tag: Nick Kern

Penn State basketball suffers first loss of the season against Clemson

Penn State men’s basketball took its first loss of the season.

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.

Penn State basketball gets signature upset win over No. 8 Wisconsin

Penn State upset no. 8 Wisconsin!!!

This season has not exactly gone smoothly for Penn State this season, but they were able to get the first signature win of the [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] era with a massive 87-83 victory over the no. 8 Wisconsin Badgers on Tuesday night.

After a snow day canceled class for the day, students were given free tickets and half price on chicken baskets to come see the Nittany Lions play at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The arena was packed and they were treated to the best moment of Penn State’s season so far.

The Nittany Lions got out of the gates quickly when [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] hit a three-pointer to start things off. Their hot start to the game quickly put Wisconsin in chase mode and Penn State was able to get an early 10 point lead five minutes into the half.

They held this lead for the entire first half, never trailing the ranked Badgers for one second.

In the past, the Nittany Lions have failed to piece together 40 minutes of solid basketball. Rhoades implored his team to clean up mistakes before this game to give themselves an opportunity to win.

They accomplished that and then some.

Despite Wisconsin constantly knocking on the door, threatening to take the lead, Penn State kept attacking and making shots, answering anything the Badgers did in their attempted comeback.

Things got dicey with five minutes left as the Badgers took a 70-68 lead following made three-pointer from Max Klesmit.

However, [autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag] made four-straight free throws on back-to-back possession to give the Nittany Lions a 72-70 lead once again.

They never trailed again, inducing the crowd to storm the court after pulling off their first win over a top-15 team since Jan. 30, 2021.

[autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] was spectacular once again, scoring a game-high 27 points and adding four rebounds and three assists. 19 of those points were in the second half.

Baldwin might have had his best game in a Nittany Lions uniform, scoring 20 points on 7-11 shooting and hitting four out of his five three-pointers after making his first four attempted. For a player struggling with his long-range shooting, this was a great sign.

Kern was inserted into the starting lineup and had his third-straight game scoring double-digits with 15 points.

This was the best Penn State has played in the Rhoades era and it was fitting they were able to pull off a major upset.

Tuesday night could be the moment the season turns around for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State basketball loses tough game against Northwestern

Penn State basketball started hot against Northwestern but couldn’t finish off the Wildcats.

Penn State was coming off a big momentum win against Michigan over the weekend when they played in Philadelphia at The Palestra. After trailing by 10 at the half, they were able to rally and get a victory in front of the pro-Penn State crowd.

The Nittany Lions looked to build upon that performance against Northwestern on Wednesday when they started the game off hot and took an eight-point lead into halftime.

For all intents and purposes, this was the best Penn State has looked in a first half in a while. They were flying around on defense, forcing seven turnovers with five steals, and were sharing the ball effectively.

Shooting at a 55.6% rate in the first half, the Nittany Lions were able to make up for their poor defensive performance that saw them allow 50.0% shooting from the field and 62.5% from three.

However, things changed in the second half.

It didn’t start that way as Penn State pushed their lead to 10 points four minutes in, but a 15-0 run by Northwestern allowed them to take a 62-55 lead.

The Wildcats to their first lead with 11:25 left in the half.

Penn State was never able to regain it and lost 76-72.

It was another frustrating showing from the Nittany Lions who allowed Northwestern to shoot an unthinkable 75% from the field in the second half by going 15-20.

The once flowing Penn State offense in the first half became stagnant as they shot 37% from the field in the second half and only had four assists compared to seven in the first.

The same things are hurting the Nittany Lions.

They allow too many made shots, despite forcing a high rate of turnovers, and are not a good three point shooting team, despite jacking up a lot of them.

This has not been an easy season for Penn State fans to watch by any means, but the program is also in a building phase.

Positives can still be taken from this game.

[autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] continues to showcase his talent, as he can officially be considered the team’s best player. He scored 25 points on 7-13 shooting, his fifth game out of six with over 20 points.

[autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] couldn’t build off his offensive explosion against Michigan, but his six points didn’t stop him from recording his career high in steals with eight.

This was also [autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag]’s best game since coming to Penn State, scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

While that is a good sign going forward, it doesn’t change the fact the Nittany Lions still held a lead of 10 points throughout this game and had a real opportunity to beat Northwestern for the sixth time in a row.

Instead, they have dropped another close game.

Penn State loses to VCU in ESPN Events Invitational

Penn State went 0-3 in the ESPN Events Invitational over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Penn State started off the season 4-0 under new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag]. Many, if not all, of those games were glorified scrimmages and allowed the Nittany Lions to gel before heading out to their Thanksgiving tournament.

That event would be their first big test of the early season with them beginning the ESPN Events Invitational against No. 12 ranked Texas A&M in a rematch of the NCAA Tournament last year.

After two losses to start the event, Penn State played VCU on Sunday in the seventh place game. With Rhoades, [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag] leaving VCU for the Nittany Lions, this game had some underlying storylines before tip off.

Unfortunately, Penn State couldn’t win a single game in the tournament as they lost 86-74 for their third-straight double-digit loss.

Things got off to a rocky start when VCU took a 9-2 lead almost five minutes into the game. The Nittany Lions were ablet to recover and the first half was a seesaw affair with the Rams extending leads and then Penn State going on mini runs to reduce the deficit.

VCU led 46-40 at halftime after up-and-down action.

Penn State took their first lead since the 8:50 mark in the first half when a [autotag]Qudus Wahab[/autotag] layup gave them a 49-48 lead with 15:22 remaining in the game.

This began another seesaw affair until VCU eventually got some separation and never relented the lead again.

Overall, it was a disappointing tournament for the Nittany Lions, who came into this event with confidence after dominating the early portion of their season.

An early injury to [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] didn’t help their cause as their best guard through so far this year was limited to nine minutes and zero points.

A good sign for Penn State is that Baldwin had his best game of the season, scoring 27 points on 8 of 19 shooting from the field and two made three-pointers. He also had five assists and two steals.

Ultimately, while the results were disappointing, there are still plenty of positives to takeaway from this event as they head home for some preparation before their last non-conference game on Dec. 6.

Penn State basketball dominates Delaware State in season opener

Penn State men’s basketball opens the Mike Rhoades era with a dominating win.

Penn State couldn’t have asked for a better start to their season and to get the Mike Rhoades era officially underway.

Facing a Delaware State squad who struggled mightily last season, this was a game that the Nittany Lions should have dominated based on the talent on their roster.

But winning the game 79-45 in the fashion they did was a statement that this new brand of basketball is here.

With just under three minutes into the game, Penn State led 5-4, getting off to a slow start. Then, they flipped the switch and went on a 21-2 run and held a 26-6 lead 13 minutes into the game.

After that extended run, the Nittany Lions never looked back. They went into halftime with a 39-18 lead.

The transfer players that came into the program during the offseason got much of the headlines, and for good reason, but it was the returners [autotag]Jameel Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] who played a major role to start.

Brown was the leading scorer at half with 11 points and Clary added seven with two rebounds and an assist. Temple transfer [autotag]Zach Hicks[/autotag] showed off his shooting prowess by hitting three three-pointers before half.

In the second half, it was much of the same for Penn State. They maintained their huge lead and the game never got under single digits.

The Nittany Lions shot 49.1% from the field, efficiently carving up the Delaware State defense. They also shot the deep ball well, hitting 12 threes on 37.5% shooting.

Havoc will be the defensive philosophy under Rhoades and they were able to force 23 total turnovers and stole the ball 11 times. They also held Delaware State to 28.8% shooting and 1-16 from three.

Clary finished the game as the leading scorer with 22 points, while also pulling down seven rebounds. Brown was second with 20 and Hicks finished with 12.

The VCU transfers [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag] struggled in their first game with Penn State, combining to go 2-10 from the floor for nine points.

[autotag]Qudus Wahab[/autotag], the 6’11” center, grabbed 13 rebounds and showed Penn State fans what it’s like to have legitimate size on the floor.

Yes, this game was against Delaware State, but it was still a great start for the Nittany Lions under their new coach.

Penn State hoops playing in Orlando for Thanksgiving tourney

Penn State basketball to play in ESPN Events Invitational this Thanksgiving.

Penn State’s conference opponents were released a few weeks ago. It’s now known what opponents the Nittany Lions will be playing in the 2023-24 season. The exact dates of each game will be released at a later date, but the schedule for the upcoming season is starting to come together.

Another piece of the puzzle was announced on Thursday. Penn State will be heading down to Florida during the Thanksgiving holiday to compete in the ESPN Events Invitational. This tournament will be composed of eight teams playing at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. The first games will be tipped on November 23rd

Besides Penn State, the other schools invited to the tournament are Boise State, Butler, Florida Atlantic, Iowa State, Texas A&M, VCU and Virginia Tech.

This is a really strong field. Every team made the NCAA Tournament last year except for Butler and Virginia Tech. Florida Atlantic is coming off their Final Four run.

The two teams that really stand out for potential matchups are VCU and Texas A&M. The VCU matchup would be an early re-introduction between new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] and former VCU players [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag] who will be wearing Penn State jerseys this season. Texas A&M is a rematch from last year’s NCAA Tournament game that saw the Nittany Lions cruise to victory 76-59.

At this point in time, there are really no expectations for the team. Honestly, coach Rhoades might not even know what he truly has until a few weeks before the early season games. With all the transfers coming in and the returning players having never played with them before, meshing as a unit might take a while.

The ESPN Events Invitational should provide a look at to where the program is for the upcoming season. If they compete with these high caliber teams, that’s a very good sign for the conference play portion of the schedule.

There will be games before this tournament, but those haven’t been announced yet. Those games will most likely be against lesser opponents since they played Winthrop during a down year and Loyola Maryland.

The Thanksgiving stretch should give everyone an idea about how this team will play during the 2023-24 season.

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Former Niagara basketball guard has Penn State in final 5

Penn State is in the mix for a key college basketball transfer from Niagara.

It’s been a busy time for Penn State athletics in recent weeks. The football program has been stealing the headlines with their major 2024 recruiting class that continues to grow. While that has been going on, the basketball program has slowly started to rebuild their roster under new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag].

He was able to keep returning players [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] and [autotag]Jameel Brown[/autotag] at Penn State after Brown decided to test the transfer waters. Rhoades brought two of his former players at VCU with him to State College as well. [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag] officially signed with Penn State in mid-April. Temple transfer, [autotag]Zach Hicks[/autotag], announced his commitment to the Nittany Lions on April 20th.

Because so many of the players on last year’s roster were graduating seniors, there was going to be some semblance of a rebuild to get more players on the roster filled with their young returners. However, when many of those young players put their names into the transfer portal, it was looking like it would be a full rebuild under Rhoades.

Despite the players Penn State has already added, they’re not done trying to sign others. Niagara transfer guard Noah Thomasson has been a target of theirs since he put his name in the portal on April 3rd.

On Monday, Thomasson announced his top five schools and has included Penn State on the list. The other four programs are Georgia, St. John’s, Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

Thomasson is a 6’3″ guard who started his career at Houston Christian before transferring to a junior college for the 2020-2021 season. After leaving Butler Community College after one season, he landed back in Division 1 basketball at Niagara University of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

This past season, he averaged 19.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists on 48.1% shooting from the field. He started all 31 games he played and averaged 36.4 minutes on the floor during those games.

Thomasson has already visited both Georgia and San Francisco. He plans on visiting Penn State from April 28-29 according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. [autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag] found major success at Penn State after transferring from Sienna of the MAAC.

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Penn State basketball officially adds two VCU transfers to roster

Penn State has officially announced the signings of two basketball ransfers from VCU

Penn State basketball’s roster officially welcomed the additions of two players choosing to follow [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] from VCU to Penn State on Tuesday. Penn State announced the signings of [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Kern[/autotag], both ending up at Penn State after entering the transfer portal following their time at VCU.

Baldwin was named the Atlantic-10 player of the year and the conference’s defensive player of the year for the 2022-23 season. He quickly became the top target for Rhoades in the transfer portal given their familiarity with each other at VCU, and Baldwin’s move to Penn State was the first addition to the depleted roster under Rhoades since the coaching change. Kern followed with his commitment just a few days later as Penn State quickly took advantage of the transfer portal.

“We are excited to have Ace in our basketball family,” Rhoades said in a released statement. “He is a proven successful college basketball player, point guard and leader. We can’t wait to get him on campus and get to work.”

“We’re really happy to have Nick join us in Happy Valley,” Rhoades said about Kern in his released statement. “He brings so many things to our program both on and off the court and is another great fit for our basketball family here at Penn State.”

Baldwin and Kern each have two years of eligibility to use at Penn State following their time at VCU.

Penn State still has plenty of room to fill a roster with help from the transfer portal, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see another VCU player follow Baldwin and Kern.

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