Tag: Penn State Basketball

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 recruit in attendance for win against Michigan

Penn State basketball had a key recruit in the stands in Philly to watch the big win over Michigan.

Penn State basketball got a much needed victory in Philadelphia this past Sunday against Michigan.

This was their second trip to The Palestra in as many seasons, but this time, they came away with a 79-72 win in front of a sold-out crowd.

It didn’t seem like that was in the cards early on as they entered halftime with a 10 point deficit. But, they exploded in the second half, scoring 52 points, to leave The Cathedral of College Basketball with a victory, pushing their season record to 8-7 and 2-2 in conference play.

[autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] had his best game since joining Penn State, finishing with his Big Ten career high 25 points and adding four assists and three steals.

While this is certainly a moral booster for the players currently in the program, it also could give the Nittany Lions momentum for one of their top class of 2025 recruits, [autotag]Matt Gilhool[/autotag], who was in attendance.

The 6’10” forward is listed as the 94th player in the country and No. 4 in Pennsylvania according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

He spoke with Dushawn London of 247Sports about his recruitment and where he stands with Penn State (subscription required).

Gilhool said he’s a fan of how the Nittany Lions play and how they envision his role as a versatile big man with the team. He’s been in contact with the coaching staff but was looking forward to seeing them in person again when he attended their game at The Palestra in an unofficial fashion.

As of now, the only place he’s taken an official visit to is Syracuse, but he’s not narrowing his focus onto any one school or group of schools in particular at this moment.

He told London his recruitment is very open right now and is listening to every school who is interested in him before ultimately cutting his list down in the spring or early summer.

That timeline is a rough estimate, but he said he’d like to give a commitment in the fall during his senior year.

Gilhool would be a great addition for Penn State, adding size and versatility, while landing a Top-100 player in the country and one of the best in the state.

This recruitment process will be one to continue monitoring.

Ohio State basketball vs. Penn State: How to watch, stream the game

Ohio State travels to State College to take on Penn State on the hardwood. #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s basketball team took care of business against in-state opponent, Miami, on Wednesday evening with ease. The Buckeyes took down the Redhawks by a score of 84-64 moving the basketball team to 8-1 on the season.

Now Chris Holtmann’s team jumps back into conference play when they travel to Penn State for a Saturday tilt. OSU takes a seven game winning streak into State College. The Nittany Lions are looking to right the ship as the team has dropped five in a row and stand at 4-5 on the season.

Looks like the basketball team will try a “white out” for Penn State’s Big Ten home opener and we’ve got what you need to know to find and watch, stream, or listen to all of the action in case you are looking for broadcast details.

Basic info

When: Saturday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m. ET

Where: Bryce Jordan Center (State College, Pa)

How to watch/stream/listen:

Broadcast: Big Ten Network

Live Stream:ย fuboTV (watch here)

Radio:ย IMG Radio Network (flagship station WBNS 97.1 The Fan)

Radio announcers:

  • Paul Keels (play-by-play)
  • Ron Stokes (analysis)

Contact/Follow usย @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion.ย 

Penn State fields team for annual The Basketball Tournament

Check out this roster of former Penn State basketball stars gearing up for The Basketball Tournament.

The Basketball Tournament has turned into one of the best basketball events in the United States. It’s a single elimination bracket with the majority of team rosters full of college basketball alumni from years past. The winning team of the tournament takes home $1 million. This event first started in 2014 and takes place every summer.

This year, Penn State will be represented with a roster to compete for the $1 million prize.

Happy Valley Hoopers is a team made up of all Penn State alumni of years past. It was put together by [autotag]John Harrar[/autotag] and is full of familiar faces and a program legend.

Here is the full roster.

  • Ross Condon – Head Coach
  • Austin Waggoner – Assistant Coach
  • Zach Zygmunt – Assistant Coach
  • John Harrar
  • Myles Dread
  • Shep Garner
  • Mike Watkins
  • Josh Reaves
  • Sam Sessoms
  • Jamari Wheeler
  • Trent Buttrick
  • Curtis Jones Jr.
  • Taylor Nussbaum

This is the first time a team full of Penn State alumni will compete in The Basketball Tournament. They’re in the Syracuse region and are playing The Nerd Squad in the first round.

Condon was an assistant coach and Director of Basketball Operations for Penn State on Pat Chamber’s staff. He currently is the Manager of Basketball Partnerships for Teamworks.

[autotag]Myles Dread[/autotag] is the most recent Penn State alumni coming off the magical run in March. He gets to play with his old teammates [autotag]Josh Reaves[/autotag], [autotag]Mike Watkins[/autotag], [autotag]Sam Sessoms[/autotag] and Harrar again.

Program legend [autotag]Shep Garner[/autotag] returns to represent Penn State again. He holds the record for most made three pointers in a career and in a single season.

[autotag]Jamari Wheeler[/autotag] and [autotag]Trent Buttrick[/autotag] are back with Penn State after graduate transferring to Ohio State and UMass respectively.

The Happy Valley Hoopers will play their first round game against The Nerd Squad on July 24th at 4pm Eastern Time and can be watched on the ESPN networks.

Follow Brad Wakai on Twitter and TikTok

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Rutgers basketball recruiting: Two Big Ten teams offer Scarlet Knights target Darrion Sutton

Two new Big Ten offers came in on Monday for Rutgers basketball recruiting target Darrion Sutton.

Darrion Sutton, a small forward originally from Missouri, pulled in two Big Ten offers on Monday, adding to what is already an impressive offer list.

Per the player’s social media account, he was offered by Michigan and Penn State.

Sutton, a consensus three-star recruit, is ranked the No. 141 player in the nation according to Rivals. He attends Accelerated Prep (Lakewood, CO).

A forward, Sutton is 6-foot-10 and is a dominant interior player. He rebounds well, is a force in the paint and moves well for his size. He is bouncy in the post.

He took an unofficial visit to Rutgers in January. He was offered by the Scarlet Knights this past October.

 

 

Earlier this month, Sutton was offered by Cincinnati, Illinois and Missouri.

The 2024 recruiting class for Rutgers basketball is strong and is ranked among the best in the nation. It features five-star recruit Airious ‘Ace’ Bailey and a pair of four-star players in Dellquan Warren and Lathan Sommerville.

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Is Penn State in Joe Lunardi’s early 2024 March Madness field?

Does Penn State make the NCAA Tournament in Joe Lunardi’s early 2024 March Madness Bracketology?

Last season’s March run was not something that Penn State fans will forget anytime soon. When it looked like the team might have played themselves out of the NCAA Tournament field, they flipped the switch entirely and won five out of their last six games to close the season.

Then, in the Big Ten Tournament, Penn State made a magical run to the title game where they lost to number one seeded Purdue by two points.

That run put them into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. This time around, the Nittany Lions won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2001 after they smashed Texas A&M 76-59.

Everything looked to be going smoothly with the program, until coach Micah Shrewsberry left for the Notre Dame job opening. Penn State moved quickly and hired VCU coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] as the next head coach of the Nittany Lions.

Since that point, it’s been a whirlwind getting new players into the program to be able to compete during the upcoming season. Because of that, it’s hard to gauge how the team will perform.

Joe Lunardi released his way too early 2024 Bracketology March Madness predictions with eight Big Ten teams in the field.

Penn State was not one of the teams included.

It looks like they’ll have to prove themselves all over again just like last season and fight their way into the tournament with a group of transfers.

Here are the teams included in Lunardi’s early March Madness field.

Penn State basketball Big Ten conference opponents released

First look at Penn State’s conference opponents for the upcoming 2023-24 season

The basketball roster is starting to come together for the upcoming 2023-24 season. Head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] has been busy hitting the transfer portal to boost the roster. Rhoades and his staff have now added five players from the portal and are still looking to add more. He was also able to convince sophomore [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] to stay with the program and sophomore guard [autotag]Jameel Brown[/autotag] to come back to Penn State.

With the roster taking shape, some attention can now move forward this season. Penn State’s conference opponents were released, so they will know who and where each game will be played. The dates of when the games will be played have not been released, but fans now know who is on the conference schedule for the upcoming season.

The Big Ten splits the schedule into three classifications. There are games played against the same opponent in both home and road settings. There are also games that are only played at home and only others on the road.

Last year, it was a tale of two teams when playing at home and going on the road. The Nittany Lions finished with an impressive 13-4 home record and a poor 4-7 road record. The home record was boosted by some non-Big Ten games, so their conference record at true home games was 6-3.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the conference schedule for Penn State in the upcoming 2023-24 basketball season

Penn State basketball in final 5 of 2023 four-star forward

Could Penn State basketball beat out these four schools for a four-star recruit?

As it stands right now, there are zero players coming to Penn State out of the class of 2023. Originally three players had committed to the program but asked for their NLI release after the head coaching change.

When [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] took over the job, the program was about as baron as one could get. Graduates, transfer portal entrants and decommitments left Penn State with two scholarship players for the upcoming season at one point in time.

While the transfer portal can take away from a program, it can also get great talent into a program quickly. Penn State is familiar with the benefits it can provide after last season.

As expected, Rhoades targeted bringing some of his VCU players with him to State College. [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] was the first to commit, followed by [autotag]Nicholas Kern[/autotag] who committed the other day.

However, it looks like Penn State is in the running to land a player from the class of 2023.

Four-star forward from California, [autotag]Brady Dunlap[/autotag], recently cut his list down to five schools. Originally committed to Notre Dame, Dunlap asked for his NLI release in January after Mike Brey announced he would be stepping down as head coach following the season.

The other schools on his list are North Carolina, Villanova, St. Johns and Nebraska.

On3’s industry rankings have him listed as the 154th-ranked player in the 2023 class, but ESPN has him 80th in their top 100 list.

Dunlap is a 6’7″ forward who can shoot from range. That is his biggest strength and something that could translate to the next level right away if on the floor.

When speaking with Joe Tipton of On3 about Penn State he said, “Coach Rhoades has been great. He has worked very hard and has made an impression on me and my family. The whole staff seems to be a family along with the a winning culture. The school itself is very enticing with the history of athletic success. I canโ€™t wait to visit.โ€

Dunlap has upcoming visits scheduled with every school except for Penn State at the moment, but it looks like he won’t make his decision until he visits the program in person.

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Kanye Clary is staying at Penn State

No transfer portal needed for this Penn State basketball player to decide he’s staying put.

After some big transfer portal wins, new head coach [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] just added another piece to the puzzle.

Sophomore point guard [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] has announced that he will be staying at Penn State for the upcoming season. Rhoades and his staff prioritized keeping Clary in the program and was able to make that happen.

Originally a three-star recruit coming into college, Clary was a part of the highest rated recruiting class in Penn State basketball history. Other players out of that class entered their name in the transfer portal when previous coach Micah Shrewsberry left for Notre Dame.

Onward Sports reported on Twitter that Clary was in attendance for Rhoades’ introductory press conference back in late March and he never put his name in the transfer portal list.

Clary was never officially recruited by Rhoades and VCU when attending high school Massanutten Military Academy in Virginia. However, that didn’t prevent him from staying at Penn State during this coaching change.

In his freshman season, he appeared in 32 games and started zero. In those games he averaged 3.7 points and a little under one rebound and assist per game. He was playing meaningful minutes at the end of last season, coming off the bench during the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament run.

Clary is a lightning quick athlete who can break down the defense by attacking off the dribble. He should be a good fit for the aggressive defensive system that Rhoades will bring to Penn State. With so little scholarship players currently on the roster, he will be getting much more minutes next year.

Rhoades was able to get his former guard from VCU, [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag], to follow him to Penn State as well. Baldwin is a former three-star who turned into the Atlantic-10 Player of the Year last season and should be able to provide mentorship to Clary as he heads into his sophomore season.

The roster for the upcoming 2023-24 season is slowly coming together, with some more potential transfer news possibly coming soon.

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Penn State basketball gets an assistant coaching shakeup

Penn State basketball undergoes sudden coaching staff changes

Following the departure of Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame and the subsequent NLI releases and players entering the transfer portal, Penn State basketball got back on track by hiring [autotag]Mike Rhoades[/autotag] away from VCU. He brought a lot of his old staff with him from Richmond, Virginia to State College and seemed set to hit the ground running with the culture his staff has established.

Unfortunately, that was short lived.

J.D. Byers has been a long-time assistant under Rhoades at all three of his previous coaching stops. He was there at the Division 3 level before heading to Rice and VCU with Rhoades. Byers was set to follow him to Penn State as an assistant before deciding to take the assistant job at Virginia Tech on Tuesday.

Byers’ wife, Marci, is the head coach of the women’s volleyball program at Virginia Tech.

“My family and I are thrilled for J.D.,” Rhoades released in a statement about the move. “J.D. has been on my staff for 12 years and this move was too good of an opportunity for him to pass up as he now gets to be together as a family with his wife, Marci, and their two daughters.”

Filling the assistant role will be Jimmy Martelli, who was previously brought on to be the Chief of Staff. Brandon Rozzell will now be the Director of Recruiting for Penn State basketball.

Martelli is the son of legendary basketball coach Phil Martelli and has eight years of previous experience as an assistant coach on the sidelines. He coached under Rhoades in 2006-2007 while at Randolph-Macon.

Rozzell spent the last two seasons at VCU as the Director of Student-Athlete Development. After graduating from VCU with almost 1,000 points scored, he spent 10 years playing professional basketball overseas.

The biggest win so far in the Rhoades era was accomplished by getting one of the top transfer portal players in [autotag]Ace Baldwin[/autotag] to commit to Penn State. Baldwin previously played for Rhoades at VCU, where he was the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year last season.

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