After an impressive 4-0 start to the 2023-24 regular season, Penn State men’s basketball dropped its fourth consecutive game Saturday, blowing a 10-point lead against Bucknell, a 21.5-point underdog heading into the game.

Now 4-4, the Nittany Lions will travel to Maryland to take on the Terrapins for their first Big Ten matchup of the season. Ahead of the game, Mike Rhoades, Kanye Clary, and Leo O’Boyle spoke with the media regarding the recent struggles of the team and what they’re aiming to improve as conference play begins.

On Recent Struggles & Taking Accountability

It’s no secret the Nittany Lions aren’t playing their best basketball right now and many stayed optimistic after going 0-3 in the ESPN Events Invitational in Florida over Thanksgiving break. However, the home loss to 2-7 Bucknell only added to the frustration of the recent play of the team as it heads into conference play.

Rhoades opened his media availability with a statement regarding where the recent lack of great play is coming from and how the person to blame is no one but himself.

“We’re not playing well enough to win college basketball games, and it starts with me, and it goes through everybody in our program,” he said. “Sometimes you got to go through failure to get to success, and you hope you avoid it as much as possible, but you got to go through it.”

On Ace Baldwin Jr. Coming Off The Bench

One of the big reasons for the current losing streak is the play of guard Ace Baldwin Jr. Now, it isn’t all bad as Baldwin is averaging 14.4 points per game and leads the team in steals with 19. The cause for concern is his shooting, as he’s shooting .379 from the field from 95 total shots.

His three-point shooting especially has been a point of concern as he’s shooting 12-42 from beyond the arc or .286. It ranks 21st in the Big Ten in three-point field goals per game. Rhoades talked about how his guard needs to be better and that Baldwin himself knows it, too.

“I need a better Ace,” Rhoades said. “I love that kid. I love him with every fiber of my body, but at all levels, I need a better Ace. We all do. But he wants to do better too. The one thing I love about that kid, like a bunch of guys on the team, they want to they want to win, they want to compete.”

On Dealing With Failure

While many think turning a group of players into a tournament team happens overnight, winning doesn’t come with ease, especially for a team that’s barely known and practiced with each other for the last six months. Failure is going to come to every team — it’s only a matter of how you deal with it. Rhoades spoke about the things his squad needs to do to prevent failure and ultimately learn from it.

“We allow frustration to take over,” Rhoades said. “The number one thing before you can beat people is don’t beat yourself. And number two is your reaction to a bad play. The most important play in the game is always the next play. Guys want to win so bad and it’s not going the way we want, and we’re not adjusting, and that’s part of being a new team and a new program is we got to get good at that.”

On Upcoming Big Ten Games

As the team moves on from previous losses, it must now move on to the first two Big Ten conference games of the season. The first game is set to be played against the Maryland Terrapins on Wednesday evening in the Nittany Lions’ first conference away game of the season.

Penn State brings a four-game skid into arguably its most important matchup of the season so far and still has multiple areas of issue in need of addressing before Wednesday night’s contest. Rhoades talked about how the team has to start getting into a routine of playing well together.

“It doesn’t matter who our opponent is. We got to make sure we’re right,” Rhoades said. “We’re gonna respect everyone, we’re gonna make sure we’re right, and we’re improving and stacking days to take the next step of going out and beating people.”

On Qudus Wahab’s Play & Fixing Of The Offense

Despite the team’s disappointing run, one of the reasons Penn State has had a chance offensively in games is the continued great play of Qudus Wahab. Wahab is averaging a near double-double, with 11 points and 9.4 rebounds, and was the team’s leading scorer in its most recent game against Bucknell. Rhoades spoke about how the team will continue to ride Wahab’s recent success on offense as the rest of the group’s shooting attempts to improve.

“[Wahab’s] numbers should usually speak for themselves,” Rhoades said. “When he gets down there and he’s in great position, he’s finishing or getting fouled and we’re going to continue to do that. We’re not shooting the ball as well as I thought we would, and I think part of that is shot selection. We have to continue to address that and work on it and fix it.”