Penn State men’s basketball (7-7, 1-2 Big Ten) was embarrassed 92-61 by Michigan State (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) in the first game of 2024 on the road in East Lansing.

Kanye Clary was the only bright spot amid a dark and disappointing performance for the Nittany Lions. Clary finished with 21 points and five assists as the only Nittany Lion to finish with double-digit figures. The Spartans had five players reach double-digits on the night.

How It Happened

Mike Rhoades went with the same starting five from the previous handful of games. Michigan State came out of the gates hot, opening up an early 6-0 lead. The Spartans earned their buckets inside, living in the paint in the opening minutes.

Ace Baldwin Jr. got the Nittany Lions on the board 2.5 minutes in with two free throws. In true Big Ten fashion, both teams started the game chippy, exchanging words a couple of times early on.

Qudus Wahab got his first bucket of the game to cut the game to 11-6 in favor of the Spartans. Penn State got the ball right back off a turnover, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t convert as the Spartans forced a shot clock violation before heading to the first media timeout of the night.

Penn State came out of the timeout only shooting 33% from the field. Malik Hall extended the lead for Michigan State on a three that hit every part of the rim before falling through. The Spartans led 14-6 with 14 minutes left in the first half. Zach Hicks answered with a triple as the shot clock expired on Penn State’s end of the floor.

Nick Kern Jr. skyrocketed to the rim for a two-handed dunk, drawing a foul in the process. Just like that, the lead was minimized to six points. Right before the second media timeout, Leo O’Boyle had an opportunity to cut the lead down to four, but he missed the layup and the follow-up attempt.

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— Onward State (@OnwardState) January 5, 2024

Clary missed a mid-range jumper on the first possession after the timeout, keeping the game at 18-12. A.J. Hoggard rattled home a three on the extra pass on the other end of the floor. Hall converted on the next possession and the lead was extended to 11. Tyson Walker turned turnovers into points, forcing Rhoades to call a timeout with the Nittany Lions during a three-minute scoring drought.

Clary got his second bucket of the night to end the scoring drought for Penn State. Walker answered with a transition three to extend the lead. Michigan State led 30-16 at the eight-minute mark after two shots from Clary at the line. The Nittany Lions went to a zone defense on the next possession, and Walker didn’t mind as he hit another three-pointer.

Hall got another jumper to go on the Michigan State end, and Clary dribbled it off his leg on the Penn State side of the floor out of the under-eight timeout. The Nittany Lions were shooting a poor 5-17 from the field and 1-6 from behind the arc at the 6:30 mark of the first half. To go along with the bad shooting, the blue and white had 13 turnovers.

Rhoades was forced to call another timeout with the Nittany Lions looking all out of sorts amid an 11-0 Spartans run. O’Boyle momentarily stopped the bleeding with a layup. Penn State continued to have zero answers for Michigan State, who scored back-to-back buckets to extend the advantage to 45-20.

D’Marco Dunn had two opportunities to drill a three in the same possession but both hit iron and didn’t fall for the Nittany Lions. Kern showed some life for Penn State with a nice move in the halfcourt and a layup in transition on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to 46-24. Walker shattered the rim with a one-handed slam that got the Michigan State crowd to its feet

Penn State went into halftime trailing 51-26. It was the most points Michigan State scored in the first half of a Big Ten game since 2019. Kern led the Nittany Lions with seven points and as a team, they only had 10 made field goals to 14 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

Hicks started the second half with a mid-range jumper to swish home on a broken play. However, the Spartans answered with a mid-range two-pointer of their own. Walker kept the Michigan State scoring with a jumper of his own to make the game 55-30 at the 17:30 mark.

Demetrius Lilley and Jameel Brown came off the bench for the first time before the first media timeout, but it made little difference with Michigan State scoring once again. The Nittany Lions trailed 65-37 at the under-16 timeout. Clary went to the line for two shots after the break and knocked down both.

Tom Izzo’s team finally missed a shot with an airball from three, and Clary turned it into three points for Penn State on the other end of the floor. O’Boyle attempted to knock down three of his own a few possessions later, but he couldn’t get the shot to fall.

Dunn missed another shot from behind the arc, but Wahab was there to clean up the glass to earn the second chance points and the foul as Penn State still trailed 69-45. Wahab padded his stat sheet with another bucket in the paint on the next possession down the floor.

Walker continued to show off his skill set, driving through the Nittany Lions’ defense with ease for another bucket. Puff Johnson missed another Penn State three-pointer on the offensive end and the struggle continued with under seven minutes left in the game.

Baldwin found a cutting Johnson in transition who bodied his defender to create space, but his shot couldn’t find a way to fall. The next time down the court, Baldwin found Kern who got it to go for the Nittany Lions. Kern’s bucket made it an 82-56 ballgame with five minutes to play. The threes continued to rain down in East Lansing for the folks in green, who kept pouring it on late.

Kern knocked down one of two shots at the line after a foul was upgraded to a flagrant foul on Michigan State. Penn State turned it over on its extra possession following the free throws. With 2:12 to play and the Spartans leading 90-57, both coaches emptied the benches. As the clock ran out in East Lansing both teams’ walk-ons had opportunities to find themselves on the stat sheet. Michigan State finished by winning 92-61.

Takeaways

• This team needs consistency. It’s no secret the group isn’t the most talented in the country. Right now, the Nittany Lions are suffering from inconsistent play. One game it’s shooting, the next it’s rebounding or defense or turnovers. Penn State needs to be able to rely on at least one piece of its game to compete in the Big Ten.
• Turnovers continue to plague these Nittany Lions. The first half felt like nobody wearing gray wanted to keep the ball in their hands. Penn State turned the ball over 14 times in the half as the Spartans took control early.
• It could be a long winter for Penn State hoops. Too many moving parts, a tough conference, and a completely new team aren’t a recipe for success, and that showed in the third Big Ten game of the year for the Nittany Lions. The struggle could persist for the rest of the season as quality opponents await week after week.

What’s Next?

Penn State will head to Philadelphia and return to The Palestra at noon on Sunday, January 7, against Michigan. The matchup will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.