Penn State men’s basketball (1-0) defeated Binghamton (0-1) 108-66 in its season opener Monday night. It’s the second season of the Mike Rhoades era, and his team started the season off strong.

Zach Hicks led the way with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals with his 9-for-12 shooting from the field, and five different Nittany Lions had over 10 points.

How It Happened

Both squads had slow starts. Neither team scored on its first possession until Hicks got things started for Penn State with a jumper and Evan Ashe did the same for Binghamton with a layup. Shortly after, Northern Illinois transfer Yanic Konan Niederhauser was fouled and made both free throws, followed by an Ace Baldwin Jr. three-pointer.

The Bearcats matched the two scores with a jumper and a three to tie the game at 7-7 at the first media timeout. After the break, Baldwin hit a step-back three, Xavier transfer Kachi Nzeh was fouled and hit both free throws, and Konan Niederhauser slammed one in after missing two free throws to extend the lead to five.

The Nittany Lions’ offense started to pick up after Konan Niederhauser got a steal and passed it to freshman Jahvin Carter, who threw it off the backboard for the trailing Konan Niederhauser for the dunk. D’Marco Dunn nailed a three and Nick Kern Jr. made both of his free throws to make it 21-12 for the home team.

Tennessee transfer Freddie Dilione V muscled in a layup, Kern was fouled twice more and made all four free throws, and Puff Johnson made a fast break layup off a Kern steal to extend the lead again and force a Binghamton timeout.

The blue and white started to hit their stride with eight minutes remaining in the half. Baldwin hit his third three-pointer as he put his defender on skates, and Dilione drew a shooting four and made both shots from the charity stripe.

Penn State went on a 7-2 scoring run as Baldwin, again, made his fourth three-point play of the night. This time, it was off an and-one. Dunn then drove in a layup and Hicks touched on in off the backboard to make it 41-17.

Konan Niederhauser tried for the contested dunk and was unsuccessful, but Kern was there for the putback layup. Hicks then lost his right shoe and Rhoades used his first timeout of the half at 43-19. Konan Niederhauser found himself at the line two more times and made three of his four shots.

Penn State forced its ninth steal of the half but earned no points from it as Baldwin and Kern missed on the alley-oop attempt. Hicks came back down the floor and flushed a three, Konan Niederhauser went to the line again and split his two opportunities, and Kern made seventh and eighth free throws of the half.

The half ended with Konan Niederhauser making two more free throws and blocking a floater as the Nittany Lions led 54-23.

The second half got started with a steal and score by Hicks, then he hit a three-ball to make it a 5-0 run for Penn State. Baldwin found Konan Niederhauser wide open under the hoop, Baldwin then hit his fourth three of the evening, and Hicks scored his eighth point of the half. Dilione drove the land for the score and Binghamton was forced to call a timeout at 69-32.

After the break, Hicks passed up a three and found Nzeh for the tough contested bucket in the paint. Baldwin missed his first shot of the game, but Hicks got the offensive rebound, found Dunn wide-open for the successful three-pointer.

Baldwin missed another shot, but Nzeh got the board and passed to Johnson, who made a three-pointer as another timeout was called at 77-41. Konan Niederhauser got a second-chance score and sent one back on the defensive end of the floor.

The momentum started to change before the next timeout as the Bearcats went on an 8-2 run, but the run ended when play resumed. Nzeh laid one in after missing his first shot, Carter made the layup but missed the foul shot on his and-one opportunity, and Hicks knocked down his fourth three. He then made a fast-break dunk to force another timeout.

Dilione made a layup and Dominick Stewart made his first collegiate three-pointer after the pause to make it 97-55. Stewart then made a turnaround jumper. Carter followed with a made layup to put Penn State past the century mark.

The lineup was mostly freshmen at this point as Stewart hit another three. Binghamton went on a 5-0 run until Dilione split his free throws and Stewart made a layup under the basket to end the game at 108-66.

Takeaways

• Penn State’s defense was all over the place. The Nittany Lions held Binghamton to just 66 points, forced 16 steals, and the Bearcats shot 43% from the field.
• Baldwin looked like his usual self in his second season with the Nittany Lions. He had 15 points, four assists, three steals, and shot 4-for-5 from three.
• Five different freshmen or transfers appeared in the game. Of those five, transfers Konan Niederhauser started at forward and Dilione started as shooting guard. Konan Niederhauser finished with 16 points and seven rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting and Dilione finished with 10 points, three rebounds, and an assist.

What’s Next?

Penn State will face UMBC in the Bryce Jordan Center at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 8. The game will air on the Big Ten Network.