Penn State men’s basketball (15-13, 5-12 Big Ten) defeated Minnesota (14-13, 6-10 Big Ten) 69-60 in Williams Arena on Saturday afternoon.

After losing to Minnesota at home earlier in the season, the Nittany Lions got revenge to keep their hopes alive of making the Big Ten Tournament by stifling the Gophers’ offense and forcing them to a field goal percentage of 34%. Also, Yanic Konan Niederhauser led the way in this victory as he led the team in points and blocks.

How It Happened

Ace Baldwin, D’Marco Dunn, Freddie Dilione V, Zach Hicks, and Yanic Konan Niederhauser got the start for head coach Mike Rhoades.

Minnesota got on the board first as Femi Odukale knocked down two free throws before Dunn returned the favor. Dawson Garcia and Mike Mitchell Jr. scored back-to-back three-pointers to give the Gophers an early 8-2 lead.

Both teams exchanged baskets before Konan Niederhauser took advantage of a Minnesota turnover. However, Mitchell Jr. knocked down another three for Minnesota to increase its lead to seven before it committed a shooting foul heading into the media timeout.

After the timeout, Baldwin converted the foul shots before Garcia returned the favor. Konan Niederhauser converted on a dunk and a minute went by with no scoring until Isaac Asuma ended the drought for the Gophers. This trend continued as another minute went by without scoring. It wasn’t until Dunn’s driving layup at the 12-minute mark ended the drought.

This bucket gave the Nittany Lions some momentum as they held strong on defense and Dunn knocked down a big three to trim the deficit to two. This led to another media timeout with 11 minutes left in the first half.

The timeout paid dividends for Minnesota as it scored back-to-back baskets to take a 21-15 lead. After a minute and 30 seconds went by with no scoring, the momentum kept on piling up for the Gophers as Lu’cye Patterson’s three-pointer extended their lead to nine. Kachi Nzeh scored a layup for Penn State heading into the media timeout with seven minutes left in the first half.

The Nittany Lions scored on their first possession out of the timeout on a layup by Konan Niederhauser. The shooting struggles for both teams continued as they went more than two minutes without scoring. Dilione scored a layup for Penn State to decrease its margin to three. This forced Minnesota to take a 30-second timeout.

After going almost five minutes without scoring, the Gophers finally ended the scoring drought as Garcia made two foul shots. However, the Nittany Lions refused to go away as Konan Niederhauser responded with a slam dunk. On their next possession, Dilione scored a tough layup and got fouled. Another media timeout occurred with Dilione getting a free throw opportunity to tie the game at 26.

THROW IT DOWN @YanicKonan

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— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) February 22, 2025

Dilione converted on the and-one to tie the game out of the timeout. However, the trend of the shooting struggles continued for both teams as they went two minutes without scoring. However, with 49 seconds left, Niederhauser got sent to the line and converted both free throws to give Penn State its first lead of the game. This turned out to be the last basket of the half as the Nittany Lions went into halftime with a 28-26 lead.

Parker Fox scored the first basket of the second half as Minnesota tied the game right away. On Penn State’s next possession, Dilione knocked down a three before Odukale responded with one of his own. This back-and-forth exchange continued for the next couple of possessions as the deadlock stayed intact. A media timeout occurred at the 16-minute mark.

The Nittany Lions retook the lead out of the timeout as Hicks scored a huge three. Konan Niederhauser blocked Garcia’s shot on Minnesota’s possession and Dilione got the rebound and called a timeout for Penn State to avoid losing its possession.

Can't leave him open like that @zhicks1231

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— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) February 22, 2025

Out of the timeout, Konan Niederhauser continued to make his presence known as he scored a layup off a Gophers turnover. After Minnesota failed to score on its following possession, Konan Niederhauser forced Fox to commit a shooting foul and he ended up knocking down both free throws to extend Penn State’s lead to seven.

The Nittany Lions kept putting their foot down on the gas as their defense continued to stifle the Gophers’ offense. Dunn then scored a jumper in the paint to give Penn State a 44-35 lead. Its defense continued to be relentless as Minnesota’s scoring drought reached five minutes. Right before a media timeout occurred with about 11 minutes left, Patterson committed a shooting foul on Nick Kern.

Kern made both foul shots after the timeout to increase the Nittany Lions’ lead to double digits. After going more than six minutes without scoring, the Gophers finally ended the scoring drought as Frank Mitchell made a second-chance bucket.

However, Penn State continued to control both sides of the court. Baldwin scored free throws after Patterson committed a shooting foul. After almost two minutes went by with no scoring, Baldwin gave an alley-oop assist to Kern as he slammed it down to take a 50-37 lead. This forced Minnesota to take a timeout in hopes of finding a way to get into the game.

BOOOOOOOOM 17-2 run after this @TheBigTickettt SLAM

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— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) February 22, 2025

Minnesota scored right away after the timeout, but Penn State responded with Jahvin Carter knocking down a three to increase its lead to 14. However, the Gophers refused to go away and scored five straight points to decrease their deficit to single digits. This forced Rhoades to take a timeout in hopes of killing off Minnesota’s momentum.

Both teams exchanged baskets after the timeout but after Baldwin made a pullup jumper, Odukale scored an important and-one dunk to get the Gophers within single digits once again with five minutes left.

After Konan Niederhauser split foul shots, both teams struggled to take advantage of their scoring opportunities as Penn State missed consecutive free throws and Minnesota failed to convert a three-pointer. Odukale split free throws before a Minnesota shooting foul sent the game into a media timeout with about four minutes left.

Dilione converted on the free throws out of the timeout to regain the Nittany Lions’ double-digit lead. However, the Gophers showed their resilience and went on a critical 6-0 run to trim their margin to five. Penn State failed to score on its following possession and even though Minnesota missed two three-pointers on its next possession, it made huge offensive rebounds to keep the possession alive. This forced Dunn to commit a shooting foul on Asuma.

Asuma converted both free throws to make it a one-possession game for the Gophers. The Nittany Lions responded on their next possession as Baldwin made both foul shots to make it a five-point advantage for them. After Patterson split free throws, Hicks missed a three, but Kern refused to go away and forced the Gophers to commit a critical foul. Kern took advantage of this opportunity as he scored both free throws to give Penn State a 64-58 lead with 47 seconds left.

Patterson scored a layup right away but committed a personal foul on Baldwin to send him to the line. He knocked down two foul shots to give some breathing room for the Nittany Lions. On the following possession, the foul kept on piling up as Hicks committed a foul to send Fox to the line. However, he failed to convert both foul shots, but Minnesota came away with the rebound to have another chance.

The Gophers couldn’t capitalize as they missed a three, but Baldwin was forced into a trap and held the ball was called as the possession stayed with the Nittany Lions. On the following possession, Konan Niederhauser put an exclamation point on the game as he converted an and-one dunk to end the game at 69-60.

THE CHERRY ON TOP @YanicKonan

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— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) February 22, 2025

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lions came away with a huge win today to keep their hopes alive of making the Big Ten Tournament. Even though they are second-to-last in the conference, they are one win behind from catching up to their opponents, and with three games left, it’s still possible that they make the tournament.
• Defense was all over the place in this game for Penn State. It stifled Minnesota’s offense as it forced them to a field goal percentage of 34% and 22% in three-point percentage.
• Konan Niederhauser was the star of the game for Penn State. Coming into this game, he was averaging 12.4 points but today he doubled it by scoring 24 points along with seven rebounds. He also made his presence known on the defensive end by recording five blocks.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will work to keep their momentum going as they hit the road once again to take on the Indiana Hoosiers at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 26. The game will air on the Big Ten Network.