Penn State men’s basketball (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten) defeated Navy (1-2, 0-0 Patriot League) 80-71 on Veterans Day from the Bryce Jordan Center.

Ivan Jurić and Freddie Dilione V both had a strong night offensively for the Nittany Lions. Dilione led the way with 19 points, and Jurić added 11 first-half points.

How It Happened

Head coach Mike Rhoades rolled out the same starting five he put on the court against New Haven to battle Navy. The Midshipmen won the opening tip, but the Penn State defense forced an opening possession stop. Kayden Mingo opened the scoring for the Nittany Lions, knocking down a contested layup in transition.

Jurić and Dilione checked into the game for the first time a few minutes later. Dilione drilled a deep three-pointer on his first touch of the game. Josh Reed cleaned up the offensive boards off a Mingo miss and gave the Nittany Lions their first lead of the evening on the ensuing possession. Donovan Draper answered for Navy with a mid-range jumper just before the first media timeout.

Out of the break, Jurić drilled a wide-open three to extend the Penn State lead. Dilione kept the momentum going with a transition one-handed dunk to make it a 14-9 ballgame. Dominick Stewart notched his first bucket of the contest a few possessions later. On the next two trips up the floor, Stewart energized the Bryce Jordan Center crowd with back-to-back made threes.

Penn State held a 24-15 lead coming out of the second media timeout. After a foul on Mingo, Rhoades was awarded a technical foul for barking at the referees from the sideline. Austin Benigni hit one of two from the free-throw line after the technical foul. After a few empty possessions for both teams, Jinwoo Kim broke the drought for Navy before Eli Rice answered with a three for the blue and white.

Kim brought the Midshipmen within six points after nailing a three-pointer a few possessions later. Penn State led at the under-eight media timeout 29-23. Coming out of the break, Dillione could not connect on a mid-range jumper. After another mini scoring drought for both teams, Melih Tunca was fouled hard by David Burnett at the rim. Burnett was given a flagrant one foul on the play, and Tunca hit both shots at the line.

Reed converted an and-one in the paint to extend the Nittany Lions’ lead to 11 points. Kim answered for the Mishipmen with a deep three-pointer. Reed responded on the next possession with another two-point bucket. Kim made a perfect in-bounds pass to Draper at the end of the half to make it a 38-32 score at halftime.

Leading the Midshipmen at the break. pic.twitter.com/ra2w23haXS

— Onward State (@OnwardState) November 12, 2025

Navy jumped out to two quick buckets to start the second half. Mingo hit a floater for the Nittany Lions’ first points of the second frame. Jurić bullied his way through the paint for a tough bucket on the next possession. After a Kim three-pointer, Tunca responded with one of his own, and Penn State led 47-41.

Reed extended Penn State’s lead with a layup just before the first media timeout of the second half. Benigni continued to keep the Midshipmen within striking distance, scoring a bucket right out of the break. After Rhoades called a quick timeout to talk to his players, Mingo stepped up with a bucket to make it a 51-43 score.

Dilione started to heat up from the field, knocking down back-to-back shots on Penn State’s next two trips up the floor. Ciani fouled Draper to send the game to the second media timeout of the second half with Penn State on top of Navy 57-47. Draper connected on both free-throw attempts after the stoppage.

Multiple empty possessions later, Tunca found Dilione on a backdoor cut to end the Nittany Lions’ scoring drought with under 10 minutes to play. Reed followed it up with a floater that found the bottom of the net to break 60 points for the blue and white. Kim brought Navy within five points, forcing Rhaodes to call a timeout with 6:30 remaining in the game.

Dilione stopped the bleeding with an and-one jumper to continue his strong night. Mingo kept the scoring flowing with another layup for the Nittany Lions. Dilione went coast to coast and drew the foul to bring the lead to double digits with under four minutes to go.

Draper responded for the Midshipmen with another basket, but Mingo did the same with an improbable layup from under the rim on the other end of the court. Following a few back-and-forth possessions, Mingo drilled two shots from the foul line to make it a 76-65 game with less than two minutes left.

Navy elected to play the foul game, down eight with 90 seconds left. Tunca hit both of his shots at the charity stripe for the Nittany Lions. Penn State held on down the stretch to remain undefeated, beating Navy 80-71.

Takeaways

• Penn State opened the game with precision passing. The Nittany Lions had eight assists at the under-twelve timeout, but only recorded one more the rest of the half as the offense stalled.
• Multiple Nittany Lions got involved in the scoring against Navy. Rhoades and Co. had five different players finish with double figures.
• The Nittany Lions let Navy hang around for far too long. Every time you thought Penn State would pull away, the Midshipmen crawled their way back into the game.

What’s Next?

Penn State is back in action at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 15, for a neutral-site game at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, against La Salle. The game will be broadcast on Peacock.