Penn State men’s basketball (12-20, 3-17 Big Ten) fell to Northwestern (14-18, 5-15 Big Ten) 76-66 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago on Tuesday night.

Ivan Jurić scored a career-high 22 points to lead the way for the Nittany Lions, but the team committed 17 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle, sealing their fate in the opening round of the conference tournament.

How It Happened

Penn State started off with Kayden Mingo, Dominick Stewart, Josh Reed, Mason Blackwood, and Ivan Jurić. The Nittany Lions won the tip and didn’t take long to get on the board with a Jurić layup underneath the basket.

Reed hit a spot-up jumper to open up a 4-0 lead, only for Northwestern to get on the board on a triple by Nick Martinelli. The Wildcats used that to spearhead an 8-0 run, getting a euro-step layup from Jake West and a Jayden Reid 3-pointer to go up 8-4. Jurić showed off the range on the other end, nailing just his 15th three of the season to cut the deficit to one into the first media timeout.

After Northwestern’s Angelo Ciaravino split a pair at the free-throw line, Freddie Dilione V checked in and got a quick assist on a dime to Jurić down low to tie it at nine. Jordan Clayton splashed a three on the other end, but Jurić cleaned up an offensive rebound and tied it back up with an and-one layup.

Martinelli started to cook for the Wildcats, getting three consecutive buckets, capped by a smooth fastbreak bucket against Stewart. Mingo got on the board to break up the 6-0 Martinelli run, but Northwestern’s offense continued to hum, leading 20-16 at the under-12 timeout.

Dilione nailed a corner three, set up by a cross-court pass by Mingo. A sweet baseline jumper tied the game at 21 before Tyler Kropp re-took the lead for the Wildcats at the free-throw line. Northwestern led 23-21 at the next media timeout, with their offensive beginning to sputter with better defensive intensity from the Nittany Lions.

Both teams exchanged missed layups under the basket as the clock continued to tick in the final eight minutes of the first half. Northwestern was getting to the line much more easily than Penn State, but it wasn’t capitalizing much with several missed free throws.

Melih Tunca drained a catch-and-shoot three to tie it with 4:45 left in the first half. After a solid defensive possession on the other end, Tunca delivered a dime from halfcourt to Reed under the rim, who finished a layup through contact for an and-one, giving Penn State its first lead since the opening minutes at 29-26.

Northwestern punched right back with strong rebounding and suffocating defense, re-taking the lead on a fastbreak layup by West before forcing a shot clock violation. Reed missed an open three after a Northwestern turnover out of a timeout, and Martinelli got another layup off some beautiful passing out of a double team. Mingo re-tied the game at 32 with 1:15 to go on a corner triple.

Northwestern would go into halftime with the lead, as Kropp stripped Mingo and started a fast break that resulted in a go-ahead layup by West to take a 34-32 lead into the break.

Martinelli opened the second half with a beautiful no-look pass to Kropp down low for a layup. After Jurić turned it over, Mingo stripped the ball from Martinelli and drove hard to the rim, drawing the foul on West for an and-one basket.

Martinelli swished a triple to get the lead back to four, but Penn State responded quickly with a Reed corner three, set up by a strong offensive rebound and dime by Jurić. Reid scored an and-one layup on the other end to get the lead up to four.

The Nittany Lions struggled getting into their offense early in the second half, turning it over multiple times and allowing the Wildcats to capitalize in transition, getting the lead up to a game-high seven points five minutes in. Mingo got three back on a tough layup through traffic and drawing the foul, but Martinelli continued to dominate offensively on the other end.

Penn State began to settle in offensively, drawing fouls and beginning to go back to the big man in the post, but they couldn’t string together stops. Northwestern led 52-47 at the under-12 timeout, but was already in the bonus.

Reed made a pair of free throws out of the timeout to cut the deficit to three, but Justin Mullins, a poor 3-point shooter, made his second triple of the second half to take the air out of the balloon. Jurić tied his season-high with a thunderous jam at the halfway point of the second half, but Northwestern got the lead back to seven, 58-51, on the next possession.

The two teams exchanged free throws into the next media timeout, with Penn State cutting it to five and forcing a turnover to get the ball back. After getting a stop on the next possession, Mingo bobbled the ball out of bounds, and Northwestern once again capitalized on the turnover with a Tre Singleton layup. Yet another turnover on the next possession led to another layup and a 64-55 Northwestern lead, its largest of the game.

Mike Rhoades called a timeout to try and stop the bleeding, but Jurić traveled for the Nittany Lions’ 14th turnover immediately after. Two free throws by the Wildcats pushed the lead to 11 before two more turnovers on the ensuing three possessions led to a fastbreak dunk by Martinelli to effectively put the game away, making it 68-55 with 3:48 to go.

Dilione broke a five-minute scoreless drought out of the timeout with 3:30 to go, but Martinelli got to the line on the next possession and made both free throws. Jurić added a layup to briefly cut the lead to 10 with under two minutes to play, but the Nittany Lions never seriously threatened for the rest of the game, only managing a pair of Dilione 3-pointers in the final minute.

Takeaways

• Penn State had the youngest roster in college basketball this year and depended on a whole lot of freshmen all season. While Kayden Mingo’s strong play deservingly takes most of the headlines, there have been stints this season where freshman center Ivan Jurić has shown flashes. He scored 12 points in the first eight minutes and led the team in scoring with 22, his career high.
• The Big Ten’s top scorers poured it on the Nittany Lions all season long, and the leading scorer in the conference, Nick Martinelli, brutalized Penn State in both meetings. After a season-high 34 in Northwestern’s blowout win in Evanston, Illinois, in January, he scored an efficient 24 points on Tuesday.
• What happens when you combine the Big Ten’s best fastbreak scoring team with its worst team at preventing points off turnovers? Northwestern grilled Penn State in transition all game, scoring 24 points off its 17 turnovers while additionally owning the rebounding battle.
• Speaking of turnovers, Penn State was in this game for the first 30 minutes until it failed to score for an entire five-minute stretch while turning it over six times in seven possessions.
• Penn State finished the season 12-20, its worst finish in basketball since going 10-21 in 2012-13.
• Aside from the graduating Josh Reed, who have we seen in blue and white for the final time? Mike Rhoades still has several years left on his contract, but the results haven’t been there. Will they be able to retain leading scorers Kayden Mingo and Freddie Dilione V? We’ll know soon enough.

Up Next

Barring an unlikely (but not impossible) postseason tournament invitation from the NIT, CBI, or the College Basketball Crown, Penn State’s season is over. The Nittany Lions now move into a critical offseason as they look to improve upon an extremely disappointing season.