Penn State Sports Magazine
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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 4 4 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M State could maintain that spacing with volume shooting from beyond the arc. Out of the gates, the Nittany Lions put as much on film. Hitting 12 three-pointers on 32 at- tempts in the opener against Delaware State, the Lions showed what success might look like moving forward. In the ensuing 16 games, though, they bested that percentage just once, a far cry from their 38.7 percent three-point shooting rate from a season ago. After 17 games, the Nittany Lions had connected on just 127 of 425 three-point- ers, good for 29.9 percent. At that point, the rate was ranked No. 315 nationally, better than only 36 other Division I teams during the 2023-24 campaign. In the earliest stages of the Big Ten schedule, the numbers have been worse. Against their first six conference op- ponents, the Nittany Lions hit just 27.4 percent from deep (40 of 146), only marginally better than last-place Mary- land for the category. Putting In The Work Particularly demoralized in the wake of a 76-72 loss to visiting Northwestern on Jan. 10, Rhoades acknowledged that his team's shooting performance might have doomed an otherwise positive result. "In the first half, there was a rhythm to the game. We had great flow, and we were attacking, and we were in space, and we were moving," he said. "We didn't do enough movement and enough flow. At times we did. I thought Kanye and Ace and even Nick got downhill. "We also sprayed it out and had some wide-open threes that you've got to make in college basketball. You've got to make them, and we're not making them. If we make two or three [more], we're sitting here with smiles." Instead, Penn State hit three total in 17 attempts, the continuation of a sea- son-long struggle. For makes alone, the Nittany Lions had just five games hit- ting double-digits for three-pointers. The best of those performances was against Ohio State on Dec. 9. The Lions went 10 of 24 that night (41.7 percent), and they pulled out an 83-80 victory at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State has been unable to rep- licate that performance in the weeks since, and one of the more frustrating aspects of the team's struggles has been that players have gotten open looks. They just haven't connected. Rhoades said the problem can only be solved with practice and repetition. "You've got to get in the gym and shoot," he said. "You've got to get a coach, and you've got to get a manager to rebound for you, and you've got to watch it go in. You've got to say, 'Man, I'm not going through this again. I'm going to make shots.' "When I had a bad shooting night [as a player], I went back to the gym and shot. I stuck around after practice and got extra shots up. 'Woe is me,' doesn't work shooting the ball. 'Give me the ball back. I've been working on this. I'm going to make the next one. Watch this. I've been doing this my whole life. Watch this go in.' "That's the swag mentality you have to have when you want to make shots, especially at this level. You've got to. That's the thing. And it's hurt us this year. I thought we'd be a better shooting team. I really did. We don't have enough swag shooting the ball." A Potential Shift Penn State's individual three-point shooting percentages reflect that lack of confidence. Leading the way with 14 makes on 34 attempts, Brown's 41.2 percent rate stands as a lone highlight in limited minutes for the Nittany Lions. As of Jan. 13, Dunn had hit 17 of 49 (34.7 percent), and Clary made 25 of 65 (38.5 percent). The rest of the roster, including Penn State's volume three-point shooters, has been stuck at less than 30 percent for the season, with senior guard Puff Johnson (22.9 percent), Baldwin (26.0 percent) and Hicks (29.3) the lowlights for performers averaging more than 2.9 attempts per game. Signaling a potential shift as the Nit- tany Lions move into the back half of the schedule, Rhoades suggested a bal- ance could be found for the team mov- ing forward. "We're not firing shots up there as quick as maybe I hoped we were going to early on in the year. I still want our guys to be aggressive. Certain guys on the team, I still want them to be ready, shoot open shots, and knock them down," Rhoades said. "I think we have to log the game better. When you're not shooting it at a high clip, you've got to do a good job of explaining to the guys that the last two times we came down, we had open shots, but we didn't make them. "So, we've got to run this play, or we have to think about this concept for this game more. We've got to get to the rim more, get to the foul line more, get our- selves in a different type of rhythm. You've got to talk them through that stuff." ■ P E N N S T A T E 2 0 2 3 - 2 4 M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L S C H E D U L E Date Opponent Result/Time/TV Oct. 27 at Robert Morris (exh.) W, 68-58 Nov. 6 DELAWARE STATE W, 79-45 Nov. 10 LEHIGH W, 74-65 Nov. 14 ST. FRANCIS (PA.) W, 83-53 Nov. 17 MOREHEAD STATE W, 74-51 Nov. 23 Texas A&M* L, 89-77 Nov. 24 Butler* L, 88-78 Nov. 26 VCU* L, 86-74 Dec. 2 BUCKNELL L, 76-67 Dec. 6 at Maryland L, 81-75 (OT) Dec. 9 OHIO STATE W, 83-80 Dec. 16 vs. Georgia Tech** L, 82-81 (OT) Dec. 21 LE MOYNE W, 72-55 Dec. 29 RIDER W, 90-63 Jan. 4 at Michigan State L, 92-61 Jan. 7 vs. MICHIGAN^ W, 79-73 Jan. 10 NORTHWESTERN L, 76-72 Jan. 13 at Purdue L, 95-78 Jan. 16 WISCONSIN W, 87-83 Jan. 20 at Ohio State Noon/BTN Jan. 27 MINNESOTA 6:30 p.m./BTN Jan. 31 at Rutgers 8:30 p.m./BTN Feb. 3 at Indiana Noon/FS1 Feb. 8 IOWA 7 p.m./BTN Feb. 11 at Northwestern 1 p.m./BTN Feb. 14 MICHIGAN STATE 6:30 p.m./BTN Feb. 17 at Nebraska Noon/BTN Feb. 21 ILLINOIS^^ 6:30 p.m./BTN Feb. 24 INDIANA Noon/BTN Feb. 27 at Iowa 9 p.m./BTN Mar. 2 at Minnesota 3:15 p.m./BTN Mar. 10 MARYLAND 7:30 p.m./BTN Mar. 13-17 Big Ten Tournament# TBA/BTN, CBS * ESPN Events Invitational at Kissimmee, Fla.; ** at New York (Madison Square Garden); ^ at Philadelphia (Palestra); ^^ at Rec Hall # at Minneapolis (Target Center)