Penn State Sports Magazine
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A P R I L 2 0 2 4 41 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M In the black-and-white telling of the story, Penn State won 16 games and lost 17, going 9-11 in conference play in Rhoades' first season at the helm. In the Nittany Lions' history, only Jerry Dunn bested that first-year conference win to- tal, leading the Lions to a 12-6 Big Ten season in 1995-96. The tally also placed the Nittany Li- ons in a tie for ninth place in the league's regular-season standings, leading to a No. 11 seed in the conference tourna- ment. There, they topped Michigan in the first round, 66-57, before ending the campaign with a 61-59 loss to Indiana in Round 2. Leading the way in that effort, senior point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. was a stat- sheet-stuffer for the Nittany Lions. Fin- ishing with 14.2 points, 6 assists, and 2.7 steals per game for the season, he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and received third-team all-confer- ence recognition from both the coaches and media. Earning honorable mention status were graduate forward Qudus Wa- hab, junior guard Nick Kern Jr. and junior forward Zach Hicks. Along the way, Penn State identified a style of play and the personnel attributes that could be consistently competitive against Big Ten opponents. "We've had moments when we've played at a high level against a lot of teams in the Big Ten. That's where we want to get consistently. I think that's the neat thing about this first year," Rhoades said. "We've also had some moments when we haven't. But I think our approach and our guys, they think they can win. And that's playing with house money. The pressure is on everybody else, not us. That makes it fun to go out and play." Most notably, that high level of perfor- mance produced highlight wins against Ohio State and Michigan early in the Big Ten season. Penn State also notched vic- tories against then-No. 12 Wisconsin in January, and Illinois, also ranked 12th at the time, in February. And for the first time since 2009, PSU beat Indiana twice in the regular season. Embracing a daily mindset centered on improvement and a disregard for outside expectations, the Nittany Lions showed a level of resiliency that allowed them to bounce back quickly from disappoint- ments and, in the process, confound the program's skeptics. "We knew that people weren't going to think highly of us, just because there were so many new players and new coaches," said senior guard Puff Johnson, a transfer from North Carolina. "We knew that we were going to have to just come to work every day and give it our best and see how things roll. And like Coach always says, play with house money, because no one is going to believe in us except for the people in the locker room and the people within this facility. So, we just had to be- lieve in ourselves." Although it offered ample cause for op- timism about the future, the season was not without its disappointments. There was a disastrous trip to the ESPN Events Invitational in November, during which Penn State dropped all three games. A week later, the team suffered its worst loss of the season, a 76-67 setback against Bucknell at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State was also mostly uncom- petitive in losses to Purdue and Michigan State. Combined with two losses to Min- nesota in which it surrendered leads of 16 and 23 points, the on-court performances left clear paths for future improvement. Off the court, Penn State also dealt with challenges. The team's leading scorer, sophomore guard Kanye Clary, suffered a concussion in January and, af- ter returning to an off-the-bench role, was dismissed by Rhoades for unspeci- fied disciplinary reasons. Less dramatic, but impactful nonetheless, Baldwin was also the subject of two coaches' deci- sions and disciplinary measures early in the season. Emerging on the other side of it in- tact and confident in the overall results, Rhoades said he believes a foundation had been laid for the program moving forward. "What I'm most proud of is the guys' approach, putting this team together very quickly and continually getting bet- ter and better. I commend the players for that. I commend our staff for that," he said. "You've got to go through stuff to get somewhere, and I thought we got some- where because the guys stuck together going through the ups and downs of the year. I'm proud of the team we had this past year, and their approach. The adver- sity that they dealt with, I think made our program better, and stronger. "We've built some good pieces of our foundation. We're always going to con- tinue to improve that and build on it, but I was proud of our approach. And from here, it's all about moving the program forward in so many different ways. I'm just really proud. Proud of our guys, re- ally proud of our staff. I appreciate the administration and their support in this first year, and we're going to continue to build on it." ■ 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 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 vs. Texas A&M* L, 89-77 Nov. 24 vs. Butler* L, 88-78 Nov. 26 vs. 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 L, 79-67 Jan. 27 MINNESOTA L, 83-74 Jan. 31 at Rutgers W, 61-46 Feb. 3 at Indiana W, 85-71 Feb. 8 IOWA W, 89-79 Feb. 11 at Northwestern L, 68-63 Feb. 14 MICHIGAN STATE L, 80-72 Feb. 17 at Nebraska L, 68-49 Feb. 21 ILLINOIS^^ W, 90-89 Feb. 24 INDIANA W, 83-74 Feb. 27 at Iowa L, 90-81 Mar. 2 at Minnesota L, 75-70 Mar. 10 MARYLAND W, 85-69 Mar. 13 vs. Michigan# W, 66-57 Mar. 14 vs. Indiana# L, 61-59 * ESPN Events Invitational at Kissimmee, Fla.; ** at New York (Madison Square Garden); ^ at Philadelphia (Palestra); ^^ at Rec Hall # Big Ten Tournament at Minneapolis (Target Center)