Penn State slipped to 8-8 on the year and 2-3 in Big Ten play on Wednesday night as the Nittany Lions lost their grasp on a 10-point second half lead, falling 76-72 to Northwestern. Kanye Clary once again led the Nittany Lions with 25 points while Qudus Wahab and Nick Kern added 13 and 14 points respectively. Ace Baldwin Jr tied a program record with eight steals in a single game as he continues to be one of the premiere ball snatchers in the nation. Penn State will next head on the road for Saturday clash with No. 1 Purdue who fell to Nebraska on Tuesday night.
Record Books: Ace Baldwin wrote his name in Penn State men’s basketball lore on Wednesday night, tying the program record for single-game steals with eight to his name, matching marks set by Tom Doaty and Monroe Brown. Baldwin came into the game having registered 38 steals so far this season with Wednesday’s game the 10th time this year that he has had three or more steals in a single game this season. All of this puts Baldwin as the 13th-best steal creator in the country through Tuesday night’s games. His totals on Wednesday would vault him up to fifth in the nation in this department if none of the players ahead of him picked any up this evening. Check back on that front, but either way, Baldwin is getting to the ball at an elite level.
Long Range Woes: Penn State entered the game right around 300th in the nation in terms of three point percentage hitting them at 30.26% rate on the year. This isn’t exactly news as the season reaches the midway point but this performance didn’t buck any recent trends of slightly better shooting as Penn State went 3-for-17 from beyond the arc. Credit due to Penn State here on some level for not falling in love with a shot it probably shouldn’t be taking in the first place, but nevertheless it’s hard to win in today’s modern game without the ability to hit shots from deep. D’Marco Dunn continues to be a semi-consistent option on this front and went 2-for-3 range on the night.
Cough It Up: Northwestern entered the game the fifth best team nationally in avoiding turnovers coughing it up 8.8 times on average. Penn State came into the game on the other end of that coin, forcing turnovers at one of the best rates in the nation. Given a immovable object and an unstoppable force, Penn State came out on top, forcing Northwestern turnovers on 18 occasions. The only downside for the Nittany Lions – five different players had two or more turnovers of their own. Penn State has done a decent job protecting the ball this season and while 11 points off of turnovers wasn’t why Northwestern won, it didn’t help matters any as Penn State coughed it up nine times in the second half. That’s one way to blow a 10-point lead.
Second Half Blues: Penn State shot 55.6% from the field in the first half and 37% in the second. It was probably unreasonable to think that the Nittany Lions were going to keep up that white hot pace for a full game, but a near 20% shooting drop-off is a bit tough to swallow for a team that has a hard enough time as it is scoring. Only Kanye Clary and Nick Kern made more than one basket in the second half. Meanwhile, Northwestern managed a 61% shooting clip from the field over the course of the night. No small part of the reason why Penn State lost.
Big Man Work: Qudus Wahab might not have the smoothness of Kanye Clary but he continues to be a high efficient scorer around the basket. On a night Penn State needed help from its supporting cast, Wahab continued to make a case for being a main part of the Nittany Lions’ offense. A 4-for-5 clip for 13 points and 10 rebounds gave Wahab his seventh game this season that he has scored in double figures while shooting above 50% from the field. In fact so far this year Wahab has only gotten to double figures with sub 40% shooting on one occasion (2-for-5 against Moorehead State). Penn State isn’t going to turn into Purdue overnight, but it will be interesting to see how Wahab does this weekend against Boilermakers and giant Zach Edey.
