Penn State’s Ace Baldwin Jr. opened the second half with a 3-pointer, a much needed bucket to cut Purdue Fort Wayne’s improbable lead. Then he hit another. And then another. Baldwin finished the night with a season-high 25 points. His three consecutive shots from beyond the arc gave the Nittany Lions a much-needed spark toward a 102-89 comeback victory on Wednesday at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Mike Rhoades entered the night with a team that had won their first four games in dominant fashion and received four votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll. But through the first half of an on-campus Sunshine Slam matchup that lacked defensive efficiency and a hot-hand on offense, it hardly looked as if Penn State belonged among the nation’s top teams.
Then came Baldwin’s heroics, which helped remedy a game-high 31 points from Matadors’ forward Jalen Jackson. Baldwin was 4-for-5 from deep and tallied 11 assists, seven rebounds and two steals. It was exactly the type of performance the Nittany Lions needed from their star point guard on a night that saw them struggle to force turnovers and score fast-break points against the preseason favorite to win the Horizon League.
Zach Hicks also scored 17 points, capitalizing on five 3-point attempts, while center Yanic Konan Niederhauser contributed 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocks to help push Penn State to a 5-0 record for the first time since 2019.
“We needed adversity. We needed some things not to go our way,” Rhoades said. “And how we responded to it, I thought the guys took momentum into the locker room at halftime with the last two minutes, and then Ace got on the heater there to start the second half, got us going. Our defense wasn’t very good today, but we showed we could score in bunches.”
ACE’S ELECTRIC HALF
With a halftime deficit, Rhoades took Baldwin aside and told him he “needed to set the tone.” Baldwin went on to score 15 points and dish out nine assists in the second half, taking complete command of the Nittany Lions on both ends of the court.
“I never say Ace is sluggish because he competes, man. But he wasn’t playing with enough juice (in his) pace. And I just said, ‘If you don’t play with pace, what do you think your teammates are going to do?’” Rhoades said. “Started to play with a little bit more edge with more pace. We put a lot on him.”
TURNOVERS ARE THE KEY
There’s a reason Penn State allowed a season-high 89 points. The Nittany Lions, who entered the game forcing a nation-leading 21.5 turnovers per game, came away with just 10 Purdue Fort Wayne turnovers on Wednesday. Rhoades said despite the lack of turnovers, he anticipated “fatigue” in the Matadors, who limped to the final whistle after a hot first half.
“You’re not going to turn everybody over, but you’re going to have a cumulative effect,” Rhoades said. “They called some timeouts late in the game because they were dragging, and they missed some of those runners and layups that they made in the first half, they didn’t make it late in the game.”
INJURIES
Forward Miles Goodman, a true freshman, was ruled out for a fifth consecutive game. There’s “protocol” with Goodman’s injury, Rhoades said. … Guard Eli Rice returned to the inactive list just two games after making his season debut against St. Francis (PA) on Nov. 12. He was ruled active against Virginia Tech on Friday but did not play against Purdue Fort Wayne due to what Rhoades called a “recurring injury.”
UP NEXT
Penn State will travel to Daytona Beach, Florida, and take on Fordham in the Sunshine Slam on Monday. If the Nittany Lions defeat their former assistant coach Keith Urgo and the Rams, that will set up a matchup with either Clemson (3-1) or San Francisco (4-0) on Tuesday.
