UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team opens Big Ten play on Thursday night when the Nittany Lions host No. 8 Purdue in a showdown at the Bryce Jordan Center at 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on FS1.

FOLLOW WITH

TIPS FOR OPENING

• Penn State is off to a 7-1 start to the season, its best start since the 2019-20 season, and opens Big Ten play on Thursday night against #8 Purdue.
• The Nittany Lions rank in the top 10 in the country in points per game (91.3 ppg – 3rd), field goal percentage (52.2% – 5th) and steals per game (10.8 – 10th). ).
• Five Nittany Lions average double-digit points, led by Ace Baldwin Jr.’s 14.9 ppg.

WHEN PENN STATE BEATS #8 PURDUE

• The Nittany Lions would beat a team ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll for the first time since December 10, 2019, when Penn State defeated #4 Maryland 78-61.
• Penn State’s 8-1 start to the season would be its best since it started the 2014-15 season at 12-1.

Looking for the boilermakers

• The eighth-ranked Boilermakers are 7-1 this season and enter Thursday’s Big Ten opener with a three-game winning streak.
• Purdue’s only loss this season came on November 19th on the road at #15 Marquette, 76-58.
• The Boilermakers have two ranked wins so far this season against #2 Alabama (87-78) and #23 Ole Miss (80-78).
• Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the Boilers with 19.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Fletcher Loyer is averaging 13.8 points per game while Braden Smith is averaging 12.8 points and a Big Ten-best 9.1 assists per contest.
• Purdue is coming off a 2023-24 season in which they advanced to the 2024 NCAA Tournament National Championship game and were crowned Big Ten regular season champions.

AGAINST PURDUE

• Penn State hosts Purdue in Happy Valley for the first time since Jan. 8, 2022, when the Boilermakers come to the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday for their 2024-25 Big Ten opener.
• Purdue holds a 47-13 lead in the all-time series, but 10 of Penn State’s 13 wins against the Boilermakers have come in Happy Valley.
• The two teams met only once last season, a 95-78 win for the top-seeded Boilermakers at Mackey Arena.

B1G TIME

• Big Ten play begins Thursday night for the Nittany Lions when Penn State hosts #8 Purdue at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State finished ninth in the conference standings at 9-11 a season ago when Mike Rhoades led the Nittany Lions to the second-most Big Ten wins by a first-year head coach in program history.
• The Nittany Lions open the Big Ten at home for the fifth time in the last 16 years.

7-1

• The Nittany Lions are off to a 7-1 start to the season, their best start since the team started the year 7-1 in 2019-20. Penn State started the season 6-0 for the first time in 25 years before suffering its first loss of the season to 2024 Elite Eight team Clemson on Nov. 26 in the Sunshine Slam Championship game.
• Penn State will seek its first 8-1 start since the 2014-15 season when the Nittany Lions host No. 8 Purdue on Thursday.
• The Nittany Lions rank in the top 10 in points per game (91.3 ppg – 3rd), field goal percentage (52.2% – 5th) and steals per game (10.8 – 10th). country.

WRITE HISTORY… ALREADY

• The Nittany Lions have achieved the following Penn State milestones in the first eight games of the season alone:
  • For the first time in 25 years (since the 1999-2000 season), he started a season 6-0.
  • Scored more than 100 points in consecutive games for the first time in program history (108 vs. Binghamton, 103 vs. UMBC).
  • Scored more than 80 points in six consecutive games for the first time in program history.
  • Scored more than 100 points in three games in the same season for the second time in program history. The 1954-55 team scored more than 100 points three times.

NATIONAL NUMBERS

• The Nittany Lions currently rank in the top 25 in the country in several statistical categories as of December 2nd games:

Team statistics	Value	National rank
Points per game	91.3	3
Field goal percentage	52.2%	5
Steals per game	10.8	10
Points margin	+23.8	11
Effective FG%	.592	12
Forced turnovers/game	17.25	14
Assists per game	19.0	16
Sales margin	5.3	20
Individual statistics	Value	National rank
Assists/Game – Ace Baldwin Jr.	8.4	4
FG% – Yanic Konan Niederhauser	69.4%	10
3FG% – Zach Hicks	50.0%	16

Domination

• The Nittany Lions have played 320 minutes of basketball this season and trailed by just 37 minutes and 36 seconds.
• Penn State outscores its opponents by an average of 23.8 points per game, a mark that ranks 11th in all of Division I. All seven of Penn State’s wins have come by at least 13 points.

HIGH OCTANE

• Penn State is averaging 91.3 points per game through the first eight games of the season, which ranks third nationally.
• The Nittany Lions have scored more than 85 points in seven of their eight games this season, including their first six games in which Penn State scored more than 80 points in six consecutive games for the first time in program history.
• The Nittany Lions are shooting 52.2% from the field, ranking fifth in Division I.

Turn defense into offense

• Penn State ranks in the top 10 in Division I in steals per game (10.8 – 10th) and in the top 20 in both forced turnovers per game (17.25 – 14th) and turnover margin ( 5.3 – 20).
• The Nittany Lions had a 174-92 advantage in points scored from turnovers, a 118-70 advantage in second-chance points and a 112-78 advantage in fast-break points through the first eight games of the season .

BALANCED ATTACK

• Nine of the 13 players coming off the bench in Penn State’s first eight games of the season have scored double-digit points in the Nittany Lions’ balanced offensive attack, with five different players scoring more than 20 points in games.
• Five different players averaged double-digit points in the first eight games of the season: Ace Baldwin Jr. (14.9 ppg), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (14.3 ppg), Zach Hicks (13.4 ppg), Nick Kern Jr. ( 11.8 ppg). and Puff Johnson (10.3 ppg).

ONE OF ONE

• Graduate student Ace Baldwin Jr. is the ONLY active Division I player with more than 1,000 career points (1,416), more than 600 career assists (685) and more than 250 career steals (290).
• If Baldwin Jr. surpasses the career mark of 1,500 points/700 assists/300 steals, he will become just the ninth Division I player since the 1947-48 season (age 77) and the first since Richmond’s Jacob Gilyard (2017-22). So.
• Baldwin Jr. is the Division I active career leader in steals (290) and his 685 career assists ranks him second among active Division I players.

We have an ace up our sleeve

• Ace Baldwin Jr. earned a spot on the Naismith Trophy Men’s College Player of the Year Watchlist this preseason, also landed on the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Top 20 Preseason Watchlist and was named a Preseason All-Big Ten selection appointed.
• Baldwin Jr.’s 8.4 assists per game currently ranks fourth in the country. He averages outstanding marks of 14.9 points, 8.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. He has recorded three double-doubles in points and assists in eight games this season and has recorded double-digit assists in as many games (4) as he did all of last season.
• The point guard is coming off a senior season in which he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist, Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Finalist and NABC Second Team All-District 7 selection, a third-team All-Big Ten (coaches and media) pick and a Big Ten All-Defensive Team honoree. Baldwin Jr. was one of only four Big Ten players since 1992–93 (age 31) and the first since 2011–12 to have a season averaging more than 14.0 points per game, more than 6.0 assists per Game and more than 2.0 steals per game finished before.

A big guy storms onto the stage

• Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Penn State’s mobile and versatile 7-foot-10 forward, leads the Big Ten and is ranked 10th in the country with a field goal percentage of 69.4% (43-62). Konan Niederhauser is averaging 14.3 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. He recorded his first double-double in the Blue & White with 16 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks against Purdue Fort Wayne and is coming off a career-high 27 points on Sunday against Buffalo.
• The Swiss native transferred to Penn State before the 2024-25 season after two years at Northern Illinois.

Konan Niederhauser	Power supply (2024-25)	NIU (2022-24)
Points per game	14.3 pages	5.1 pages
Field goal percentage	69.4%	51.4%
rebounds per game	6.5 RPG	3.2 RPG

ZACH ATTACK

• Senior Zach Hicks ranks 16th in the country and second in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage (50.0%). His 3.00 triples per game lead the conference.
• Hicks has scored in double figures in five of eight games this season and is averaging 13.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 55.2% (37th). -67) shoots from the field.

The future looks bright

• Head coach Mike Rhoades signed the top-ranked recruiting class in program history and the 20th ranked class in the country as three highly touted prospects who signed to join the Nittany Lions during the early signing period in November.
• Penn State’s three-member class ranks 20th nationally in 247 sports. The three-member class consists of Mason Blackwood (Rochester, NY), Justin Houser (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania), and Kayden Mingo (Farmingdale, NY). The three new Nittany Lions join the program as the Class of 2029 and bring outstanding athletic and academic pedigrees to Penn State.

Lions in the league

• Penn State is well represented in the NBA and G League organizations this season:
  • Jalen Pickett ’23 – Denver Nuggets – Second Season
  • Seth Lundy ’23 – Atlanta Hawks – Second Season
  • Calvin Booth ’98 – General Manager – Denver Nuggets
  • Izaiah Brockington ’21 – Birmingham Squadron (New Orleans Pelicans)
  • Andrew Funk M’23 – Grand Rapids Gold (Denver Nuggets)
  • Josh Reaves ’19 – Rio Grand Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets)
  • Lamar Stevens ’20 – Motor City Cruise (Detroit Pistons)
  • Andrew Jones ’11 – Head Coach – Raptors 905 (Toronto Raptors)

The 2024-25 Penn State men’s basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.