Nittany Lions and Buckeyes tip off from Columbus at 6:30 p.m. on FS1

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s basketball team looks to keep its momentum going when the Nittany Lions travel to Ohio State for a Thursday night battle with the Buckeyes at 6:30 p.m. on FS1.

FOLLOW ALONG

• TV: FS1 – Brandon Gaudin (pxp) & Stephen Bardo (analyst)
• RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones & Dick Jerardi
• NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 380 | SXM App Ch. 970
• LIVE STATS: Live Stats
• GAME NOTES: Penn State Notes | Ohio State Notes

OPENING TIPS

• Penn State looks to keep its momentum going Thursday night when the Nittany Lions travel to Ohio State.
• The Nittany Lions have won back-to-back games, led by reigning National and Big Ten Player of the Week Jalen Pickett’s 73 points & 16 assists in the last two games.
• Pickett leads PSU in scoring (18.6 ppg), rebounds (7.4 rpg) and assists (7.0 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging 18/7/7. Seth Lundy (14.4 ppg) and Andrew Funk (12.6 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.

IF PENN STATE BEATS OHIO STATE

• The Nittany Lions would win their third-straight game.
• Penn State would win back-to-back Big Ten road games for the first time since Feb. 23, 2021 and March 7, 2021 when Penn State defeated Nebraska and Maryland.

SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES

• The Buckeyes are 11-16 overall and 3-13 in conference play.
• Ohio State has lost 13 of its last 14 games, with the win during that stretch coming on Jan. 21 in a 93-77 home victory against Iowa.
• Freshman Brice Sensabaugh leads the team with 16.5 ppg, while Justice Sueing (12.0 ppg) and Zed Key (10.8 ppg) follow.

AGAINST OHIO STATE

• The Nittany Lions and Buckeyes meet for the only time this regular season Thursday night as Penn State looks for its first win in Columbus since 2018.
• The teams met three times last season including a matchup in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. Ohio State swept the regular-season series before the Nittany Lions upset the sixth-seeded Buckeyes in the Big Ten Tournament with a 71-68 victory.
• Despite trailing by as much as 13 points in the game, including an 11-point deficit in the second half, Penn State willed itself to a 71-68 victory over the Buckeyes to advance to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
• The Nittany Lions shot 61.5 percent in the second half to mount the comeback. Jalen Pickett scored 16 points, while Myles Dread added 12.

QUALITY WINS

• Penn State owns two dominant Quad 1 wins, both of which have been double-digit victories.
• The Nittany Lions earned a regular-season sweep of Illinois (currently 31 in NET rankings), first beating the Illini 74-59 on Dec. 10 in Champaign. Penn State handed Indiana (currently 20 in NET rankings) its largest loss of the season on Jan. 11, an 85-66 thumping for the Nittany Lions’ largest win over the Hoosiers in program history.
• The Nittany Lions also own four Quad 2 wins in home victories over Illinois, Iowa and Michigan and a neutral site win against Furman.
• Penn State is 10-1 in Quad 3/4 games, with the only loss coming in overtime to Wisconsin (currently 78 in NET rankings, top 75 home is Quad 1). The Nittany Lions have only lost one game to a team outside of the NET top 90, with that loss coming on the road at Nebraska (92 in NET) on Feb. 5.

OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD

• Penn State has several opportunities ahead to grab more quality wins, as all four of Penn State’s remaining regular-season games are currently Quad 1 opportunities.

RECORD IN REACH

• The 2022-23 Penn State team (27 games played) is just two triples away from breaking the program single-season team record for 3-pointers made in a season. The current record stands with the 2017-18 team’s 294 treys (39 games played, NIT Champions). The Big Ten record for 3-pointers in a season is 365, set by Purdue in 2018-19 (36 games, Elite 8) while Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry was an assistant coach on Purdue’s staff.
• Penn State ranks fourth in the nation with 10.9 3-pointers made per game. The Nittany Lions are shooting the long ball at a 38.9 percent (293-754) clip, a mark that ranks 11th in the nation.
• Penn State has made double-digit 3-pointers in 17 games this season. The Nittany Lions drilled a program-record 18 triples in two games, the season opener against Winthrop on Nov. 7 and in the 19-point rout of Indiana on Jan. 11.

WINNING NUMBERS

• In Penn State’s 16 wins this season, the Nittany Lions are averaging 79.1 points per game while giving up just 64.8 points per contest (+14.3 scoring margin). Penn State is shooting 49.9% from the field and 41.9% from 3-point range in its 16 wins.

CLOSE CALLS

• Eight of Penn State’s 11 losses this season have come by single digits, with five of the 11 losses being decided either in overtime or by six points or less.

NATIONAL NUMBERS

• Penn State and Nittany Lion players rank in the top 20 in the nation in a number of statistical categories as of Feb. 22:

NO DOUBT NATIONAL POTW

• Jalen Pickett had a clean sweep of major national weekly awards after leading the Nittany Lions to a 2-0 week. He collected Naismith National Player of the Week, Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week (USBWA), and ESPN National Player of the Week honors, among others, in addition to being named the Big Ten Player of the Week.
• Pickett averaged 36.5 ppg, 8.0 apg and 5.5 rpg to lead Penn State to wins over Illinois and Minnesota last week. The guard finished the week shooting 65.0% (26-40) from the field, 52.9% (9-17) from 3-point range and 92.3% (12-13) from the free throw line.
• Per OptaSTATS, Pickett, LeBron James and Steph Curry are the only three players in NCAA Division I or the NBA in the last 25 years to have had a two-game span with 70+ points, 15+ assists, 10+ rebounds, 65.0+ FG% and 90.0+ FT%.

18/7/7

• Jalen Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points (18.6) per game, seven rebounds (7.4) per game and seven assists (7.0) per game.
• Only one college basketball player in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) has finished the season averaging 18/7/7. Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine finished the 2015-16 season averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game en route to AP Player of the Year honors.

THE MAESTRO

• Point guard Jalen Pickett is the engine that makes Penn State go. Pickett ranks in the top five nationally in both assists per game (7.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.20) while engineering a Penn State offense that ranks second in the nation in fewest turnovers per game (8.7) and 11th in effective field goal percentage (.562).
• Pickett and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis are the only two Big Ten players that rank in the top 10 of the conference statistical standings in scoring, rebounding and assists. Pickett ranks fourth in scoring, eighth in rebounding and first in assists.
• The six-foot-four guard has played his best in Big Ten play, averaging 20.4 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game and 6.5 assists per game.
• The Rochester, N.Y. native’s season highlights include a 41-point game, a 32-point game, 11 20-point games, six double-doubles and one triple-double. Pickett put together the second triple-double and first points-rebounds-assists triple-double in Penn State history Nov. 14 against Butler with his 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

THE BIG TEN’S BEST SHOOTING DUO

• Penn State’s duo of Andrew Funk and Seth Lundy have provided a lethal 1-2 punch on the perimeter as they both rank first and second in the Big Ten in 3-pointers made per game and 3FG%.
• Andrew Funk has made a Big Ten-best 3.04 3-pointers per contest at a 41.2 percent clip. Seth Lundy leads the Big Ten and ranks eighth in the nation with a 44.1% 3-point shooting percentage while ranking second in the conference, behind only Funk, with 2.73 triples per game.
• Funk and Lundy became the first Big Ten duo in the last 20 seasons with seven made 3-pointers in the same game in Penn State’s Jan. 11 win over Indiana. The pair both shot 7-for-12 from deep en route to the 19-point Penn State victory. Lundy drilled eight 3-pointers at Nebraska on Feb. 5. It tied the second most 3-pointers made in a game by a Nittany Lion in program history.

ELITE EFFICIENCY FOR LUNDY

• Senior Seth Lundy is producing at an elite level. Lundy is one of only six Division I players to be averaging double-digit points (14.4) and six-plus (6.2) rebounds per game while shooting at least 55% from two (55.2%), 40% from three (44.1%) and 75% from the free throw line (79.7%).
• Lundy is having his most consistent year in the Blue & White and has scored in double figures in all but three games this season. In addition to his offensive consistency, Lundy serves as one of the team’s top defenders and is consistently tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best players.

UP NEXT

• Penn State returns home to host Rutgers Sunday night inside the Bryce Jordan Center and all fans are encouraged to wear white. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

The 2022-23 Penn State men’s basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.

COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS