hhcmatt Posted February 17 Report Posted February 17 Nebraska Cornhuskers (17-8) vs Penn State (12-13) Date: Saturday Feb 17th, 2024 Time: 11:00 am Arena: PBA Broadcast: BTN Penn St. Info Head Coach: Mike Rhodes (year 1) Location: University Park, PA Conference: B1G Nickname: Nittany Lions Mascot: The Nittany Lion Point Spread: Nebraska by 7.5 Typical Rotation Depth: 10 KenPom rank: 92 Nota bene: Mike Rhoades came to Penn St from VCU but he grew up in central Pennsylvania where he attended basketball camps at Penn St and was a D-III star guard Ace Baldwin and Nick Kern followed Mike Rhodes from VCU to Penn St Penn St completely turned over the roster, having to replace 10 guys who either graduated or transferred. They're 353rd out of 362 D-1 teams in KenPom continuity stat Thanks to the transfer portal, Penn St is 71st in KenPom's D-1 experience stat In conference play when backup center Favour Aire plays, Penn St is 0-6. When he doesn't play, Penn St is 6-2. KenPom most used lineups PG SG SF PF C Pct 1 1 Ace Baldwin 6-1 190 Sr 2 D'Marco Dunn 6-5 195 Jr 3 Nick Kern 6-6 200 Jr 24 Zach Hicks 6-8 200 Jr 22 Qudus Wahab 6-11 245 Sr 25.4 Player to watch: Ace Baldwin The VCU transfer PG was the A-10 player of the year as well as the defensive player of the year. Baldwin is the 2nd leading scorer for the Lions as well as leading the team in assists and the conference in steals. Baldwin rarely leaves the court and has played 231 of a possible 240 minutes in Penn State's last 6 games. At his best he's driving to the lane and drawing contact. At his worst, he's taking jump shots. Player to watch: Qudus Wahab Wahab actually played in Lincoln two years ago for Maryland where he had 10 points and 6 rebounds. Before and after that, he was at Georgetown. The 5th year senior has always been an elite rebounder and shot blocker but is currently having his best season due to his 64% shooting percentage. Expect him to draw double teams when he touches the ball in part due to him not being a huge passing threat. Player to watch: Kanye Clary Penn State's leading scorer is 5'11" combo guard Kanye Clary, one of the few returning Nittany Lions. Like Baldwin, Clary has more of a driving game but is a better shooter, hitting 37.7% from deep on the season. Clary has come off the bench the last 3 games after returning from a two game absence due to injury. Player to watch: Zach Hicks The Temple transfer is a 3pt specialist and has the most attempts this season for Penn St. After a slow start he's shooting 37.6% from 3 in conference play. Others to watch VCU transfer Nick Kern is an inside scoring glue guy. North Carolina transfer D'Marco Dunn is one of several secondary scoring options which include his former Tar Heel teammate 6'8" wing Puff Johnson. 6'7" forward Leo O'Boyle was a 3pt specialist for Lafayette but has been inconsistent at best for Penn St. 6'4" Jameel Brown is an inconsistent 3pt shooter at guard. Penn St has two backup centers in Demetrius Lilley and Favour Aire. Lilley converts at a high rate but is a human foul. Aire is likely only to score on offensive rebounds. UNL Game Notes Out indefinitely 5 Ahron Ulis 6-3 190 lbs Junior - Likely out for the season Questionable 15 Blaise Keita 6-11 257 lbs Junior - Ongoing ankle injury recovery 11 Eli Rice 6-8 213 lbs Freshman - Ankle injury Possible starters for Nebraska 10 Jamarques Lawrence 6-3 183 lbs Sophomore 30 Keisei Tominaga 6-2 179 lbs Senior 3 Brice Williams 6-7 213 lbs Junior 4 Juwan Gary 6-6 221 lbs Junior 51 Rienk Mast 6-10 248 lbs Junior Bench 53 Josiah Allick 6-8 231 lbs Senior 0 C.J. Wilcher 6-5 214 lbs Junior 9 Jarron Coleman 6-5 213 lbs Senior 1 Sam Hoiberg 6-0 183 lbs Sophomore 21 Matar Diop 6-10 213 lbs Freshman 35 Henry Burt 6-7 216 lbs RS Freshman 2 Ramel Lloyd Jr. 6-6 210 lbs RS Freshman 31 Cale Jacobsen 6-4 200 lbs RS Freshman 24 Jeffrey Grace III 6-3 197 lbs Sophomore Hoiberg Presser The week off helped get rested up after a relatively grueling pace Ace Baldwin and his ability to score at will at the rim was brought up as well as Penn St's ability to turn teams over The Skinny: Penn St thought they had their coach of the future in former Purdue assistant Micah Shrewsberry who won Penn St's first NCAA tourney win in over 20 years in just his 2nd season. Shrewsberry was promptly hired away by Notre Dame and Penn St starts anew with Mike Rhodes. This Nittany Lion team already resembles Rhodes VCU squads in terms of relentless pressure on defense and giving up offensive rebounds in favor of fast breaking. Penn St is going to try and manufacture as many transition buckets as Nebraska will give them. Penn St's guard will try and run Nebraska off the 3pt line but one thing Rhodes doesn't quite have up to standard is his interior defense. The Nittany Lions are hemorrhaging easy looks for teams that can drive into the paint despite the presence of Wahab. Penn St is likely to win the turnover rate because of their elite pressure so it's more of a matter of limiting turnovers to a reasonable number. Neither team is great at rebounding though Nebraska is much better at home. There will be plenty of second chance points for whichever team has more energy which should be an advantage to the Huskers coming off a bye week. The Huskers arguably are a better shooting team but probably will have the biggest advantage at the FT line. If the refs call the Penn St reach in tightly, Nebraska has a chance to run away with this is a FT shooting contest. The problem with playing Penn St is that they play hard and they tend to stay in most games. The Huskers likely will have to play a full game if they don't want to spend the last 4 minutes sweating out a win. Look for Nebraska to have some home energy in this one despite the 11 am tip. Prediction: Nebraska 83 - Penn St 73 View full article Vinny and Shawn Eichorst's Toupee 2 Quote
hhcmatt Posted February 17 Author Report Posted February 17 Penn St's leading scorer Kanye Clary is out. Fairly big blow here Huskerpapa and Vinny 1 1 Quote
jimmykc Posted February 17 Report Posted February 17 I hope this doesn't result in the false confidence we seemed to get when we found out Dawson Garcia wouldn't be able to return to our game in Minnesota. Quote
nuhusker7 Posted February 17 Report Posted February 17 Normally I would think great news about Kanye…. But Nebraska’s specialty seems to be giving up 20 to some random kid who barely plays Quote
Vinny Posted February 17 Report Posted February 17 1 hour ago, hhcmatt said: Penn St's leading scorer Kanye Clary is out. Fairly big blow here Score prediction adjusted! Quote
Vinny Posted February 17 Report Posted February 17 1 minute ago, nuhusker7 said: Normally I would think great news about Kanye…. But Nebraska’s specialty seems to be giving up 20 to some random kid who barely plays Like the apple juice kid from Northwestern. Quote
hhcmatt Posted February 17 Author Report Posted February 17 13 minutes ago, nuhusker7 said: Normally I would think great news about Kanye…. But Nebraska’s specialty seems to be giving up 20 to some random kid who barely plays Penn St roster is full of random dudes who can score 20 thrasher31 1 Quote
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