For Penn State Basketball, a 'Discouraging and Embarrassing' Loss to Pitt

Mike Rhoades, Penn State's third-year men's basketball coach, wanted Sunday's event in Hershey to serve as a statewide ambassador for the program. What the Nittany Lions got was a game that Rhoades called "discouraging and embarrassing."

Pitt routed Penn State 80-46 at the Giant Center in Hershey on Sunday, delivering the Nittany Lions their second "embarrassing" loss of the December schedule. Less than two weeks after losing by to Indiana by 41 points, Penn State fell by 36 to a team that was a 1.5-point underdog, according to FanDuel, and ranked 108th according to Ken Pomeroy.

Penn State (8-4) has lost three straight games, including its first two in Big Ten play, and has yet to beat a team ranked higher than 200 nationally, according to the KenPom ratings. And Penn State's performance against Pitt certainly didn't serve the fan-outreach role Rhoades had hoped it would.

It was the Penn State's worst offensive game since a 65-45 loss to Rutgers in January 2023. The Nittany Lions entered the game averaging 81.1 points this season.

"That was a great event that Hershey put on for us," Rhoades told reporters after the game. "We just didn't live up to our end of the bargain."

Penn State and Pitt played for the first time since 2017, and the Panthers (7-6) certainly brought a burst of momentum to the start. Though they had lost five of seven, including games to Quinnipiac and Hofstra, the Panthers owned this game from the tip.

Pitt scored 19 of the game's first 25 points and led by 20 at halftime, largely by shooting 54.5 percent from 3-point range. Penn State cut Pitt's lead to 12 early in the second half, but the Panthers reclaimed control on Roman Siulepa's fast-break dunk with 10 minutes left.

From there, Pitt outscored Penn State 29-14 to deliver a conclusive win, its first over the Nittany Lions since 2016. Siulepa led all scorers with 28 points, shooting 10-for-16 from the field and 5-for-6 from 3-point range. Rhoades also pointed to Pitt's four early 3-points that "felt like 12."

"We really react poorly when other teams hits 3s early in the game, and it gets us a little haywire ... and they start picking us apart in different ways," Rhoades said. "It happened again tonight."

What we learned about the Nittany Lions

Penn State Nittany Lions basketball coach Mike Rhoades talks to his team during a game vs. the Pitt Panthers. — Penn State Nittany Lions basketball coach Mike Rhoades talks to his team during a game vs. the Pitt Panthers at the Giant Center in Hershey. | Taj Falconer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Penn State played an unbalanced mess of a game which was defined by one player. Freddie Dilione V scored half of his team's points, making 10 of 17 shots to tie his career-high of 23. The rest of Penn State's lineup matched Dilione's 23 while shooting a miserable 21 percent (8-for-28) from the field.

The Nittany Lions, who forced 17 turnovers in a narrow loss to No. 9 Michigan State, generated just nine against Pitt and scored only six points off them. The Nittany Lions made just 17 percent of their 3-pointers (11.8 percent by everyone but Dilione) and shot a season-low 32.7 percent from the field.

"How could you play at that level against Michigan State and then show up a couple days later and be this?" Rhoades said. "It’s on me. I’ve got to have these guys ready to go."

Freshman guard Kayden Mingo, who entered the game averaging a team-high 15 points, scored nine while committing five turnovers. Penn State's roster, which includes eight freshmen, is getting some leeway for being the youngest in the Big Ten.

However, that roster will confront a major stress test in January, when it faces ranked Big Ten teams Illinois, Michigan and Purdue in a one-week span.

"When you’re really young and inexperienced, playing from behind is a lot harder than you realize, because you're fighting," Rhoades said. "You’re fighting the game, and you don’t win. You saw that today. This is the second time this year we fought the game, and it really hurt us."

Up next

Penn State concludes its non-conference schedule against North Carolina Central on Dec. 29 at the Bryce Jordan Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

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