Penn State Basketball Falls to Hot-Shooting USC, Gets Swept on California Road Trip

The Nittany Lions allow a season-high 92 points to the Trojans in their sixth straight Big Ten loss.

Penn State Nittany Lions guard D'Marco Dunn (2) shoots the ball against Southern California Trojans guard Clark Slajchert (32) in the first half at Galen Center. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Penn State ran into its latest buzzsaw Tuesday night in Los Angeles, giving up a season-high totals in points, field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage in a 92-67 loss to USC. The Trojans, who entered the game with a 3-point success rate of 34.2 percent, shot an outlandish 75 percent (12-for-16) and went 7-for-9 in the second half. USC's 92 points were the most this season against Penn State, which left California having allowed 170 points in losses to USC and UCLA.

The Nittany Lions were scheduled to red-eye home Tuesday night following their sixth consecutive loss and 10th in their last 11 games. Penn State (13-12, 3-11 Big Ten) is alone in last place in the conference with five regular-season games remaining. Fifteen teams make the Big Ten Tournament, something Penn State is unlikely to do. Tuesday's result almost surely cemented that.

Penn State fell behind USC by as many as 17 points in the first half, when it made 36 percent of its shots and committed 11 turnovers. The Nittany Lions generated one rally, cutting USC's lead to seven points, and trailed by nine at halftime. Then the Trojans (14-10, 6-7) tuned up Penn State's defense.

USC made its first 12 shots of the second half, including five 3-pointers, to unleash the rout. USC entered the game averaging six 3-pointers per game. Against Penn State, the Trojans scored 36 points from long range. Guard Chibuzo Agbo, who entered the game tied for 66th in the Big Ten in 3-point percentage, went 7-for-9 for a season-high 21 points. He was 6-for-6 in the second half, when USC generally scored at will. Penn State struggled to challenge shooters and allowed free lanes as the Trojans shot 79 percent in the half.

Penn State, meanwhile, struggled all over the court. USC outrebounded the Nittany Lions 27-22, more than doubled them in assists (23-10) and scored 14 more points in the paint (40-26). Penn State led for 34 seconds in the entire game.

Guard Ace Baldwin Jr. was active for the Nittany Lions, making three steals and contributing to USC guard Desmond Claude's eight turnovers while also leading the Nittany Lions with 15 points. He also went 8-for-9 from the foul line. Freshman Dominick Stewart scored a career-high 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Forward Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who missed the last two games with an ankle injury, fouled out with three points and four turnovers.

Up Next

Penn State returns home to host Washington on Saturday in a duel between the Big Ten's bottom two teams. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET at the Bryce Jordan Center.

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