Penn State Basketball Loses Another Key Player in Falling to UCLA

Freddie Dilione V, the Nittany Lions' leading scorer, exits the game with an injury.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Mike Rhoades reacts to a call from the bench during the first half against the UCLA Bruins at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

STATE COLLEGE | The losing woes continued for the Penn State men’s basketball team, which dropped its fourth straight game, 71-60, to UCLA on Wednesday night. The Nittany Lions also lost another top player to injury, as leading scorer Freddie Dilione V became the latest player to miss action. 

In the first half, Dilione went down hard, grabbing at his right ankle. He spent the second half on the bench, two seats away from freshman guard Kayden Mingo, who missed his third straight game after suffering an injury in practice last week. Tibor Mirtic missed his second straight game as well.

“[Dilione] sprained his ankle,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said after the game. “I’m sure the docs will check him out tonight after the game, first thing in the morning and all that. You just gotta live in the training room until you feel better.”

Injuries keep coming for Penn State. Freddie Dilione went down in the first half against UCLA and now is sitting on the bench with his right ankle heavily wrapped.

Two seats down on the right is freshman guard Kayden Mingo who is missing his third straight game. pic.twitter.com/dm5SP60nNh

— amanda vogt (@amandav_3) January 15, 2026

Without its two leading scorers, Penn State (9-8, 0-6 Big Ten) struggled getting shots to fall. The Nittany Lions shot 18 percent from 3-point range, had several scoring droughts and finished the last six-and-a-half minutes of the first half and the last 3:35 of the second half without field goals. . 

“It’s tough, but I mean everybody has injuries and we couldn’t afford any, especially [Dilione] being the priority guy making plays for us, so it hurt us, but we battled,” Rhoades said. “We still had opportunities to stay in striking distance, just not enough.”

UCLA didn’t have its cleanest offensive performance but never gave up the lead in the final 12 minutes to claim just its second win away from home this season. The Bruins’ largest lead of the game was 13 points. 

Here’s what we learned as Penn State’s losing streak continued. 

RELATED: Mike Rhoades finds "hope" despite Big Ten start

Melih Tunca’s workload got much bigger

Penn State Nittany Lions guard Melih Tunca (9) gestures while dribbling the ball up the court during the first half against the UCLA Bruins at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Without Mingo and Dilione, freshman Melih Tunca has a lot more on his plate. He wasn’t in the starting lineup but ended up playing 33 minutes and wasn’t subbed out at all in the second half.

Tunca scored five points and struggled from the field with his increased workload. Throughout this season, he’s had strong performances when paired with Mingo or Dilione, but this was the first time Tunca had to navigate the court without both and be Penn State’s primary point guard. 

“He’s got to be really tough with the ball and get us in the offense quicker. I thought he held it a lot today,” Rhoades said. “Part of it was, you know, he never played against sort of an amoeba defense like that, and I thought as the game went on, he started figuring it out, started picking up spots.”

Rhoades would’ve liked Tunca to be more aggressive with shooting and taking faster shots rather than trying to work in an extra dribble or pass. Defensively, Tunca was tested by UCLA significantly, but Rhoades believes this experience will help him get better. 

“There’s no running or hiding when you’re a freshman guard in the Big 10, especially when you’re out there for 33 minutes,” Rhoades said. “I’m proud of his approach. He’s a fun kid to coach. He wants it really bad, but there’s a learning curve to this and he’s going through it.”

Allowing too many second-chance points 

𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 poured in a career-best 3⃣0⃣ points (and was 12-for-12 at the free throw stripe) to secure the 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚’𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 honors.#GoBruins 🏀🎯👏 pic.twitter.com/elkp2NNNPb

— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) January 15, 2026

The biggest difference between Penn State and UCLA was rebounding and second-chance points. The Bruins beat the Nittany Lions on the glass with 11 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points. 

Penn State failed to contain sophomore guard Trent Perry, who had a career-high 30 points. He was also 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. UCLA hit 10 threes, and Perry had four of them. The Bruins executed quickly, swinging passes in and out of the paint, making it difficult for the Nittany Lions to stop their scoring runs. 

“I thought we’ve been rebounding the ball pretty well but we didn’t do that today,” Rhoades said. “We give up too many second-chance points, and that’s gonna cost you. I think some of it was fatigue, some of it was some young guys out there, but you got to find a way to scrap out some defensive rebounds and give yourself a chance.”

Ball screen defense has been a practice priority for the Nittany Lions and something they watch for closely when analyzing game tape. Against UCLA, the Nittany Lions didn’t adjust fast enough, which gave the Bruins some momentum. 

“Good players take advantage of small errors and you just have to harp on it all the time,” Rhoades said about how he approaches coaching the team through mistakes. “When you’re dealing with young guys, you hold them accountable, you teach them, you show them. You keep doing it over and over again until they become good habits.”

Up next

Penn State travels to Maryland for a Sunday matchup at noon ET. The Nittany Lions and Terrapins are two of three Big Ten teams (with Northwestern) looking for their first conference win.

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