Takeaways From Penn State's Latest Gut-Punch Loss in the Big Ten

USC scores a buzzer-beating layup to hand the Nittany Lions their 12th Big Ten loss of the season.

Penn State Nittany Lions forward Josh Reed (10) looks to pass the ball as USC Trojans forward Jacob Cofie (6) defends during the second half at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

STATE COLLEGE | Penn State and USC met for only the fourth time in program history in a back-and-forth battle at the Bryce Jordan Center. The crowd was on its feet with the game tied at 75 with just 7.3 seconds left. 

But unlike last week, when Penn State’s Kayden Mingo scored the winning basket against Minnesota, USC had the ball for the final possession. Alijah Arenas worked against Freddie Dilione V and Josh Reed, but the shot fell, silencing the crowd and ending the game with a 77-75 Trojans victory.

“We were switching everyone, someone didn’t switch,” Penn State coach Mike Rhoades said about the defensive sequence on that final play. 

Alijah Arenas for the win 🔥🔥 @USC_Hoops pic.twitter.com/C5w7V73BaQ

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 8, 2026

USC won in its first trip to Penn State. The Trojans were without leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara, who was out with a knee injury on Sunday. USC has battled through seven consecutive games that have been decided by single digits and has gone 4-3 during that stretch. 

For Nittany Lion fans, the game felt eerily similar to last week’s against Minnesota, when Penn State won its first conference game of the season.

The Nittany Lions led the Trojans by as many as 12 points in the second half, but the Trojans battled back and took a six-point lead of their own with six minutes left in the game. Penn State went eight-and-a-half minutes without a field goal during that second-half stretch. 

“I thought we were fatigued,” Rhoades said. “I thought we were tired. We weren’t popping and making some decisions like we were earlier in the game to get that lead.”

Dilione led the Nittany Lions with 23 points, his sixth 20-point game of the season. Reed scored 17. Penn State fell to 10-14 and 1-12 in the Big Ten. Here’s what we learned from Penn State’s latest loss.

Penn State’s second-half lulls continue

Freddie Dilione throws it down 🤯 @PennStateMBB

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/Cbx9KwJ09r

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 8, 2026

In its last two home games, Penn State blew double-digit leads in the second half. On Sunday, Dilione gave the Nittany Lions a 12-point advantage with a dunk early in the second half. Rhoades attributed both letdowns to fatigue. Against USC, there were also turnovers. 

USC scored 42 points off turnovers and second-chance points, which hurt Penn State during that stretch. Penn State’s layups weren’t dropping, its fade-away jumpers rimmed out, and the Trojans capitalized on their rebounds. USC generated 22 second-chance points to Penn State’s nine. 

“They played good defense, but I think that was more so on us,” Josh Reed said. “We had a lot of mistakes…I feel like if we kept our mistakes to a minimum, it would have been a different game.”

Penn State doesn’t typically have a turnover problem, but on Sunday the team committed 17. 

“Our guards had too many turnovers today, and they haven’t most of the year, and that really hurt us,” Rhoades said. “But we grinded late in the game, I thought we did a couple things but we didn’t execute coming out of a timeout guarding there. It’s disappointing, but we found some plays late. The guys made some plays to tie it up, just not good enough to win a Big 10 game.”

Key lineup piece returns

Penn State Nittany Lions forward Ivan Juric (3) reaches for the rebound during the first half against the Southern California Trojans at Bryce Jordan Center. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

After missing two games with an illness, Ivan Juric was back in the Penn State lineup. 

“It was hard to be out there at first,” said Juric, who still had some “pain in his lungs" today. Last week, Rhoades said he had a 103-degree fever. He took a hard fall in the second half, but it didn’t rattle him for long, and he scored both ensuing free throws.

“We’re a better defensive team out there with Ivan because he really calls out a lot of actions and he’s a better defensive rebounder,” Rhoades said. 

Juric played for 26 minutes, scored 13 points and led Penn State with eight rebounds. Eli Rice, Sasa Ciani and Tibor Mirtic remained out for Penn State on Sunday. Against Michigan on Thursday, only eight Nittany Lions dressed, which made it hard to rotate player in and out of the game.

Justin Houser, a freshman from Camp Hill, Pa., has stepped up well, sharing the big-man load with Juric. He seems to have been acclimating well and made all three of Penn State’s blocks against the Trojans. 

NO NO NO ☝️ @JustinHouser24

📺: @BigTenNetwork#WeAre pic.twitter.com/0UnNoVzl8I

— Penn State Men’s Basketball (@PennStateMBB) February 8, 2026

“He’s a freshman big guy in the Big 10, usually you get beat up and start figuring it out and he’s doing that,” Rhoades said. “He’s hungry to get better.”

Up next

Penn State has a tough week ahead with an upcoming West Coast trip to Washington and Oregon. They play the Huskies on Wednesday and the Ducks on Saturday. The Nittany Lions have won only one road game this season. 

Rhoades often says the margin of error is low for the Nittany Lions, and that’s been heavily tested over the past few weeks. Little mistakes, like missing free throws, only make games more difficult. Penn State was 9-for-15 from the foul line and was in the bonus for most of the second half.

“Our margin of error is thin, you gotta make the free throws, especially the guys that are getting fouled the most,” Rhoades said. 

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