Penn State looks to keep its momentum going Thursday night when the Nittany Lions visit Ohio State for a Big Ten matchup in Columbus, Ohio.
The Nittany Lions (16-11, 7-9) have won back-to-back games, led by reigning national and Big Ten Player of the Week Jalen Pickett’s 73 points and 16 assists in the last two games.
Pickett leads Penn State in scoring (18.6), rebounds (7.4) and assists (7.0) and is the only player in the country averaging at least 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Seth Lundy (14.4 points per game) and Andrew Funk (12.6) are also averaging double-digit points.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a 76-69 win Saturday at Minnesota, their first road win since Dec. 10 at Illinois.
“We want to continue to work on the things we’ve been emphasizing, keep getting better, keep working on ourselves while also preparing for Ohio State,” Penn State coach Micah Shrewsbury said.
“… When you feel like you’re in a pretty good rhythm, pretty good groove, you want to keep it going. We don’t need to spend as much time being on our feet, being physical.”
Ohio State (11-16, 3-13) has lost all six of its games in February, eight straight and 13 of 14 overall. The only Buckeyes’ win in that stretch came at home on Jan. 21 against Iowa. Ohio State’s latest setback came on the road at then-No. 3 Purdue, 82-55, on Sunday.
Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann felt his team battled hard throughout but were overpowered in the second half.
“I thought our guys competed,” Holtmann said. “We were active. We were physical when we needed to be, probably fouled too much. We just had too much trouble scoring in probably the last 10 minutes of the half and that’s where it got away from us.”
Brice Sensabaugh scored 20 points at Purdue on Sunday, marking his ninth 20-point game of the season. He is just 55 points shy of becoming just the sixth Ohio State freshman to score 500 points.
The game against Penn State begins a three-game homestand for Ohio State.
–Field Level Media
