Penn State will try to continue its climb back to the .500 mark in Big Ten play when it travels to Ohio State on Thursday night. The Nittany Lions lost four straight games earlier this month, but they have responded with back-to-back wins over Illinois and Minnesota. Ohio State is riding an eight-game losing streak and is coming off an 82-55 loss at then-No. 3 Purdue.
Penn State looked like an NCAA Tournament team early in the season when it won 11 of its first 14 games, but it struggled to maintain that consistency in conference play. The Nittany Lions lost eight of their next 11 games, including four straight to open the month of February, falling to 14-11 (5-9 B10) overall. They have bounced back with a pair of wins over Illinois and Minnesota, but they are still going to need a perfect finish to the regular season to keep their at-large NCAA Tourney hopes alive. Penn State is currently in tenth place in the conference standings, sitting two games back of seven teams tied for third place.
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— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) February 21, 2023
The Nittany Lions have been carried by a pair of outstanding performances from senior guard Jalen Pickett, who poured in 41 points against Illinois and added 32 points against Minnesota. He leads the team with 18.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, while senior guard Seth Lundy is scoring 14.4 points and grabbing 6.2 boards. They have some of the craziest offensive statistics in the country right now. On one hand, they rank sixth in KenPom’s effective field goal percentage ratings and first in turnover rate among 363 teams, but they also are dead-last in offensive rebounding percentage and free throw rate. They are facing an Ohio State defense that is No. 90 in field goal percentage and No. 290 in turnover rate.
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