5 Takeaways from Penn State’s Loss to No. 1 Purdue

Penn State never really had a chance on Saturday, falling 95-78 against No. 1 Purdue on the road. This was the sort of game the Nittany Lions will put in the rearview quickly with games aghast Wisconsin, Ohio State and Minnesota coming up soon. A rude awakening for the Mike Rhoades and company, but maybe not a surprising one.

24: Ace Baldwin and Purdue guard Braden Smith accounted for 24 assists on Saturday afternoon – 13 for Baldwin, 11 for Smith – this amounted to assist on just shy of 40% of the game’s made baskets. Baldwin only managed seven points going 2-for-8 from the field but his ability to create shots for others and get the ball to his teammates makes up for some of his scoring woes. Credit to Baldwin here as well for only registering three turnovers in the effort as well, he has had more than three turnovers in just one game all year while having at least four assists in 12 games so far this season. Even good passers turn the ball over.

43: Purdue entered Saturday’s game as the 10th-best team in the nation at turnover margin and that held true with Penn State coming up -19 on the glass as the Boilermakers pulled down 43 rebounds. Zach Edey led the way with a whopping 20 rebounds to his name. This wasn’t a huge shock considering Purdue’s size and Edey’s dominance in that area. Nevertheless it wasn’t the sort of thing that was going to help Penn State’s cause any either. Surprisingly, Penn State only gave up 14 second chance points and managed six offensive rebounds to Purdue’s 10. Best way to help your rebounding numbers is shooting well – Penn State shot 48% from the field on Saturday but a 40% clip in the first half doomed the Nittany Lions when it was all said and done.

1 and 4: Qudus Wahab was always going to have his hands full with Purdue but one made basket and four fouls really highlighted the Boilermakers’ dominance on the interior. None of this is really Wahab’s fault, he has been reliable for Penn State all year and has pretty much no help in the paint so Saturday was always going to be a struggle against one of the best big men in the game of basketball. Nevertheless Wahab had been trending towards a better performance than this.

31-9: Penn State went ahead 10-8 early in the game and appeared to have found some degree of footing in the early stages of regulation. And then Purdue flexed its muscles, going on a 31-9 run that blew the game wide open. Penn State would cut the lead to *just* 16 in the final eight minutes of the first half from a 25 point margin but the Boilermakers would keep it at 20 at the break. It’s one thing that Penn State is having trouble scoring the basketball this season, it’s another that the defense has follow suit. The Nittany Lions getting beat up by the No. 1 team in the nation at home isn’t a huge surprise, but it does highlight how far Penn State still has to go.

18 and 13: Nick Kern added 18 points to his season total and Jameel Brown had his best output since his injury with 13. Penn State has rotated through who is up for the task of helping Kanye Clary with the scoring load, but those two weren’t enough and Clary’s 16 points weren’t enough to keep pace with a national title contender.