5 Takeaways from Penn State’s Win over Rutgers

Penn State men’s basketball improved to 10-11 on the year with a 61-46 victory at Rutgers on Wednesday as the Nittany Lions picked up their fourth win in conference play this season.

Without leading scorer Kanye Clary, Penn State leaned on defense and timely shotmaking to lead the Scarlet Knights for the final 25 minutes of regulation, taking a 26-24 lead into the break despite trailing in the first half at one point by the score of 14-7 early in the game. Ace Baldwin Jr. led the way with 15 points, five steals, five rebounds and seven assists while D’Marco Dunn stepped up in the absence of Clary for 14 key points. Puff Johnson added eight off the bench in the winning effort.

Next Man Up: Penn State is unlikely to go on any sort of run this season without Clary but the Nittany Lions managed well on Wednesday night with their leading scorer not available due to injury. Clary picked up a knock against Minnesota last time out and it remains to be seen if he’ll be healthy in time for Penn State’s meeting on Saturday against Indiana. In any case, D’Marco Dunn continues to be a solid scoring option for Penn State, picking up 14 points on an effective 6-for-10 shooting effort. The output marked the seventh time Dunn has hit double figures but the first time in six games.

The Nittany Lions have managed to get points, but efficiency has lacked at times so Dunn not only stepping up, but doing so with a good shooting clip is a welcome sight for head coach Mike Rhoades. Ace Baldwin Jr picking up his own scoring is less of a surprise, but even he managed a semi-efficient 5-for-11, 15 point effort. Penn State shot 38.5% from the field, a mark that won’t result in many wins, but the Nittany Lions did enough on the other end of the floor to make good on the points they did get.

Means Something: This iteration of Rutgers isn’t as good as some recent Scarlet Knights teams but winning on the road in the Big Ten isn’t easy and Rutgers has made life challenging for everyone over the past several seasons. Picking up a win here would have been a big moment for Penn State with Clary, but winning without his services is an even more commendable accomplishment. 61-46 isn’t exactly basketball at its best, but you do what you have to in order to win. Penn State hadn’t won on the road against Rutgers since the 2018-19 season, falling by 20, 1 and 11 points in each of the three previous meetings in Piscataway.

Wahab: Qudus Wahab is playing with veteran savvy, and while he might be limited in some areas, his motor isn’t one of them. Wahab continued his respectable season with an 11 rebound, nine point effort that once again gave Penn State something to work with on the interior. Penn State actually won the rebounding battle (bolded for emphasis, +8) and also went +2 in the paint on the night as well. Wahab won’t be at Penn State much longer and the Nittany Lions might not be postseason bound just yet, but Wahab should get his jersey hung in the rafters on effort alone.

Small Things: Wednesday marked Mike Rhoades’ first road win in Big Ten play to add to a small, but growing, list of accomplishments in his first year on the job. So far this season the Nittany Lions have beaten a ranked team, won on the road in conference play, lost in controversial fashion, made a double-digit comeback, blew a big lead and lost to a very random out of conference opponent. Nothing says “you’re Penn State men’s basketball’s head coach” quite like doing all of that in your first 20 or so games on the job.

I’ll Take That: Baldwin got back on track with his growing steals total managing five on the night, the seventh time this season he has registered four or more steals in a single game. He’s now to 60 steals on the year which will keep him well within the Top 10 nationally after entering the night at No. 7 on that list. You can read more about the art of stealing the basketball in an interview StateCollege.com did with him last week.