Penn State men’s basketball improved to 3-0 on the year Tuesday night with an 83-53 victory over St. Francis at the Bryce Jordan Center. Four Nittany Lions managed double-digit scoring en route to Penn State taking a 46-18 lead into half time before coasting to an eventual victory in the final 20 minutes of play. Things will get harder sooner rather than later, but for now the Nittany Lions can enjoy the wins and the practice. Here are five takeaways from the game.
Cleaned Up: Early season turnovers aren’t a big surprise for a group this new playing a style this fast but the Nittany Lions have coughed the ball up a fair amount the first two outings. This wasn’t the case on Tuesday as Penn State had just eight turnovers over the course of the night, balancing that out nicely with a modest 12 assists on 29 made baskets. St. Francis isn’t exactly the best team Penn State will face all year but unforced turnovers can come at anytime. Mike Rhoades will be glad they didn’t on Tuesday. For the most part any single-digit turnover mark is going to more than good enough in Big Ten play.
Ye Power: Kanye Clary has looked the part in all three games this season and continued that trend on Tuesday night with a 14-point performance on a 50% shooting clip while also dishing out three assists. Clary might still play second fiddle to the dynamic nature of Ace Baldwin, but Clary is fitting into Rhoades’ style of play seamlessly. Time will tell if Clary can do the same given the minutes against Big Ten teams but considering the experiences he had last season there’s no reason to think he can’t. One thing Clary has over everyone on this team – speed, and that’ll keep him on the floor no matter what.
Changed Man: Demetrius Lilley dropped around 40-pounds this offseason and looks like a completely different player. He still has work to do to crack Penn State’s main rotation but his eight points on Tuesday night in the second half marked a career-high and he continues to play with a motor that is unmatched on this team. In just 11 minutes of play Lilley managed to grab five rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass. Can’t argue with that. The more he gets comfortable with his new body the more he could turn into a player Penn State will need down the road. Hard to keep guys who play that hard on the bench.
Mr Q: Qudus Wahab has exceeded tentative expectations through three games and had a nice offensive game on Tuesday night with a 4-for-5 effort for 12 points to go with his six rebounds. It’s hard to really compare St. Francis to really any team in the Big Ten but Wahab has shown good power on the glass and a deft scoring touch in the paint. If Penn State can manage to get consistent scoring from Wahab when the opportunities arise that will go a long way towards making life easier for the backcourt. St. Francis is nowhere near as good as Penn State, but good reps are good reps.
Rotational: Clary, Baldwin, Wahab, Zach Hicks and Nick Kern are giving Penn State a solid starting five and the addition of Puff Johnson – who made his debut coming off an injury Tuesday – is only adding to Penn State’s rotational depth. Time will tell if Johnson will slot back into a presumed starting role pre injury but having some bounc off the bench is never a bad thing for any team. Whatever the case might be, Penn State can probably go into some of the tougher games on this schedule feeling good about the first seven or eight guys. That’s not a bad place to be. Especially if Leo O’Boyle gets going from deep.
