Penn State’s two-game West Coast road trip concluded the same way it began, the same way it’s gone in almost every game for the past month: with a loss. This time it was a 92-67 blowout at USC on Tuesday, the Nittany Lions’ sixth consecutive defeat and 10th in their last 11 contests, an eye-opening stat for a team that entered January with NCAA Tournament hopes still intact.
With another loss, Mike Rhoades’ program now ranks dead last in the Big Ten standings. If the season ended on Tuesday, that would keep Penn State out of the 15-team conference tournament. The Nittany Lions have won a single road game this season, a 75-64 victory against Drexel at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Ace Baldwin Jr. led Penn State with 15 points against the Trojans while freshman Dominick Stewart scored a career-high 13. Yanic Konan Niederhauser, in his return from an injury that kept him sidelined for the Nittany Lions’ previous two games, was held to just three points and turned the ball over four times before fouling out with 10 minutes remaining.
Chibuzo Agbo’s 21 points led the scoring for USC, which shot 67% from the field and 19 points off of 15 turnovers forced. The Trojans dished out 23 assists to Penn State’s 10, and won the rebounding battle, 27-22. USC’s 92 points were the most the Nittany Lions have allowed in a game since a 95-78 loss at Purdue on Jan. 13, 2024.
Penn State (13-12) will return to the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday for a contest against Washington (12-11).
