WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Penn State men's basketball team fell victim to a hot-shooting Boilermaker squad in an 80-60 road loss at #1 Purdue Wednesday night inside Mackey Arena.
Seth Lundy led the Nittany Lions with 18 points and six rebounds. Jalen Pickett contributed 12 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Michael Henn added 11 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Michael Henn made a trio of 3-pointers in the first six minutes to provide early offense as the score was knotted at 11-11 at the first media timeout. Penn State went cold for the next few minutes as the Boilermakers strung together a 9-0 streak that gave them an early 23-13 edge midway through the first half.
- Purdue pulled ahead by as much as 12 at 32-20 at the 4:45 mark of the first half, but Penn State answered back with a strong close to the term. The Nittany Lions made five of their final seven shots from the field and limited Purdue to just one field goal in the final 4:44 as Penn State trimmed the Boilermaker lead down to six at 35-29 heading into the locker room.
- A Jalen Pickett layup opened the second half to pull the Nittany Lions within four, but Purdue's Mason Gillis promptly drilled three-straight triples to put Penn State back in a double-digit hole at 44-31 and force a Nittany Lion timeout just over two minutes into the second half. Purdue stayed hot while Penn State struggled to convert its looks and the Boilers worked their lead to 61-35 with 10:54 to play.
- Penn State fought back with a 13-3 streak over a 2:13 stretch thanks to seven points from Seth Lundy and six from Jalen Pickett to trim the Purdue lead to 64-48 with 8:41 left on the clock.
- The Nittany Lions wouldn't get any closer the rest of the way, however, as #1 Purdue claimed the 80-60 win.
GAME NOTES
- The Nittany Lions fall to 14-8 overall and 5-6 in the Big Ten. #1 Purdue improves to 22-1 on the season and 11-1 in the Big Ten.
- The Boilermakers came into the game shooting just 33.2 percent from 3-point range on the season, but went off for 14 3-pointers on a 45.2% clip from beyond the arc. Mason Gillis set a new Mackey Arena record with nine 3-pointers.
- Penn State finished the game with 11 3-pointers, its 13th game this season with double-digit triples.
- Seth Lundy tallied his 19th double-digit scoring game of the season, while Jalen Pickett recorded his 20th. Michael Henn tied his season high with 11 points.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry
UP NEXT
- Penn State remains on the road to take on Nebraska Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.