How to watch Penn State basketball vs. Rutgers: Live stream, players to watch & key matchups
Penn State men’s basketball will play its third game in five days Thursday when it takes on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the Bryce Jordan Center. The game was rescheduled for Thursday after it was postponed due to positive COVID-19 test results in PSU’s Tier 1 personnel.
The Nittany Lions are still looking for their first conference win after starting 0-5 in the Big Ten.
Here’s everything you need to know about the home game against the Scarlet Knights.
Player to watch
Sam Sessoms: Penn State struggled to score Tuesday night against Illinois, and Sessoms was a major part of that issue. The junior guard missed all six of his field goal attempts and turned the ball over three times in 24 minutes. He scored in double figures in all of the Nittany Lions’ first seven games before going on pause due to positive COVID-19 tests within the program, but has struggled in the two games since. He paired his scoreless performance with four points on six shots earlier in the week when Penn State lost a close road matchup with Purdue.
Now he’ll have to get back on track against a physical Rutgers team. The junior guard is more than capable of breaking out of his slump because of his ability to get to the rim and score from beyond the arc, but he’ll need to have the ball in his hands to do that. While Sessoms likely used up too many possessions prior to the team’s break, he’s now not finishing enough of them for the team to win. Penn State needs him to strike the balance between the two to defeat the Scarlet Knights.
Key matchup
Ron Harper Jr. vs. Seth Lundy: The Scarlet Knights have lost five of their past six games and those losses have coincided with Harper Jr.’s worst five games of the season. The junior guard sat out the team’s lone win of the stretch and his performance has largely dictated how the team has played and whether or not it’s won or lost in the other 11 games. He’s averaging 24 points per game in the team’s six wins he played in and 12.2 points per game in the five losses.
Lundy should be tasked with taking on Harper Jr. for the majority of the game Thursday night and has the skill set to stifle him. He’s long and strong with good lateral quickness. Harper Jr. is physical and attacks the rim frequently, using his strength to get there. Lundy will need to slow him down on that end of the court to put Penn State in a position to earn the program’s first conference victory of the season.
How to watch
Who: Rutgers Scarlet Knights (7-5) at Penn State Nittany Lions (3-6)
When: 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 21 | Where: Bryce Jordan Center
TV: Big Ten Network
Live stream: FoxSportsGo
Online radio stream: GoPSUSports (university-run)
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