How to watch Penn State basketball vs. Minnesota: Live stream, players to watch & key matchups
Penn State men’s basketball will play its final scheduled game at the Bryce Jordan Center of the season Wednesday in a senior night matchup with the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Nittany Lions are 8-13 on the season and 5-12 in the Big Ten.
Here’s everything you need to know about the game against the Gophers.
Players to watch
John Harrar and Jamari Wheeler: Wednesday night game’s could be the final one of John Harrar’s and Jamari Wheeler’s respective careers at the Bryce Jordan Center. Neither Nittany Lion has laid out his plans for beyond this season — both could come back due to an NCAA ruling that will not count this season toward athletes’ eligibility clock — and should be celebrated as if they won’t be back, just in case they won’t be. Neither Harrar nor Wheeler has put together a prolific college career. They aren’t prolific scorers and they don’t routinely make highlight-reel plays, but both have been crucial leaders and created stability for a program that could have seen this season fall into turmoil.
Wheeler has been a pest on the perimeter his entire career, deflecting passes and applying pressure to opposing ball handlers to make every step up the court one they earned. Harrar has been a physical presence on the inside and has taken a bigger role this season as a starter, bullying opponents to get positioning and earn easy buckets. He’s a force on the boards and plays hard whenever he’s on the court to set to the tone. The senior duo won’t go down as program changers, but their ability to provide leadership in a transition season after the resignation of Pat Chambers should be lauded.
Key matchup
Marcus Carr vs. Wheeler: The Golden Gophers have relied heavily on lead guard Marcus Carr to generate their offense this season and Wednesday night should be no different. Carr is in his second year with Minnesota after spending the first year of his college career at Pittsburgh, and has substantially increased his workload each year. He averaged 10 points per game as a Panther, 15.4 points per game in his first season playing with Minnesota and now 20 points per game this season. Carr isn’t a sharpshooter from beyond the arc but makes enough to make the defense pay for leaving him open while taking enough to do damage if he gets hot from deep.
He’ll see plenty of Wheeler in Wednesday’s matchup and he could be one of his toughest opponents of the season. Wheeler can pressure Carr into mistakes he’s not prone to making and make it difficult to get easy looks from the field. The Gopher guard is one of only two players averaging double digits for Minnesota this season, which makes guarding him even more crucial. Penn State will be in a position to win if Wheeler can find success on his senior night.
How to watch
Who: Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-12) at Penn State Nittany Lions (8-13)
When: 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 3 | Where: Bryce Jordan Center
TV: Big Ten Network
Live stream: FoxSportsGo
Online radio stream: GoPSUSports (university-run)
