Why Mike Rhoades is on track to change Penn State men’s basketball into a consistent winner
Mike Rhoades took the public address microphone in the Bryce Jordan Center after his team’s 81-70 win over No. 8 Purdue and let it be known how he felt.
“This is because of you,” Rhoades said to the crowd — which at that point had made its way onto the court.
The Penn State head coach went on to thank them further, promising more of the same type of nights moving forward.
“Sweat with us,” he said. Guard Freddie Dilione V said it during the postgame presser, too. And Rhoades has said it before — he and his team want the BJC crowd to be a factor at every game and feel the impact of every win and loss. As Rhoades has put it before, he wants the crowd to be thrilled when the team wins and equally as upset when it loses. He wants emotional investment. Those feelings can help change a program.
Thursday night, it was impossible not to feel what has quickly become reality for this team, something Rhoades has changed for the better.
The Nittany Lions are on track to make the NCAA Tournament — and make it far more consistently.
There have been results similar to this before. Penn State has won against plenty of good opponents at home. But they’ve done it by having a little bit of luck and an off night from the other team. But how this win happened is different. The Nittany Lions dominated Purdue, a team that has already defeated No. 10 Alabama and was ranked No. 13 in KenPom prior to Thursday’s game.
Some of that was about what Purdue did.
“If we were on the front line of a war just now we’d all be dead,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “Our fight wasn’t even close to Penn State’s fight.”
Some of that, as Painter said, is a credit Penn State for fighting like it did. But more of the result was about what Penn State did to Purdue. The Nittany Lions utilized what they do best, their defensive ball pressure and full court press, to force Purdue to make mistakes.
And did they ever make them. The Boilers turned the ball over a season-high 24 times, eight more than their previous high. In fact, it was the most turnovers in a game by Purdue since November of 2020. Those mistakes get a lot easier to make when the defense swarms like Penn State’s does.
“We had guys driving to their weak hand, which they shouldn’t be doing,” Painter said. “We had guys catching the ball in the post and just being loose with the basketball. [We were] making cross court passes. ... Just like good plays can lead to other good plays, bad plays are the same way.”
Penn State’s domination was from start to finish, too. There was never any real doubt about the outcome. And maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise either.
The Nittany Lions were slight favorites heading into the game and have been playing well through just under a third of the season. They were No. 40 in KenPom coming into the game and their only loss was against a Clemson team that just beat Kentucky.
This is a team that is playing well and so far has the resume to prove it. And there will be more chances to do it. The Nittany Lions’ next matchup is on the road against a Rutgers team that has two projected top five picks in the 2025 NBA Draft in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. They will be tested again.
But they are ready for it, and Rhoades is ready to prove this isn’t a one-off by doing what has to come next.
“One thing and one thing only — get better tomorrow,” he said. “That’s it. This is great. I’m proud of our guys. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a win or a loss. Our job tomorrow as a staff, as a program, as players, individuals, get better in all facets of what we do. Get better. I’ve always been that way. No matter what the result was today, I’m going to wake up and say ‘I got to get better, I got to help these guys get better.’ That formula works. It works for me, it works for our program. I ain’t changing. I know that works.”
Rhoades has not strayed from his message since he got to Penn State in spring 2023. He wants to build a consistent winner. He even lauded Painter and pointed to Purdue as the gold standard for consistency in college basketball.
Make no mistake, the Nittany Lions are a ways away from getting to that point. But Thursday night is a start and a proof of concept.
Rhoades has what it takes to lead this team to where it wants to go and compete for NCAA Tournament appearances with more consistency — reaching the baseline for any good college basketball program.
It’s just a matter of how far up the mountain it can climb.
