Why Penn State’s win over Rutgers could propel Nittany Lions to postseason opportunities
Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades became more impassioned with each word as he spoke Monday night in the media room deep in the bowels Bryce Jordan Center.
“When you lose a couple in a row, it takes your soul,” Rhoades said. “But the reality is, I wake up, what do we got to do to figure this out? ... I’m going to wake up tomorrow and watch this tape and say, what do we got to do to get better and win the next one? You just got to keep going. And I have to be the best example for our guys. I’m not pouting. I hate losing. I hate it. It disgusts me. It sucks. We all know that. When it happens multiple times in a row, it crushes you.
“But I got a lot of fight, and I got to show these guys that fight, and there’s no excuses. I always tell our guys this is where you learn what type of true character you have, what you’re all about with your culture of your program ... What are you about? And I know on the outside, everyone’s going to make excuses or say this and that. S--- doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is in our locker room and in our gym, what we’re doing for each other. And if you do that over and over after a tough two weeks like we had, yeah you find a little success.”
Rhoades’ passion was coming from a good place. He and Penn State just defeated a supremely talented Rutgers team — one that features two potential top five picks in the 2025 NBA Draft in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey — to end a four-game losing streak that had begun to drag the Nittany Lions down to the depths of the conference standings.
But now, with a win over the Scarlet Knights in hand, Penn State and Rhoades are positioned to turn the tide and rattle off some wins over the next month, giving them a good shot at making the postseason in only the second year of the head coach’s tenure.
Monday night will have to be the start of something for this team to reach its preseason aspirations. Gone are the days where every team in the conference makes the Big Ten Tournament. The Nittany Lions will now have to qualify for the postseason in more ways than one, and the conference tournament is the start of that.
Three teams will miss out on the postseason all together from the Big Ten, and a loss to Rutgers would’ve had Penn State in more danger in that regard. But now the program is 3-5, with a stretch of games to take advantage of ahead.
Two road matchups with Iowa and Michigan are up next, but then so are eight straight games against teams outside the KenPom top 30 rankings. It’s not impossible for Penn State to go 7-3 or 8-2 in that stretch. But in this conference, that is not a given.
“One thing I’m learning as I’m still going along in my second year,” Rhoades said, “this is league is a beast. There’s no even if you don’t play well, you’re gonna get that one. No way. Not in this league. It’s a beast. And I love it, it’s awesome.”
Penn State will have to get there without one of its starters for what could be an extended period of time. Forward Puff Johnson missed Monday night’s game and is expected to be out with a long-term injury, although Rhoades has yet to rule him out for the rest of the season.
His absence will affect the on-court product in obvious ways — he’s a versatile defender who does everything at least at an average level, allowing Penn State to use multiple different lineups when he’s involved. But the most damaging impact his absence will have might be from a leadership standpoint.
Johnson is one of the most talkative Nittany Lions on the court, and not having his communication there will have to be made up for moving forward.
“Puff plays a big role,” Ace Baldwin Jr. said. “He uses his voice, he talks, he brings the energy. He’s our captain. Players just [have to] step up. The guys off the bench just stepped up and played that role.”
Still, losing Johnson is not insurmountable. His presence is a valuable one, but the Nittany Lions have enough depth on the wing to make up for his production on the court as long as it can remain a tight-knit, communicative, unit.
That hasn’t been a major issue thus far, and that’s a positive sign since the team has now spent serious time on the court together. The team’s veterans are all in their second year with the program, including Baldwin and Nick Kern Jr., who both came to Penn State with Rhoades from VCU. Other second-year contributors, like D’Marco Dunn and Zach Hicks, have been vital to the team’s success on both ends of the court.
And those mainstays have been supplemented by players like Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Freddie Dilione V from the portal, who have both flourished under Rhoades. What could have easily been a nice collection of talent has been a cohesive team that has, to this point, stuck together through its struggles.
And now with the most difficult portion of the Big Ten schedule behind Penn State, the Nittany Lions are primed to become an NCAA Tournament team for the second time in three seasons.
