Penn State basketball loses again, leaving questions as to where the program goes from here
Mike Rhoades was asked in October what success would look like for Penn State men’s basketball this year. The coach did not hesitate to respond.
“Let’s get to the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “Let’s beat teams in the Big Ten and let’s get to the NCAA Tournament.”
On Feb. 4, those hopes look to be nonexistent.
The Nittany Lions have lost eight of their last nine after falling to arguably the worst team in the Big Ten, Minnesota, 69-61 in the Bryce Jordan Center.
Given the expectations placed on Penn State (13-10, 3-9 Big Ten) — and the roster construction loaded with seniors in the team’s rotation — it’s fair to wonder where the Nittany Lions go from here. They’ve had a disastrous season that, yes, has been impacted by injuries, but has been an abject failure almost any way you slice it.
A historically aimless, directionless program has once again taken that form.
And that’s despite having an administration that has been supportive of its head coach. And Rhoades is locked in with the program, with a $12 million buyout that drops $3 million every season until 2028-2029 when it becomes $1.5 million.
That level of compensation and support has not always been present. But this is not the Penn State program that was paying its coaches less than almost any Big Ten program and not investing in improving it. That can only make the results of late even more concerning moving forward.
This year, specifically, was supposed to be much more, as Rhoades’ definition of success would indicate. The Nittany Lions’ senior-laden rotation had five of them playing in their last year of eligibility. One of those five is Puff Johnson, who is out with a long-term injury and has missed most of the team’s stretch of poor play. And what he brings to the table has been sorely missed.
Senior guard D’Marco Dunn said as much after the loss to the Golden Gophers.
“He’s a different type of player,” Dunn said. “He talked; he was a leader. Even though he wasn’t the flashiest player, he would offensive rebound, he did a lot of the little stuff.”
Rhoades agreed.
“Puff is the ultimate teammate,” he said. “His talk is some of the talk that you don’t always see. But it’s that big brother talk that’s out there. He was having a great year. He was doing it with a level of leadership and teammateship that was huge. And we missed that right away.”
Effort has been an issue — Rhoades cited it after the previous loss to Ohio State — for the team during this stretch, too. So having that galvanizing player miss games can set the team back in a big way. One loss can turn into two and things can snowball from there.
But it is a problem if one player’s departure has caused this team to come unglued in such an extreme way. It is on Rhoades and his staff to make sure the team stays together as it fights to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament, with only the bottom three in the conference not going to it.
So is his message getting through to the team?
“Well, you hope so,” Rhoades said. “To me it’s a lot of, not team meetings, but pulling guys aside and working with them and talking them through things. You’ve got to connect. You’ve got to keep trying. If we won today, it’s a different mentality, right? But we didn’t. We’ve been close. We’ve been frustrated. You can see that. You can see it on everybody because these guys want to win and they work hard. But just because of that doesn’t guarantee you wins. That’s why we’re hurting right now.”
It’s hard to blame Rhoades for his uncertainty. There is very little going right for the program right now with the losses piling up and an additional injury coming to light following the game, with Rhoades saying center Yanic Konan Niederhauser sprained his ankle Sunday and is day-to-day. Tack that on to Johnson’s injury and Ace Baldwin Jr. missing games and dealing with a back injury.
Yet nobody in the Big Ten is going to take it easy on them because they’re banged up. This is a competitive, physical league and one that is incredibly difficult to win on the road in. And that’s what makes Tuesday’s loss so concerning. The Gophers are near the bottom of the conference, were on the road and were coming off a loss to Washington — the team at the very bottom of the Big Ten standings.
And Penn State couldn’t capitalize, which will only raise more questions.
There is little reason to believe that things will get better from here. And with last year’s conference defensive player of the year in Ace Baldwin Jr. and a group of veterans and talented transfers failing to make the big dance, it’s fair to start asking the bigger questions.
If not now, then when?
