Penn State Basketball Wants to Be 'Bold, Different and Aggressive'

Nittany Lions coach Mike Rhoades faced two grueling months building a roster. He's beginning to see it come together.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. | It was obvious when Mike Rhoades became the Penn State men's basketball coach that he faced an uphill battle. Rhoades filled a roster with 10 new players in 52 days, and regardless of the expected growing pains such a process would present, Rhoades also was going to deal with the pressure of following Micah Shrewsberry’s Cinderella run to the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

The road absolutely has been bumpy. An early five-game losing streak included a shocking loss to Bucknell as a 22-point favorite. "We're in a rut," Rhoades said after that game in December. Then over the last two weeks, the Lions gave up a 10-point, second-half lead to Northwestern and suffered non-competitive losses to Michigan State and Purdue. 

Rhoades admitted he had to go at his team a bit during a Monday night film session before hosting No. 11 Wisconsin the following night. Whatever he said in that meeting clicked. Penn State started hot and played its most complete 40 minutes of the season to upset the Badgers 87-83.

"Just felt that we showed signs of doing some cool things, but not enough. And some of it is just self-induced," Rhoades said after the win. "Just not responding the right way to things. I don't mean just like the game or something that happens in game or practice. To win at this level, and to become really good and have respect of others, you gotta do all the things when nobody's watching, on and off the court. It all adds up.”

The Lions, now a pleasantly surprising 3-4 in Big Ten play, have achieved their record in an unusual way, with double-digit comebacks over Ohio State and Michigan alongside the Wisconsin upset. But this team’s identity has become clear. Penn State is a scrappy bunch that frustrates opponents with aggressive defense and frustrates itself with inconsistent shooting. If Penn State can stay close to its 40-percent shooting performance from 3-point range against Wisconsin, who knows where this team could go?

As for getting fans to buy back into a program that reverted to step one, Rhoades has campaigned hard to do so. Penn State canceled classes Tuesday due to a snowstorm, so Rhoades and the athletic administration offered free student tickets and discounted chicken baskets for the 9 p.m. tip. Against Northwestern, Rhoades walked way out into the Bryce Jordan Center court to wave his arms and pump up the crowd. Rhoades has started to become a lovable figure in Happy Valley, and a raucous court-storming after beating Wisconsin was quite the way to celebrate his efforts.

“I think [the students] fueled us down the stretch, and they were a part of it. That's what I want as the coach here. I want our students and our fans to sweat with us, be involved with us and make it bigger than basketball,” Rhoades said. He added later, “Keep selling our program. Keep playing an exciting style. When you're out in the community, shake hands, take pictures, ask people how they're doing. Make them feel a part of it. The next step is to continue to have success.”

Penn State has a pair of legitimate Big Ten stars in guards Kanye Clary and Ace Baldwin Jr. The duo combined for 47 of Penn State’s 87 points against Wisconsin, appear confident in getting to their spots of the dribble and lead a defense that generates 16.4 turnovers per game. Tuesday’s court-storming was the first of their respective careers, a moment they hope to spin forward to the rest of this season.

"It was a great feeling," Baldwin said. "I love that feeling."

“Penn State has historically been a football team," Clary added. "Coach Rhoades, he always says we're gonna be bold, different and aggressive. He preaches that a lot on social media and tries to do things to get the fans going. We showed a lot of people what we're capable of. We're just gonna do our part, try to be consistent and continue what we got going.”

Rhoades switched some stuff this week in trying to pull his team out of a two-game skid. He changed his starting five for the first time in 10 games, with Nick Kern Jr. producing a strong 15-point showing in his eighth start. Meanwhile, sophomore Demetrius Lilley played a career-high 19 minutes to provide a spark over fifth-year big man Qudus Wahab. The first-year coach’s ability to adapt to the ebbs and flows of a grueling season has already been and will continue to be an X-factor for Penn State.

“I think the first couple of months on the job was the hardest thing I've ever done in my career,” Rhoades said. “Putting a team together, and then you get the team, and you want it to work perfectly because you worked so hard, but it doesn't go that way. It was difficult. It's still difficult. But I know I'm not going to quit. I know our guys aren't going to quit. We're not going to make excuses. There's been a lot of nights where it's just not good enough to win games. Tonight was good enough. We got to build on it now.“

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