Penn State Flops in Big Ten Visit to Michigan State

The Nittany Lions shoot 10 percent from 3-point range and give up a season-high 92 points in loss to the Spartans.

Penn State men's basketball coach Mike Rhoades said "I love road games" before making his first visit to Michigan State. After Thursday night, will he want to go back?

Tom Izzo's Spartans handed Rhoades his worst loss at Penn State, a 92-61 decision that recalled some of the Nittany Lions most lopsided Big Ten defeats. The loss was Penn State's worst in the Big Ten since December 2019, a 32-point breakdown at No. 6 Ohio State. The Lions rebounded from that low point of the 2019-20 season to reach No. 9 in the AP Top 25 and build an NCAA Tournament team which the pandemic denied. It's unlikely that will happen again, particularly if Penn State continues playing defense, and shooting 3-pointers, like this. Rhoades called the game a "disappointing 40 minutes" and an "old-fashioned whooping right there."

"I also believed, because we had some personal and team adversity, instead of getting together, we were complaining and we sulked," Rhoades told reporters in East Lansing after the game. "Sometimes you've got to get embarrassed, sometimes you've got to really, really hurt like today to make sure that you understand what you need to do to be better."

.. this has to become a great lesson for us, this is a dsap effort, a disappointing 40 minutes for us.

The Lions (7-7) allowed a season-high 92 points to a Michigan State team that shot 56 percent from the field and 48 percent from 3-point range. Malik Hall (24 points) and Tyson Walker (22) combined to shoot an astonishing 18-for-26 against a Penn State defense that could not guard them. The Spartans scored 51 points in the first half, taking advantage of 16 Penn State turnovers. Michigan State scored 20 first-half points off turnovers, 24 overall.

Penn State's defense has been a season-long concern. The Lions entered the game 11th in the Big Ten in scoring defense, allowing 70.3 points per game. Worse, the Lions have allowed 85.4 points to teams in the top 125 of the NCAA NET rankings. Penn State is 1-6 in those games.

Kanye Clary once again was Penn State's leading scorer with 21 points, going 10-for-10 from the foul line. The Lions shot just 10.3 percent from 3-point range, going 3-for-29. They were 2-for-19 during an attempted second-half comeback. Guard Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 2 points on 0-for-7 shooting. Jameel Brown was 0-for-7 from 3-point range.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.