Penn State-Rider Basketball Preview: A Year-End Opportunity for the Lions

Penn State can run its record above .500 with a win in its final non-conference game of the season.

Penn State men's basketball plays its final non-conference game Friday before the Big Ten schedule really gets going in January against Michigan State. The Lions host Rider in an afternoon game at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State, which has won two of its last three games, turned things around for a 17-point win over Le Moyne after a heartbreaker against Georgia Tech. Head coach Mike Rhoades has seen some expected ups and downs in a first season with a roster full of new faces. Rider, though, stands at 3-9 with its wins coming against Division III Immaculata, Stonehill and Delaware (overtime). The Nittany Lions look to keep things rolling at the turn of the new year.

Penn State (6-6) vs. Rider (3-9)

When: 2 p.m. Friday

Where: Bryce Jordan Center, University Park, Pennsylvania

TV/Streaming: B1G+

Last meeting: Rider 71-70 in December 2017

Series history: Penn State leads 3-2, though Rider has won the past two meetings

KenPom rankings: Penn State is No. 111; Rider is No. 274

NCAA NET rankings: Penn State is 132; Rider is 300

About the Lions: It’s been a topsy-turvy start to the season for Penn State to say the least. The Lions won a thriller over Ohio State and put up winnable performances against other good competition like Texas A&M and Georgia Tech. But on the flip side, the Lions lost to Bucknell in a game Rhoades aptly labeled “embarrassing.” Rhoades this week said that sometimes his team has taken its foot off the gas instead of finding the ability to string multiple scoring possessions together to generate runs. He wants more aggressiveness, especially from the guards who run the show, Ace Baldwin Jr. and Kanye Clary. It’s true that Penn State’s offense has been streaky, but the bigger concern is how inconsistent the defense has been considering it’s usually a hallmark of Rhoades’ teams. Penn State turns opponents over at an elite rate (16.33 per game — T-17th) but has not found the same success in opponents’ field-goal percentage (43.1 percent — 199th) and especially not in defensive rebounding.

The Lions have a minus-5.7 rebounding margin this year, among the worst in the nation. It’s an area that Rhoades said needs to be emphasized to enact change midseason, especially as Penn State continues to wait for the return of 6-11 forward Favour Aire from injury. “It’s not personal,” he said, but there’s a specific job to be done that prompted two rebounding-focused periods in practice this week. “We are light in the butt in certain positions against certain guys, and that has hurt us. I think our guards need to fly in there and just scrap some out. I think they've done a little bit better, but not enough. We got to get better rebounding, defensive rebounding from our threes and our fours and our big guards better, that would really help us.”

About the Broncs: Rider hasn’t had a season worth much envy thus far. At 3-9 with one of its only wins coming against a Division-III opponent, the Broncs are lacking a lot of things. They can score it (71.8 points per game) but give up points at an even higher rate (75.9). They have just two scorers who average double-digit scoring this season: 6-7 forward Mervin James (19.2) and 6-2 guard Allen Powell (10.3). James is also the leading rebounder (7.5). Head Coach Kevin Baggett, in his 12th season at Rider, uses seven players mostly, littered with seniors, with others playing sparing minutes.

More on Penn State Basketball

Penn State Basketball on SI.com

Kanye Clary leads Penn State past Le Moyne

Penn State falls to Georgia Tech after an "inexcusable" foul call in overtime

Penn State rallies from big deficit to stun Ohio State

Penn State drops fifth straight game in overtime loss at Maryland

"We're in a rut," Mike Rhoades says after loss to Bucknell

Penn State 'should be mad' after trip to Florida, coach Mike Rhoades says

Penn State goes 0-3 at ESPN Events Invitational in Florida

Nittany Lions predictions for the 2023-24 season

Former Bucknell coach Pat Flannery joins NIL collective as general manager

Max Ralph is a Penn State senior studying Broadcast Journalism with minors in sports studies and Japanese. He previously covered Penn State football for two years with The Daily Collegian and has reported with the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter (X) @maxralph_ and Instagram @mralph_59.

AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network.