How to watch Penn State basketball host Northwestern
The evidence is, at this point, compelling and plentiful for Mike Rhoades. And, coming out of a 79-73 win over Michigan on Sunday at the Palestra in Philadelphia, the Penn State head coach has more of it.
Employing a frantic, confusing, pressing defensive effort for a good bit of the final 25 minutes of the game, his Nittany Lions improved to 8-7 on the season. With it, they continued to build on the reality that success for this group is most attainable when its defensive connectivity is high.
“We have all summer of tape. All fall. We tape every practice. We just don’t use games, we use it all. So we use everything from analytics to practice clips to game clips, showing stuff individually, and then of course showing stuff to our guys,” Rhoades said. “We always show them toughness plays. The pressing stuff, you want to make sure that you don’t overcomplicate them so that they can stay connected in the press and on defense. You want to continue to work in practice and get them to understand and feel it. But, video sure helps.”
Sunday afternoon, that took shape clearly against the Wolverines.
Forcing Michigan into 19 turnovers and scoring 23 points off of them, the Nittany Lions were bothersome throughout. Worse for the Wolverines, the cumulative effect of the pressure also created rushed second-half shots that Penn State parlayed into fast break points on the other end off clean rebounds.
Penn State takes defensive steps?
A product of months of work to improve team defense for a group hastily constructed last spring, Rhoades acknowledged the challenges that come with the effort.
“You saw us on Sunday pushing the pace of the game on both ends, but also just the constant pressure and disruption, whatever you want to call it, is who we need to be all the time,” Rhoades said. “It’s really hard to do that in your first year. Just real talk. But we’re doing it a little bit more and I think that’s helping us, especially with certain lineups out there.”
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Wednesday evening, the Nittany Lions will get another opportunity to show their work against a mercurial Northwestern team.
Notching wins against Purdue, Dayton, and most recently, dominating Michigan State, the Wildcats have shown well against some of the nation’s best programs this season. Bludgeoned in a 30-point loss at Illinois on Jan. 2, and falling in a 75-73 buy game to Chicago State in December, though, Chris Collins’ outfit has also suffered notable letdowns at times this season.
Here is how to watch the two teams in action on Wednesday night.
Game time, how to watch: Penn State (8-7, NET 125) vs. Northwestern (11-3, NET 72)
Venue: Bryce Jordan Center
Tip time: 6:30 p.m. ET – Wednesday, Jan. 10
TV: BTN
Stream: Live stream on Fubo! For a limited time, new subscribers can save $20 on Fubo’s Pro, Elite and Premier plans for the first month!
On the call: Jason Horowitz (play by play) & Stephen Bardo (analyst)
Radio: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
Live stats: Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
What is the Penn State-Northwestern spread?
The Nittany Lions are 1.5-point underdogs against Northwestern on Wednesday evening. And, the over/under betting total is 142.5 points.
Penn State injury updates
- For the first time all season, Penn State appears to be largely healthy heading into the Northwestern game. Favour Aire and Jameel Brown both missed significant time in the first two months of the season but have returned to action in recent weeks.
