Penn State bounces back, bounces Buffalo in 87-64 win
In the aftermath of a disappointing first loss of the season last Tuesday, Penn State shrugged off a sluggish start to top Buffalo on Sunday. The result, an 87-64 win, improved the Nittany Lions to 7-1 on the 2024-25 campaign with a two-game Big Ten appetizer up next.
Recognizing the dramatic improvement in competition on deck for the Nittany Lions, head coach Mike Rhoades pointed to his program’s bounce back from the setback to Clemson and the necessity of considerable steps forward in the days ahead.
“I wanted to be better. I thought at times today we were a little lackluster and playing down. It happens,” Rhoades told reporters. “The next game, it gets real. A flagship program in our conference will be here. So we gotta be ready and we gotta play better than we did tonight and much better than we did against Clemson. But the key to this is, every day we just gotta continue to get better and learn from a win or loss, a good practice or a bad practice.”
Penn State goes through the motions
In the first half, Penn State’s push was particularly waning against the Bulls. Grabbing an immediate lead and holding onto it, the Nittany Lions lagged offensively, fluctuating between a 5 and 9 point advantage for the bulk of the first frame.
The Nittany Lions improved considerably on their 17 turnover disaster in Daytona Beach, Fla., but again struggled from deep, hitting just 3-of-12 3-point attempts. This, despite turning the Bulls over 10 times and generating 11 more field goal attempts from the floor than their opponents.
Riding solid efforts from D’Marco Dunn and Freddie Dilione out of the gates, though, the Nittany Lions used a late push and a punctuating dunk from Yanic Konan Niederhauser to take a 38-28 advantage into the locker room. A sign of what was to come, the big man’s throwdown was one of six of his dunks on the day ahead of a career-high 27-point performance.
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Second-half breakout arrives
While Rhoades wasn’t entirely satisfied with the Nittany Lions’ second-half response, it proved to be a step forward on his side’s first-half effort. With the Bulls cutting into their lead with a 3-pointer out of the gates, the Nittany Lions responded with back-to-back 3s from Dilione and Niederhauser to bump back into double-digits. An opening salvo, the hosts would take control of the proceedings shortly thereafter with a 10-0 run sparked by a Nick Kern layup and a Zach Hicks 3-pointer.
Though 3 of only 5 points for Hicks on the day, the performance was one Rhoades highlighted for its comprehensive production, finishing with four rebounds and three assists en route to a monster plus-minus of 27.
“I thought Zach Hicks was super today. And the way they played him, they didn’t want to give up a three to him, but he did all the other stuff,” said Rhoades. “Plus 27 plus/minus is big time. He did all the other stuff. There’s guys that have some great stats, but I thought he was player of the game.”
Next steps
Bouncing back from last week’s setback, the Nittany Lions will next take on a Purdue program also out to a 7-1 start on the campaign. But, with the Boilermakers already owning a win against a top 10 Alabama program, their place as the nation’s No. 13-ranked team presents a new level of challenge to Penn State.
Tip is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday with the broadcast on FS1.
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