Seeking statement win, Penn State delivers over Virginia Tech

Penn State guard Ace Baldwin wanted to deliver a statement in his program’s trip to his home city of Baltimore on Friday night. Tipping off against Virginia Tech in a first power conference matchup of the 2024-25 season, the Nittany Lions did so convincingly.

Led by Baldwin’s double-double of 19 points and 10 assists, Penn State dominated its way to an 86-64 win. The Nittany Lions improved to 4-0 on the season with the decision.

“I think that counts,” Baldwin told reporters afterward. “We had a long week of practice. Coach was on us the whole week, and I think we did good today.”

Penn State jumps out to early lead

From the jump, Penn State exerted control over the Hokies. Beginning with a Freddie Dilione 3-pointer and Ace Baldwin bucket, the Nittany Lions built a 15-2 edge riding back-to-back 3s from Zach Hicks. Enduring a light VT 6-0 run, the lead was again built back to 14 points with a pair of Nick Kern layups and Hicks’ third made 3 of the game.

In a tilt that included a heavy-handed touch from an officiating team of AJ Desai, Evan Burroughs, and Paul Szelc, the Nittany Lions did so having to turn to Kachi Nzeh off the bench early. Picking up two fouls in just eight minutes played, Yanic Konan Niederhauser was sent to the bench in favor of the backup forward, who chipped in with two points and a rebound in 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions delivered the first of a two-part suffocation of the Hokies. Forcing 12 turnovers in the first half and another 12 in the second, Penn State enjoyed a 28-7 advantage in points off turnovers and a 38-24 edge in points in the paint.

“We wanted to press today. I didn’t think we’d turn over Virginia Tech 24 times, but I just thought we had multiple guys really guard the ball in the back court hard. So even if we didn’t get turnovers in the back court, we didn’t let him get into their offense easily. Because if you do, Coach could run all those plays and all those counters and all his gadgets he’s got, he can get you spinning,” said Rhoades. “So I just really liked our approach with the heat on the ball. We had some traps. Sometimes you just mess with them and all that stuff.

“And then I thought we got deflections early in the game to get us going here, like, ‘Hey, we can get after these guys.’ That’s who we are. That’s how we play. We want to be different than than other teams out there, especially in our league, and today you saw that.”

Complemented by Kern’s 10 points off the bench, the Nittany Lions saw their advantage eventually slip to just 25-22 in the waning minutes of the first half. Roaring back by forcing the basketball into the paint and picking up their defensive pressure, their 6-0 run led to four minutes of parrying ending in a 37-29 Penn State advantage going into the half, despite a technical foul assessed to Baldwin for trash talking.

“I was too excited. I got a technical foul; I was over excited,” said Baldwin. “But yeah, it was very fun. Great atmosphere, and it was very exciting.”

Taking control of the game

A near-miss at a commanding, knockout blow from the jump, the Nittany Lions wouldn’t miss their chance out of the locker room. Paced by another Dilione 3-pointer, the Nittany Lions quickly siezed control of the game. And, before the 15-minute mark, a string of Puff Johnson plays that included a 3-pointer, layup, and fast break dunk bloated Penn State’s lead to 49-33.

“At halftime, I just said we’re going to have adversity. The number one thing is, how do you handle it? Do you go inward or will you be all about your team? I thought halftime we adjusted,” said Rhoades. “There was no yelling. Nobody was complaining. It was that wasn’t good enough. That’s not to our standard.

“We keep talking about, if we’re going to change Penn State basketball, we have to have a standard that we play to and we live to, and we act to all the time. And when you have adversity, that’s when the standards get tested the most. We got tested, we adjusted at halftime, and the guys came out leading by our seniors. and Ace. That was huge.”

Never threatened the rest of the way, the Nittany Lions spent the next 15 minutes seesawing with an advantage ranging between 15 and 18 points. Eventually putting an exclaimation mark on the performance with two more Hicks 3-pointers and a pair of authoritative dunks from Nzeh and Dilione, Penn State’s bench erupted with glee.

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