How to watch Penn State basketball at Rutgers
At this point, Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades can call it what it is. Through eight true road and neutral games this season, his Nittany Lions have yet to win a game, only knocking off Michigan at the Palestra in Philadelphia outside of the Bryce Jordan Center.
Four losses have come at neutral sites, losing three in the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla., over Thanksgiving weekend. A trip to New York to face Georgia Tech at Madison Square Garden ended with a disappointing overtime loss. And four more true road games have all left the Nittany Lions empty-handed in the Big Ten, dropping decisions at Maryland, Michigan State, Purdue and Ohio State thus far.
“To become a very good program in your conference, you have to go on the road and beat people. We haven’t done that yet,” said Rhoades. “It’s one of the hardest things to do, especially in this league, as we’re experiencing.”
Wednesday night, Penn State will get another crack at it. Set to take on Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., marking the midpoint of the Big Ten conference slate, Rhoades and his staff have spent the week working to reverse that trend.
“It’s a fun approach as a new coach, building your team and your psyche, to understand what it takes to go on the road and win. It’s really hard. You got to stay connected for a full 40 minutes. You gotta stay connected as a team when there’s major adversity, and that’s hard to do,” he said. “That’s when you take a big step in your program, when you can go on the road and beat people.
“So, we got to have two great days of practice and go to a tough place to play at Rutgers Wednesday night and find a way. There’s no excuses. You go on the road, you’ve got to find a little bit more to pull one out.”
Here is a snapshot look at the Nittany Lions heading into the game.
Game time, how to watch: Penn State (9-11 overall, 3-6 B1G, NET 127) at Rutgers (10-9, 2-6 B1G, NET 98)
Venue: Jersey Mike’s Arena
Tip time: 8:30 p.m. ET – Wednesday, Jan. 31
TV: Big Ten Network – Jason Horowitz (pxp) & Shon Morris (analyst)
RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 380 & SXM App Ch. 970
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast | Live Stats
GAME NOTES: Penn State
What is the Penn State-Minnesota spread?
The Nittany Lions are 6.5-point underdogs at Rutgers on Wednesday evening. And, the over/under betting total is 142.5 points.
Injury report
Two of Penn State’s starters, Kanye Clary and Nick Kern, each exited the Minnesota loss with minutes remaining and would not return. Clary collided with an elbow on the defensive end of the floor, spent a few minutes writhing at the 3:16 mark, and was taken to the locker room with a team trainer.
Kern, meanwhile, was lost with 2:18 left to play as the Gophers slammed home a lead-taking dunk. He appeared to cramp up at the baseline, demanding a stoppage of play and assistance getting off the floor.
Meeting with the media on Monday this week, Rhoades offered differing assessments on the availability of the two players.
“Ye is day to day. Just leave it at that,” Rhoades said. “And Nick will be available.”
Through 20 games, Clary leads all Penn State scorers with 18.4 points per outing. Kern, meanwhile, has come on significantly in January, now averaging 8.1 ppg for the season to go along with 4.3 rebounds.
