Penn State Basketball Continues Rise in NET Rankings

In the initial rankings, the Nittany Lions were slotted at 34th before their upset win over No. 8 Purdue in Happy Valley. The full rankings can be found here and an explanation of the NCAA’s NET system can be found here.

PSU is now 8-1, marking the team’s best start since the 2014-15 season.

Against the Boilermakers, Penn State’s defense powered it to victory, forcing a season-high 24 turnovers and scoring 32 points off those turnovers. In the first half alone, Purdue had 14 turnovers and was 8-of-20 from the field.

Five Nittany Lions scored double-digit points, led by Ace Baldwin Jr.’s 17 points and six assists.

Thursday’s win was Penn State’s first against Purdue since February 2020 and first against an AP top-10 opponent since 2019, when the Nittany Lions took down No. 4 Maryland.

Under head coach Mike Rhoades, PSU is now 3-2 against AP top-15 opponents, with notable wins over No. 12 Illinois and No. 11 Wisconsin last year.

After defeating the Boilermakers, Rhoades had a message for the fans in attendance, saying, “This is what we’re going to do!”

And there is reason to believe that he will deliver on those words.

Penn State Basketball Takeaways: Mike Rhoades is Proving He Can Win at Penn State

Before taking over at Penn State, Rhoades spent six seasons at VCU, leading the Rams to three NCAA Tournament appearances and an Atlantic 10 championship in 2023. He also turned around the program at Rice, guiding the program to its first 20-win season in over a decade.

Conference play continues on Tuesday, as Penn State will travel to New Jersey to take on Rutgers. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Jersey Mike’s Arena.