Big Ten Tournament primer: Penn State Basketball faces familiar foe in Round 1
By Evan Smith
Penn State will face off against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.
Penn State Basketball opens the Big Ten Tournament against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who they recently ran out of the gym at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Will the favorable Round 1 draw matter for the sliding Nittany Lions?
Despite controlling their own destiny for a first-round bye, a late-season swoon means Penn State Basketball finished 11th in the conference. With a 7-13 record, they actually finished in a three-team tie for 10th with Maryland and Northwestern, but thanks to a head-to-head loss with Maryland, the Nittany Lions finished 11th.
Finishing 11th means needing to win five games in five days, but at least it means Penn State will face off with the 14th place team, also known as the team in last place.
Shockingly, that means Penn State Basketball will not face off vs the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who finished the season with three straight road wins. Instead, the Nittany Lions will take on the Golden Gophers of Minnesota on Wednesday March 9th at approximately 8:30 pm.
The Nittany Lions lost their first match-up vs Minnesota in Minneapolis, 76-70. Penn State shot over 50% from the field and from three, but lost thanks to, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, too many turnovers (13).
Penn State dominated Minnesota in the Bryce Jordan Center, a rescheduled game due to COVID-19 issues within the Golden Gopher program. Minnesota was in the middle of a five-game, 11-day stretch and looked the part, never really challenging the Nittany Lions.
Which Minnesota team shows up will play as much a part of this game as anything Penn State does as they’ve been limping to the finish line for a few weeks now.
Having said that, Penn State is own their own three-game losing streak.