While Penn State’s last game was at home in Happy Valley, the Nittany Lions are heading back to the Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday night after their yearly return to Rec Hall last Thursday against Ohio State. The Nittany Lions put forth a putrid effort against the Buckeyes, falling 83-64 and sinking further towards the bottom of the Big Ten standings.
Now with a 3-8 record in conference play, Mike Rhoades finds his team right alongside the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who are coming to town for both teams’ 12th conference contest of the season. Though in his fourth season at the helm, Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson has failed to turn around the program, his team does bring some serious star power to Happy Valley.
Senior forward Dawson Garcia is one of the best big men in the Big Ten, averaging 20.1 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. The 6-foot-11 veteran is coming off a 28-point performance in a close home loss to Washington over the weekend and has scored at least 20 points in seven straight games for the Golden Gophers. He will be a handful for Penn State’s Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who has struggled with foul trouble throughout the year.
If Konan Niederhauser can stay on the floor on Tuesday night, he might be able to match Garcia. The Northern Illinois transfer is coming off his second 20-point outing of the season. He was the only silver lining in Penn State’s disastrous loss to Ohio State with 21 points on 8-14 shooting with five rebounds.
It’ll be a battle of the bigs on Tuesday night and here’s how you can catch all the action:
How to watch Minnesota vs Penn State
- Date: Tuesday, February 4
- Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Venue: Bryce Jordan Center (State College, PA)
- How to Watch: Big Ten Network
- How to stream: Fubo TV
- Minnesota record: 11-11 (3-8)
- Penn State record: 13-9 (3-8)