With eight losses in its last nine games, Penn State had already sunk to the bottom of the Big Ten standings, but on Tuesday night they fell one spot further with a 69-61 home loss to Minnesota. The Golden Gophers leapfrogged the Nittany Lions as they fell to 3-9 and 17th out of 18 teams in the conference, but that wasn’t the only big loss Mike Rhoades’s team suffered.
The loss came without starting center Yanic Konan Niederhauser, one of the few silver linings in what looks to be a lost season. Pregame, the Northern Illinois transfer appeared at the Bryce Jordan Center in street clothes with a walking boot on his left foot. It was the first missed game of the season for the junior seven-footer who was reportedly injured in practice leading up to the game.
Without him, Penn State was outrebounded 35-30 and the Golden Gophers shot an impressive 60% from two-point range with 40 points in the paint. Kachi Nzeh started in Konan Niederhauser’s place and the 6-foot-8 sophomore forward finished with three rebounds and one block in 17 minutes but was held scoreless.
Even including star point guard Ace Baldwin Jr. who was named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s best at the position, Konan Niederhauser might be the most irreplaceable player on Rhoades’s roster. Miles Goodman is the team’s other seven-footer in the frontcourt and he’s played just 52 total minutes across nine games, and only saw the court for five last night.
Konan Niederhauser, when he can stay out of foul trouble, plays around 30 minutes a night and this season is averaging 12.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks a game. Last time out against Ohio State, he went 8/14 from the floor and finished with 21 points and five boards.
There is no report on how long Konan Niederhauser will be out, but Penn State will need him back quickly if it expects to climb back into the top 15 in the conference to qualify for the Big Ten tournament. Next up for the Nittany Lions is a West Coast trip with a Saturday afternoon matchup against UCLA and another Tuesday night at USC.