Penn State heads to Madison Square Garden to face Georgia Tech

The Penn State Nittany Lions look to string together two wins, heading to New York City to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

This marks the first time Penn State has played inside the Garden since their 2018 NIT Championship. In the “World’s Most Famous Arena”, the blue and white find themselves 15-7 all-time, winning the last eight of 10 inside the home of the New York Knicks.

How It Came To Be

During local media day in October, head coach Mike Rhoades was asked about how he could build the program. He, in turn, mentioned some of the big games on the schedule, which included their matchup with Georgia Tech.

When originally scheduling the game, they had the State Farm Arena in mind, which is the home of the Atlanta Hawks. However, those plans fell through, mainly because the CBS Sports Classic was hosted in that fieldhouse.

Rhoades decided to make adjustments. “We got on the phones and started working stuff, and I talked to Damon Stoudamire, the new coach at Georgia Tech, and said I think [MSG] might be an option,” the first-year head coach said.

Stoudamire agreed, and the location was set. Both teams now had a place to play: the Mecca of Basketball.

Last Time Out

Nittany Lion fans were on the edges of their seats in the team’s comeback win against then 8-1 Ohio State Buckeyes on Dec. 9. Penn State was down 41-29 at the half and saw a deficit as large as 18 points and came back on a 46-25 run for the final 15 minutes of the game.

Starting off, the team struggled offensively, especially from downtown. Penn State shot at a 34.4% clip from the floor and 22.2% from three-point land.

The second half was an offensive explosion, with the Nittany Lions hitting over 60% of their shots from the field. However, the three-point shot went down, going 8-15 from beyond the arc.

Guard Kanye Clary led the charge with 19 points on 7-17 shooting and five boards. But, the help came from the bench, with UNC transfer D’Marco Dunn going for 16 points on 7-11 shooting and Lafayette transfer Leo O’Boyle lighting up the Bryce Jordan Center with 15 points on 4-5 shooting from three.

Scouting the Opponent

Georgia Tech is currently 4-3 on the year, with huge wins over No. 21 Mississippi State and No. 7 Duke. These wins have come without last year’s second-leading scorer in guard Lance Terry.

Their lineup mixes fresh faces and veteran leadership, with the four returning players accounting for 45.8 percent of the Yellow Jackets points. However, they find a new leader at the helm after firing Josh Pastner after last season in Damon Stoudamire.

Last time out for Tech, they had a tune-up game against Alabama A&M, winning 70-49. Guard Kowacie Reeves, Jr. had a team-high 20 points and a career-high of 10 boards.

The team shot 42.9% from the floor but found struggles from deep, going 8-28 from the three-point line. Along with their shooting, the Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Bulldogs 55-28; a +27 rebound margin.

Keys for Penn State

The deep ball is vital for Penn State’s success. In their five losses this season, Penn State has had a three-point percentage margin of -44.3% in total, averaging -8.86% per game.

Not only should shooting be a big key, but bench depth is a big part of the team’s success. The Nittany Lions are 5-0 when the bench scores 25+ points and 0-5 when it scores under 25 points.

If they manage to get the shooting going, the defense can force stops. Rhoades’ squads have forced 16.6 turnovers per game, which leads the Big Ten and is ranked No. 18 in the entire country.

Jonathan Draeger is a fourth-year broadcast journalism major. To contact him, email jonathan.r.draeger43@gmail.com or jrd6052@psu.edu.