Penn State looks to bounce back against Bucknell after tough stretch

Heading into Thanksgiving weekend, Penn State was riding a four-game win streak to open the season.

However, smiles quickly turned to frowns among the Nittany Lion faithful as the squad went winless on their trip down to Florida for the ESPN Events Invitational.

Now, just about a week later, Penn State will once again hit the hardwood with hopes of getting back in the win column.

Head coach Mike Rhoades touched on the mentality of the team after experiencing a lack of success as they did last weekend.

“When you lose three in a row, you probably hit your confidence… there are failures from week to week… we gotta get better from it.”

To their advantage, they will once again be playing in front of a home crowd at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The Nittany Lions have yet to lose in the building through four games played to open the season before their tournament appearance in Orlando.

Heading into their matchup against the 2-7 Bucknell Bison, Rhoades may look to make some changes to a lineup that’s looked the same since game two.

“I always say everything’s on the table. We’re not changing our makeup, our foundation, but sometimes you gotta shake some things up.”

For all but one game the starting lineup has consisted of Ace Baldwin Jr., Kanye Clary, Nick Kern Jr., Zach Hicks and Qudus Wahab.

Baldwin, Clary and Wahab seem like safe bets to start, but UNC transfer Puff Johnson seems to be the most likely option to be elevated from a bench role.

Heading into the season, he was an expected starter by many, but an injury in the offseason sidelined him for the first two games of the season.

Recently he has been finding his footing, however, putting up a season-high 15 against Texas A&M in the opening contest of last weekend’s festivities.

As well as Johnson’s emergence, Kanye Clary's return to regular minutes should boost Penn State’s lineup against the Bison.

Clary suffered an injury early in Sunday’s matchup against VCU that Mike Rhoades deemed a “stinger,” leaving his arm with little feeling for the majority of the matchup.

The breakout sophomore said that he would be good to go with no limitations.

“I’m fine physically. I mean, at the end of the day, there’s no excuses… but you put on the jersey and you have to go out there and perform.”

With their 12-game non-conference home win streak on the line, the Nittany Lions will face Bucknell for the first time since 2019 as they search for their 80th win in the all-time series and their fifth win of the season.

The game will take place at noon on Saturday, Dec. 2.

Jakob Schnur is a fourth year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jks6463@psu.edu.