Penn State basketball blown away by Rutgers

Penn State failed to keep pace on the road at Rutgers on Tuesday night in a dreadful 65-45 loss in Big Ten play. The loss drops Penn State to 13-7 overall and back to one game under .500 in Big Ten play at 4-5.

Penn State’s uncharacteristically cold three-point shooting did them no favors. Penn State shot just 4-of-26 from beyond the three-point line for what was easily a season-low in three-pointers.

Jalen Pickett led the Nittany Lions with 15 points and eight rebounds and Seth Lundy and Andrew Funk each added 12 points to the low-scoring total. Penn State held a 16-11 advantage in the first half before Rutgers put together a run to put Penn State in the rearview mirror before halftime.

Penn State would get as close as three points of Rutgers early in the second half but Rutgers answered with a run of their own and buried Penn State with back-to-back three-pointers to build a massive 51-38 lead just past the midway point of the second half.

Penn State’s next game will be played at home on Sunday afternoon against Michigan. Penn State came up short on the road in Ann Arbor in the previous meeting between the Nittany Lions and Wolverines despite a decent second-half rally to make things interesting.