Big Ten Basketball: 2020-21 power rankings heading into league play

By Ryan Kay | Dec 20, 2020

ANN ARBOR, MI - FEBRUARY 08: Marcus Bingham Jr. #30 of the Michigan State Spartans battle for position against Austin Davis #51 of the Michigan Wolverines in the first half of the game at Crisler Arena on February 8, 2020 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

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Myreon Jones Penn State Nittany Lions(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

491. . 3-2. . Nittany Lions . 10. team

Wins

VMI
VCU
@ No. 15 Virginia Tech

Losses

Seton Hall in OT
@ No. 25 Michigan

KenPom ranking: 44

Reasons for Hope: The Nittany Lions have a quality win against an A-10 opponent and a solid team in VCU and they are one of the few teams to defeat a top 15 ranked team on the road. Their 20 point win over Virginia Tech is very impressive. Their only losses were against a quality opponent in Seton Hall that went into overtime and a four-point road loss against a ranked opponent.

Reasons to be Pessimistic: This team even though they may have had one of the toughest schedules up to this point, could easily be undefeated but they are not. They need to be more consistent moving forward and close out games to continue to improve on the season.

Brief Overview of the Season

The Nittany Lions lost a ton of players from last season. Penn State did, however, bring a very solid and dependable group back from last season in Seth Lundy, Izaiah Brockington, Myreon Jones, and Myles Dread.

Penn State has gone through a transformation as Pat Chambers resigned back in late October and new interim head coach Jim Ferry has taken over the program. However, the Nittany Lions have played four straight tough opponents in VCU, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, and Michigan with two of them being on the road. The Nittany Lions have been able to win two of those four games.

Penn State has eight players averaging 12 or more minutes per game which has shown depth for the Nittany Lions lately and it has allowed Penn State to be competitive, even in games they lost as of late.

Penn State has already proven that they are a team that can compete in league play if they have consistent guard play. Even though the Nittany Lions have lost two of their last three games, it is still impressive especially when doing it in the best, most competitive basketball conference in America that they can win regardless of where they play. The Nittany Lions will next host No.
13 Illinois next on Dec. 23rd.

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