Penn State’s first week has already offered a little bit of everything: a blowout win, a scare, and a loss that showed there’s still work to do.
Now Mike Rhoades’ team gets a pair of chances to steady itself at home, with Mercyhurst coming to the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday and New Haven following on Sunday. Both visitors arrive with 1-2 records, and both give the Nittany Lions a shot to clean up the rough edges from the opening stretch.
The season began with Penn State looking every bit the part in a 97-57 rout of Canisius on Nov. 2.
Two nights later, the Nittany Lions were pushed hard by Chattanooga before surviving a second-half collapse and escaping with a four-point win on Nov. 5.
Then came a trip east for a neutral-site meeting with Pitt at the Palestra, where Penn State looked less sharp in an 82-76 loss to the Panthers.
Mercyhurst gets the first crack at the Nittany Lions in a 6:30 p.m. tip Thursday. The Lakers have already taken a difficult early-season road swing, opening at Marquette and falling 78-43 before heading to Notre Dame and dropping an 83-56 game against a team led by former Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry. Mercyhurst finally got into the win column Saturday, rolling past Penn State Shenango 89-50 at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center behind 18 points from Deraje Agbaosi.
Jake Lemelman has been the most productive scorer so far for the Lakers, averaging 15.7 points per game. Geoff Sprouse and Cameron Johnson are next in line at 9.3 and 9 points per game, respectively. One name to keep in mind off the bench is Or Faran, a 6-foot-5 guard from Givatayim, Israel, who has been quiet this season but played a significant role for Team Israel at the 2025 FIBA U18 Eurobasket last summer.
This will be the first all-time meeting between Penn State and Mercyhurst after the Lakers moved up to Division I in 2024.
Sunday brings another first for the Nittany Lions this week, this time against New Haven at 4:30 p.m. The Chargers have also started 1-2, opening with a 74-58 loss at Syracuse in the JMA Wireless Dome and then taking an 81-54 defeat at Rutgers. They picked up their first win Sunday with a 63-55 victory over Army, powered by 18 points from 6-foot-1 guard Danny Young Jr.
New Haven’s leading scorer through three games is 6-foot-7 forward Teshaun Steele, who is averaging 13.9 points per game on a 49.6% clip. He had 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in the loss to Rutgers. Zoumana Traore and Young are also contributing, averaging 9.3 and 8.3 points per game, respectively.
Penn State and New Haven met for the first time last season in the opening game of a home-and-home series. The Nittany Lions went on the road to The Hazell Center in West Haven, Connecticut, and came away with an 87-43 win in front of 1,087 fans, with Dominick Stewart scoring 18 points.
In Other News...
Penn State Wrestling Suddenly Has A Braeden Davis Problem
Braeden Davis is suddenly missing from Penn States wrestling roster just as the season is about to get underway, and the timing makes the situation hard to ignore. A wrestler who has already carved out a significant place in the program, Davis won a Big Ten title and earned All-American honors during his time in Happy Valley, making his absence a notable development for a team that usually enters the year with championship expectations.
What remains unclear is whether this is a short-term change or something more lasting, and Penn State officials have not commented on his status. Davis also dealt with legal issues in 2025, adding another layer to a situation that now leaves more questions than answers for a program that rarely has to deal with uncertainty this close to the start of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces A Big Concern In A Tricky Minnesota Test
Penn State heads into a tricky Big Ten road test against Minnesota with both teams coming off a demanding stretch, and the matchup looks like it could be decided in the trenches. The Gophers have already been tested by quality opponents, and the Nittany Lions know they will need clean work from both lines, steady special teams play and sharp execution from their skill players to avoid letting a physical game drift into a grind.
Injuries and recent player developments only add to the uncertainty around this one, with both sides carrying some fresh questions into kickoff. For Penn State, the concern is less about one isolated area than the overall balance of the matchup, because Minnesota has enough across the board to make this a difficult afternoon if the Lions are even a little off in any phase. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces One Brutal Reality In Its Quarterback Search
The quarterback market in college football has moved into a different stratosphere, and Penn State is staring at that reality as it tries to sort out its next starter. According to a report by On3, top-tier quarterbacks are now expected to command between $4 million and $7 million a season through NIL deals, a range that underscores how expensive the position has become for programs trying to reload quickly.
For Penn State, the timing makes the challenge even sharper. Rocco Becht is set to depart, leaving Alex Manske as an unproven option, and the Nittany Lions have to navigate a search in a market where Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor is reportedly finalizing a deal worth up to $9 million with incentives. The concern is not just finding the right fit on the field, but whether Penn State can keep pace financially with the schools chasing the same elite quarterbacks. [Read more 🡒]