Penn State’s first real measuring stick came fast, and it didn’t take long for the cracks to show.
After a 97-93 win over Chattanooga to open the season, the Nittany Lions ran into Pitt on Sunday night at The Palestra and came away with an 82-76 loss that looked a lot less like a one-off and a lot more like a warning sign. For a team built around length, veteran transfers and a hope that the pieces would fit well enough to stay afloat in the Big Ten, the first loss of the year exposed the same problem from multiple angles: Penn State doesn’t have enough creation.
That showed up immediately in the backcourt. Mike Rhoades leaned on St.
Bonaventure transfer Dasonte Bowen and Central Connecticut transfer Jay Rodgers to run the offense, but the results were rough. Against Pitt, the pair combined for four assists and three turnovers, and Penn State as a team finished with just eight assists.
That kind of ball movement would have ranked at the very bottom of Division I last season.
The issue isn’t just that the guards are new. It’s that they haven’t been able to consistently get into the lane or manufacture clean looks against Power Conference athletes. Bowen and Rodgers have experience, but they’ve looked limited off the bounce, and Penn State has been left without a reliable shot creator to steady things when possessions break down.
That matters because the rest of the roster is built more around size and role players than a true offensive engine. Ivan Juric can score some out of the post, but he’s not functioning as a modern hub.
Roko Prkacin flashed in his debut with 28 points, but that production came mostly on layups and dunks in transition or off offensive rebounds. Against Pitt, that edge disappeared.
Prkacin finished with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, along with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals in 31 minutes. It was still a solid outing, but not the kind of performance that can carry an offense.
Rhoades also spent this offseason trying to build a roster that could hold up physically by stacking the wing with 6-foot-7 to 6-foot-9 bodies. The idea made sense on paper: more length, more shooting, more switchability.
But the reality against Pitt was less forgiving. Brant Byers, who came from the MAC, and Thomas Allard, who starred at DII Alabama Huntsville, are examples of how size and a little shooting can matter at lower levels.
In the Big Ten, or even against a team like Pitt, that same profile doesn’t automatically translate if the feet are slow, the athletic pop isn’t there and the creation is thin.
Rhoades didn’t hide from the physicality issue after the game.
"We have to be more physical. Last year we weren't at all.
We were weak and soft and really young. We're older, we're bigger.
I thought we, at times, especially on the glass, we rebounded really well today. We have to continue to do that against teams that were maybe more athletic and bigger than us...
I don't think we're able to see loose balls. We had a jump ball on our basket covered and dumped it.
You got to come up with that. You got to be.
I thought there was a couple."
Defensively, Penn State tried to hard hedge ball screens and trust its length to clean up behind the action. Instead, Pitt kept finding space in the paint in the first half, with Penn State too slow to rotate and no real secondary rim protection beyond Juric. The Lions eventually leaned on a zone, and that helped some, but it’s hard to see that as a dependable fix over the long haul.
And that’s the part that stings most for Penn State. Pitt wasn’t exactly a juggernaut.
The Panthers were just athletic enough, just physical enough, to make the Lions pay for every weakness. That’s the concern now: this wasn’t a loss to a powerhouse exposing a young team.
It was a loss to a team that simply had the kind of athletes Penn State is going to keep seeing.
Maybe Rhoades can coach around some of it. Maybe the shooting comes around, and maybe the wings start to hit enough threes to stretch the floor and change the equation. But the most optimistic version of this team - the one that imagined all that size and theoretical shooting pushing Penn State into the bubble conversation for the expanded 76-team tournament - took a hit on Sunday night.
The roster is bigger. It’s older. It still may not be enough.
In Other News...
Penn State Fans Finally Got An Encouraging Jack Ham Update
Penn State fans got a reassuring update on Jack Ham after the longtime Nittany Lions legend and radio color commentator experienced a medical emergency in Seattle ahead of the Penn State-Washington game. Ham was treated at the University of Washington Medical Center, and Penn State athletics later confirmed the incident while saying he is in stable condition.
Matt Campbell and the teams broadcasters have since offered updates and support for Ham and his family, a reminder of how deeply he remains woven into the programs identity. For a fan base that has followed him for generations, the immediate concern was simply hearing that the Hall of Fame linebacker was getting the care he needed and was in a better place than the initial news suggested. [Read more 🡒]
Matt Campbell Just Changed A Penn State Problem Fans Know Too Well
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Rocco Becht drew praise for his composure, and Campbell framed the win as part of a broader push to keep developing in all phases. The run game and pass rush remain areas the staff wants to keep sharpening, but the bigger picture is clear enough: Penn State found a way to win on the road against a struggling conference opponent, and now the focus shifts to finishing at 8-4. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Biggest Offensive Turnaround Came From One Crucial Change
Penn States ground game has started to look like a different unit over the past two weeks, and the numbers tell the story. The Nittany Lions piled up 443 rushing yards across games against Purdue and Washington, with Cam Wallace and Carson Hansen both giving the offense a much-needed lift. Hansen topped 100 yards against Washington, while Wallace broke loose for a 46-yard touchdown that showed how much more explosive the run game has become.
Matt Campbell pointed to schematic adjustments and a growing sense of confidence up front as the biggest reasons for the turnaround. For an offense that had been searching for consistency on the ground, the change has been hard to miss, and it has given Penn State another layer to lean on as the season moves forward. The question now is whether that progress can hold when the competition stiffens again. [Read more 🡒]