Early struggles, turnovers, and a youthful roster plague Penn State basketball. The coach points to inexperience as the key culprit behind their losing streak.
On Wednesday, Penn State went into halftime trailing Rutgers 39-20 before the Scarlet Knights ultimately prevailed 85-72.
On Saturday, the Nittany Lions trailed Nebraska 38-20 after 20 minutes. The Cornhuskers would go on to win 87-64, dropping PSU to 11-17 overall and 2-15 in the Big Ten, the worst record in the conference.
Penn State has struggled to score out of the gate. Against Nebraska, defensive mistakes were an issue. So were turnovers. PSU lost the turnover battle 15-11.
During his postgame news conference, PSU head coach Mike Rhoades reiterated the point yet again that the team's struggles have to do with the fact that the roster is young.
"You know, for most of the year, we did a good job taking care of the ball for a young team, and then in Big Ten play, in certain games, it's really hurt us early in games, and then we're behind," Rhoades said, via Hail State.
"And today was an example of that. We had 11 turnovers, only four assists in the first half. Second half, we had only four turnovers and nine assists, and we started scoring the ball. And, you know, we needed to get up."
PSU only has one senior and two juniors on the roster. The Nittany Lions have eight freshmen, and it doesn't appear like Rhoades has faith in them to play fundamental basketball at this point.
While some bumps were expected, recent results are concerning. There doesn't seem to be much growth from the new class.
Earlier in the year, Rhoades suggested he wanted to bring in some older players via the transfer portal in the offseason.
“Recruiting has changed, and it's changing as we're speaking right now,” Rhoades said.
“You always want to get high school talent, without a doubt, but you also make sure, like in the Big Ten, you got to be completely open to getting older all the time because that's what our league is doing, and that's what power-four teams are doing.”
It'll be interesting to see if Penn State brings Rhoades back to coach the young team next season. In three seasons at PSU, Rhoades will now have two losing seasons.