Fresh off an exhilarating comeback victory, Penn State heads to New York City on Saturday for a matchup against Georgia Tech as part of the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.
The Nittany Lions (5-5) had dropped five straight games and were staring at a sixth consecutive loss last Saturday before rallying from an 18-point, second-half deficit to stun Ohio State 83-80.
Ace Baldwin Jr. drained a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left to put an exclamation point on the come-from-behind win. Penn State made eight 3-pointers in the second half to generate some much-needed momentum heading into its clash with Georgia Tech (5-3).
“We ain’t never give up,” Baldwin said. “We played until the clock hit zero, and Coach just told us after (halftime), ‘Just go out and play.’ That’s what we did.”
Kanye Clary led Penn State with 19 points, while D’Marco Dunn and Leo O’Boyle — both of whom average fewer than six points per game on the season — combined for 31 points off the bench.
The Nittany Lions would love to have that kind of scoring depth once again against a Yellow Jackets team that has had a bizarre season to this point.
Georgia Tech has defeated then-No. 21 Mississippi State and then-No. 7 Duke, but it also has lost to UMass Lowell, eked past Howard by three points and gotten obliterated by Cincinnati by 35.
Most recently, Georgia Tech rolled over Alabama A&M 70-49 last weekend as Kowacie Reeves Jr. posted 20 points and 10 rebounds. Tyzhaun Claude contributed 10 points and nine boards off the bench.
Coach Damon Stoudamire’s team will look to improve in areas such as 3-point shooting (8 of 28 vs. Alabama A&M) and particularly when it comes to turnovers (20).
“Big picture,” Stoudamire said, “it’s going to be hard to win games if we keep playing at a deficit in terms of the turnovers.”
Penn State leads the all-time series 3-1, although the teams have not met since 2016.
–Field Level Media
