Michigan State loss displays harsh reality of building Penn State basketball program

Penn State basketball ended last week on a three-game winning streak and back above .500 for the first time in over a month. But that was last week. The Nittany Lions have backslid after appearing to have righted the ship, falling to Northwestern Sunday and Michigan State Wednesday evening. After this most recent loss, Mike Rhoades discussed the harsh realities of program building and the challenges ahead for his Nittany Lions.

Penn State basketball is not that program, yet

Peaks and valleys. It’s been the story of the Penn State basketball program in the first year under Mike Rhoades. The Nittany Lions have been close, but not close enough.

But in the last two weeks, Penn State appeared to have turned a corner. After losing five of seven games to start January, the Nittany Lions had won three straight, including hard-fought road wins at Rutgers and Indiana. Arguably, Rhoades had the Nittany Lions playing some of the best basketball in the Big Ten.

And then, they weren’t. It’s been a quick fall back to reality for Penn State in the last two games, leading for only a combined 13:38 over the last 80 minutes of basketball. The Nittany Lions fell into an early hole Wednesday against Michigan State and could never recover, losing to the Spartans 80-72 at home.

After the game, a visibly frustrated Mike Rhoades talked to the media about the gap that exists between the program that Tom Izzo has built at Michigan State and the one he is trying to establish in Happy Valley.

“We got we got beat today by a team with a culture. Period,” Rhoades stated. “And it’s a well-established culture, as we all know about it, and it’s probably the best in the Big Ten. And, you know, that’s where we got to get to someday.

“Throughout this year, we’ve shown that we have some really good basketball in us,” he continued. “It’s won us some games in the Big Ten. We’re not an easy out. But we’re not good enough to beat programs with real culture, great culture, and that’s where we got to fight to get to, and today was an example of that.”

The hot start to February only makes the outcomes of the last week even more difficult to swallow, and highlights just how far the Nittany Lions have to go.

“Today’s a frustrating day because you want to find a way to stay at that level against a good team like Michigan State, and we’re just we’re not that program yet,” Rhoades said.

Built for this

In many ways, Penn State’s 12-13 record can be considered a valiant effort, given the practically bare cupboard that Mike Rhoades inherited when he took over the program in March.

The Nittany Lions couldn’t even field a starting lineup when Rhoades got to Happy Valley last spring. The new Penn State basketball staff has quickly built a team that competes hard, is entertaining to watch, and has even pulled out an upset or two this year.

Still, there’s no hiding that the program is nowhere near where Mike Rhoades wants it to be. Mental toughness and consistency are frequent themes of post-game press conferences this season. Rhoades is determined to build a Penn State basketball program with grit at its center. It won’t be easy, but the Nittany Lions head coach believes it is possible, perhaps, even this season.

“You guys probably wrote us off, and then we go win at Rutgers and win at Indiana,” Rhoades said. “And none of you guys thought we’d win at Indiana. I thought we could. I thought we could have won today.

“That’s why I took the job, because people don’t think we could win here. Watch. We will. It’s just gonna be really, really hard. And there’s gonna be a lot of tough decisions. And you’re gonna have some nights like this. I’m built for this. And I’m gonna find dudes that want to be built for this.

Penn State basketball returns to action Saturday afternoon with a road trip to Nebraska.

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