Head coach Mike Rhoades and the Penn State Nittany Lions went into Mackey Arena on Saturday afternoon looking to a monumental upset victory over No. 1 Purdue, but were unable to put together a magical performance, falling 95-78 to the Boilermakers.
Penn State now falls to 8-9 on the season with the loss, dropping back-to-back games for the first time since the beginning of December. The Nittany Lions also drop to 2-4 in Big Ten play, which puts them a game out of last place in the conference.
Rhoades and company will look to snap the losing skid next time out when they host No. 15 Wisconsin at the Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday night.
The Nittany Lions kept pace with the high-powered Purdue offense over the first five minutes of the game, thanks to Kanye Clary in the early going. A Nick Kern layup at the 15:36 mark of the first half gave Penn State a 10-8 advantage in Mackey Arena.
That's when the beast that is Zach Edey and the Boilermakers awoke. Purdue responded by going on a 27-2 run that spanned over five minutes of game action. Qudus Wahab and Leo O'Boyle had the not so pleasurable duty of containing the reigning National Player of the Year, Zach Edey, which went how you may expect.
Edey accounted for 12 of Purdue's 27 points during the stretch and finished the first half with 19 points to go along with 13 rebounds for the nation's top-ranked team. Penn State found itself down 35-12 after leading just moments prior on the heels of the run.
Sophomore guards Kanye Clary and Jameel Brown did pick up the pace in the final half of the first 20 minutes to stop the bleeding for a moment. The duo combined to have 22 of Penn State's 36 points in the first half, with Clary leading the way with 13 points. Brown, who was briefly committed to Purdue in high school, went 3-4 from three-point range for nine points in just six first half minutes.
The Nittany Lions trailed by as much as 23 in the first half, but cut the deficit to 16 with 5:11 to go until the break before Edey scored the last seven points in the half for the Boilermakers, getting the lead back to 20 going into halftime.
Penn State was dominated on the glass in the first half, getting out-rebounded 24-10 by the Boilermakers in the opening 20 minutes at Mackey Arena. Purdue's six offensive rebounds also turned into nine second chance points.
That mark, paired with the Boilermakers' 8-16 clip from three-point range, led to the Nittany Lions finding themselves in a hole that proved to be too deep to dig out of.
Early in the second half, Penn State looked to be picking up some momentum, getting the deficit back down to 16 before the Boilermakers put together another strong surge. Purdue outscored Mike Rhoades' group 17-5 over the next four minutes to expand the lead to 28 at the 14:03 mark of the second half.
The Boilermakers ended up coasting to another lopsided victory throughout the second half, handing Penn State its third loss in the last four games.
Kanye Clary and Nick Kern led the way for the Nittany Lions offensively, with Kern scoring a season-high 18 points on 7-9 shooting from the field in the win, including 13 points in the second half. Clary had led Penn State in scoring in seven of the last eight games coming into Saturday's clash with the Boilermakers.
Ace Baldwin Jr. struggled shooting the basketball, scoring seven points on 2-8 shooting, but did have a career-high 13 assists, which is also the first time a Penn State player has reached double-digit assists this season.
Matching up against arguably the nation's best player, Qudus Wahab had a forgettable afternoon in West Lafayette. The Penn State big game had four points and three rebounds while dealing with foul trouble.
The Nittany Lions were outmatched on the glass, losing the rebound differential by nearly 20 against the big front line of the Boilermakers.
Despite having success in turning Purdue over throughout the game, and the second half in particular, Penn State was unable to get enough stops to make a dent in the sizable deficit, forcing 14 turnovers resulting in 17 points.
That is in addition to the Nittany Lions allowing Purdue to shoot 58% from the field and 46% (11-24) from beyond the arc in the friendly confines of Mackey Arena on Saturday afternoon.
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