It’s no longer a tumble for the Nittany Lions, but an avalanche. After tonight’s 69 - 61 loss to a struggling Minnesota team, Penn State has now lost eight of their last nine, including four straight. Coach Rhoades’ squad now sits at 3-9 in conference play, in sole possession of 17th place in the Big Ten.Penn State entered tonight’s matchup down starters Puff Johnson and Yanic Konan Niederhauser due to injury. Johnson is dealing with an apparent hand injury, while Konan Niederhauser suffered a left foot injury in practice that has him in a walking boot. Despite this, the Nittany Lions still entered the game as seven point favorites on their home floor.

Both teams started off awfully slow tonight. Penn State needed nearly seven minutes to score their first points, and held just a 12-8 lead after 12 minutes of action. Thanks to a big first half from D’Marco Dunn, Penn State entered halftime up 25-21.

Unfortunately for them, Minnesota caught fire in the second half, scoring 48 points and shooting 69.6% from the field. Despite only 1 second half turnover, Penn State was not able to match this second half effort. They shot a poor 30.3% and scored just two fast break points, an area they normally thrive in.

Not only has this slump cost the Nittany Lions a chance at playing in March Madness, Big Ten tournament hopes are decreasing each game too. Thanks to the off-season's conference realignment that saw the addition of four west coast schools, Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington, the Big Ten now only admits the top 15 teams to the conference tournament in Indianapolis. Sitting in 17th place with a two-game road trip coming up, and losses to 4-7 Rutgers, 4-6 Iowa, 5-6 Iowa, and 5-6 Oregon, things don’t look good for the Nittany Lions.

In the absence of Yanic Konan Niederhauser, four-star freshman Miles Goodman was able to get quality minutes for the Nittany Lions today.

Penn State will head out west for a two game road trip, taking on UCLA on Saturday, February 8th, and USC on Tuesday, February 11th. After that, they’ll return home for a matchup with a Washington team that currently sits in last place in the Big Ten.