Rice leads Penn State against Northwestern after 20-point showing

Penn State Nittany Lions (9-11, 0-9 Big Ten) at Northwestern Wildcats (9-11, 1-8 Big Ten)

Evanston, Illinois; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Penn State visits Northwestern after Eli Rice scored 20 points in Penn State’s 84-78 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Wildcats have gone 6-4 at home. Northwestern ranks sixth in the Big Ten with 17.8 assists per game led by Jayden Reid averaging 5.3.

The Nittany Lions are 0-9 in Big Ten play. Penn State gives up 77.8 points to opponents and has been outscored by 1.2 points per game.

Northwestern’s average of 6.2 made 3-pointers per game is 3.5 fewer made shots on average than the 9.7 per game Penn State gives up. Penn State averages 76.6 points per game, 4.9 more than the 71.7 Northwestern gives up.

The Wildcats and Nittany Lions face off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nick Martinelli averages 1.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, scoring 23.4 points while shooting 48.1% from beyond the arc. Reid is shooting 37.5% and averaging 10.2 points over the last 10 games.

Rice is shooting 45.6% from beyond the arc with 1.8 made 3-pointers per game for the Nittany Lions, while averaging 8.3 points. Freddie Filione V is averaging 13.7 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wildcats: 3-7, averaging 70.7 points, 28.2 rebounds, 17.0 assists, 4.9 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 43.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.3 points per game.

Nittany Lions: 1-9, averaging 71.2 points, 26.8 rebounds, 12.5 assists, 6.1 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 43.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 81.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.