Mar 1, 2025; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions guard Freddie Dilione V (4) moves the ball up the court during the first half against the Maryland Terrapins at Bryce Jordan Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images
While most of the world was watching the NFL, and students were cleaning up after the THON 5K, Penn State Basketball destroyed Shippensburg 86-67 in the Nittany Lions‘ final tune-up before the 2025-2026 season starts next Monday vs Fairfield.
Despite initial nightmares harkening back to a 2007 game that shall not be mentioned, the Raiders were outclassed from opening tip.
Shippensburg was forced to call an early timeout down 10-0 and didn’t score until the 12:07 mark, cutting the Nittany Lion lead to 19-2.
Penn State led 48-19 at the half, and the rest of the game was academic from there.
Starting for the Penn State was star recruit Kayden Mingo (9 points and 7 assists but just 1 for 6 from deep), along side Tibor Mirtic, Ivan Juric, Eli Rice and Dominick Stewart.
Perhaps surprisingly again to see leading returning scorer Freddie Dilione V come off the bench again, as he did a week ago in Penn State’s 78-62 loss at Dayton.
Dilione finished with a team-high 21 points. Eli Rice started the Nittany Lion hot streak with 4 three’s in the opening ten minutes, a stanza that saw 9 different players see minutes.
Unfortunately, both Josh Reed and Sasa Ciana, expected to play large roles this season, did not suit up and were seen on the sidelines, each wearing a boot. Hard to take much away from a game where the dull ‘d-fense’ chants from the Shippensburg bench were louder than the sitting, seven-person student section, but one area of concern for the Nittany Lions is three-point shooting.
The Lions finished shooting just 11 for 32, a 34.4 percentage far worse if you take out Eli Rice’s 4-8 mark.
Penn State opens the season hosting Fairfield next Monday, November 3rd at 7:00 pm on the Big Ten Network. Follow along the entire season with the Shots Gotta Fall Podcast, the premiere, the best, the only Penn State Basketball.
NittanyCentral is his second reporting job following the Men's Basketball program. He co-founded and co-hosts the Shots Gotta Fall - The Penn State Basketball Podcast (the premiere, the best, the only) with Steve Travis.
Smith's most proud moment covering the team was seeing the national No. 9 ranking during Pat Chambers' last year. His most embarrassing moment was spending almost a thousand dollars to travel 2,000 miles in 46 hours to watch the Nittany Lions lose to Temple in the 2011 NCAA Tournament (screw you Juan Fernandez).
- Freddie Dilione V Sparks Penn State Basketball to 3-0 Start With Win Over Navy - November 11, 2025
- Penn State Basketball Survives Scare vs. Fairfield in Season Opener | What We Learned - November 3, 2025
- Penn State Basketball Crushes Shippensburg in Final Tune-Up Before 2025 Season - October 27, 2025
About the Author
