College Basketball

Penn State Basketball: Nittany Lions Look to Upset No. 24 Minnesota

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:51 p.m. ET

Fansided, Barry Leonard Jr./FanSided via Victory Bell Rings

The Penn State basketball team has a chance to beat a ranked opponent Saturday afternoon.

Penn State basketball head coach Patrick Chambers will lead the Nittany Lions into a big conference battle with the No. 24 Minnesota Golden Gophers. Penn State has had a week off since upsetting the Michigan State Spartans will look to pull of another conference upset.

The Nittany Lions have had plenty of bumps in the road this season, but the young team has a ton of potential. True freshmen Mike Watkins, Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens have been as good as advertised. Upper classmen Shep Garner and Payton Banks have also played big roles this season.

Garner leads the team with 12.8 points and 2.9 assists per game. Stevens is right behind Garner with 12.7 points a game. He’s second on the team with 5.9 rebounds a game. Banks is the team’s best three-point shooter, converting 40 percent from behind the arc.

The freshman duo of Stevens and Carr combined for 32 of Penn State’s 72 points against the Spartans last Saturday.

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Minnesota has lost just three games this year, but is coming off a disappointing loss to Michigan State Wednesday night.

The Golden Gophers are led on offense by junior guard Nate Mason. He’s averaging 14.3 points and 5.4 assists per game. Talented freshman Amir Coffey is putting up 12.2 points a game.

Tip-off for the battle between the Nittany Lions and the Golden Gophers is set for 12:00 p.m. The game will be shown live on ESPNU.