Penn State’s margin of error isn’t large enough to overcome 16 turnovers, poor shot selection and other mistakes against a decent Power 4 foe such as Pitt.
The Nittany Lions (2-1) paid the price for those shortcomings on Sunday in Philadelphia, absorbing an 82-76 loss.
Penn State will try to address those weaknesses Thursday night when it hosts Mercyhurst in a non-conference matchup in University Park, Pa.
Penn State coach Mike Rhoades pointed to a 14-3 Pitt run late in the first half as the turning point. The Nittany Lions committed a pair of ugly turnovers during the stretch and also wasted three possessions by either missing contested layups or forcing a long 2-point shot.
“That’s the part where you gotta have a lot of mental discipline to play at this level, to be successful at this level,” Rhoades said. “We’ve got to learn not to beat ourselves. We’ve got to be the toughest and most disciplined (team). We got to get better at that.”
Roko Prkacin is the Nittany Lions’ leading scorer at an average of 17.3 points per game, canning 20 of 24 field-goal attempts.
While Penn State looks to bounce back, Mercyhurst (1-2) will try to build on its first win of the season — an 89-50 blowout of Penn State Shenango. Deraje Agbaosi scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Lakers, who amassed 56 points in the paint and dominated the glass 54-25.
Mercyhurst was tabbed in a preseason poll for a second-place finish in the Northeast Conference after playing for the league’s tournament championship last season, losing 79-70 to Long Island. Preseason All-NEC pick Jake Lemelman is the Lakers’ leading scorer through three games at 15.7 ppg.
The Lakers are in their third year in Division I after playing in the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. Coach Gary Manchel is in his 24th season as Mercyhurst’s coach and owns a program-record 406 wins.
This will be the first meeting between Penn State and Mercyhurst.