Penn State Spoils McNair's Career Night, 96-87

Tuesday, November 25

University Park, PA

7 PM

Boston University

3-4,0-0Patriot

Penn State

6-1,0-0Big Ten

Boston U.

Penn St.

Michael McNair holds the ball in front of the Northwestern bench

Penn State Spoils McNair's Career Night, 96-87

November 25, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Coach Jones Postgame

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Despite junior Michael McNair scoring a career-high 28 points and the roster shooting a combined 57.4 percent from the field, the Boston University men's basketball team dropped a 96-87 decision at Penn State Tuesday night.

The Terriers (3-4) posted a 16-8 advantage in made 3-pointers but were unable to overcome a 31-13 deficit in fouls called, as the Nittany Lions (6-1) finished the contest more than tripling BU in made free throws, 28-9. PSU also shot 67.9 FG% for a 51-35 halftime lead and ended the contest shooting 30-of-52 (.577) while holding BU to 31-of-54 (.574).

Down by as many as 21 early in the second half, McNair went 9-for-11 with six of his career-high seven made 3-pointers during the final 20 minutes of action to help BU pull within nine at 7:55 and again at the 44-second mark. Senior Ben Roy dished out four assists and tied sophomore Azmar Abdullah at 11 points apiece, while freshman Sam Hughes earned 10 points. Sophomore Ben Defty led the rebounding effort with eight boards but was limited to just 22 minutes of action due to foul trouble.

All five starting Nittany Lions finished in double figures with Josh Reed posting 17 points and eight rebounds. Kayden Mingo tallied 14 points, four assists and two steals, while Melih Tunca recorded 16 points and four assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The teams went back-and-forth through the first four minutes of action with McNair hitting his lone field goal of the half from behind the arc for a 3-2 lead at 18:20 and Roy driving to the hoop two minutes later for 7-5 advantage.
Reed though responded on the next possession with a 3-pointer to give Penn State the lead for good.
After Hughes scored his first of two 3-pointers to pull within four, 17-13, at 12:52, Freddie Dilione responded with a contested jumper to spark a 9-0 run capped by Reed's jumper with 10:30 left in the half.
Making his first appearance since the Nov. 12 game vs. Brown in which he left the court due to injury, graduate student Malcolm Chimezie scored on a layup to cut PSU's lead to 51-35 entering the locker room.
The Nittany Lions extended their lead to 61-40 at 16:56 in the second half, but Abdullah flushed two 3-pointers and watched Okwuosa added another at 14:03 to pull within 12 (61-49).
Hughes's jumper put the deficit at 65-55 with 11:55 remaining, and McNair's back-to-back treys had BU down by nine (75-66) at 7:55.
PSU would never let the Terriers rally any closer the rest of the game by hitting 21 free throws in the second half to seal the victory.

GAME NOTES

McNair's seven 3-pointers are the most made by a Terrier since Cedric Hankerson ('18) set a program record shooting 10-for-20 at Syracuse on Dec. 10, 2016.
BU's 16 3-pointers were two shy of tying the program record set at Lafayette just a month after the Syracuse contest.
Abdullah became the seventh Terrier to score in double figures this season after reaching the figure five times his rookie year.
After averaging just 11.9 assists last season, BU has now reached 20+ this year three times to increase the season average to 16.3 apg.
Penn State evened the series at 2-2 in the first meeting since the 1983-84 season.
The Nittany Lions outscored BU in the paint (38-26), off turnovers (13-7) and in second-chance opportunities (14-10).
BU is now 29-2 under head coach Joe Jones when shooting 55.0+ FG% after the Terriers fell at UMass Lowell, 87-82, despite shooting 56.3 FG% back on Dec. 13, 2017. Similar to tonight's game, the River Hawks delivered most of the damage at the charity stripe, finishing with a 28-4 advantage in made free throws.

UP NEXT

BU will wrap up the road trip by visiting Northern Kentucky on Saturday (Nov. 29) at 1 p.m.
The teams will meet for the first time ever with the Terriers seeking their first victory against the Horizon League since posting a 71-55 win at Youngstown State during the 2004-05 campaign.