Men’s Basketball Readies for Sunshine Slam – Fordham University Athletics

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DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. (Nov. 24, 2024) – The Fordham men’s basketball team will open up play at the Thumbtack Sunshine Slam beginning on Monday afternoon when it takes on Penn State.  Tip-off from Ocean Center is set for 4 p.m. on CBS Sports Network and the WFUV YouTube page.
 
The Sunshine Slam features the Rams’ toughest multi-tournament event field in decades.  Fordham’s first opponent, Penn State, currently ranks 34^th in KenPom following a 5-0 start to the season.  The Nittany Lions are averaging 98.2 points per game and have eclipsed the 100-point plateau three times in five chances.  The other side of the bracket features Clemson, which ranks 37^th in KenPom and is coming off an appearance in the Elite Eight, and San Francisco, which is off to a 4-1 start with a win over Boise State and ranks 56^th in KenPom.  It is believed to be the strongest field for Fordham at an in-season tournament since the 1993 Fiesta Bowl Classic, which featured No. 12 Arizona, defending national runner-up No. 7 Michigan and Auburn.
 
Fordham (3-3) is coming off a 73-71 loss at home to Drexel on Friday night.  Trailing by seven with just over a minute to play, the Rams battled back for a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but Jackie Johnson III’s layup missed its target and the Fordham comeback fell short.  Johnson once again led the way for Fordham, scoring 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting.  On the season, Johnson is averaging 19.0 points per game and has scored no fewer than 18 points in any one game against Division I foes.  In 59 games over two seasons at UNLV, Johnson never scored more than 17 points in a single contest.
 
Japhet Medor, Jahmere Tripp and Abdou Tsimbila all finished with 10 points apiece against Drexel.  Medor added eight rebounds and five assists while Tripp scored nine of his 10 points in the second half.  Tsimbila also chipped in eight rebounds. 
 
Fordham’s last trip to Florida for an MTE came in the fall of 2021, when the Rams went 2-1 to finish third at the Gulf Coast Showcase under first-year head coach Kyle Neptune. 
 
Monday will mark the first time that Fordham Head Coach Keith Urgo has faced Penn State since arriving at Rose Hill.  Before coming to Fordham as the team’s associate head coach in 2021, Urgo spent 10 seasons on staff in State College, including eight as the team’s associate head coach.  Penn State tallied two 20-win seasons with Urgo on staff, winning the 2018 NIT and climbing as high as no. 9 in the nation during the 2019-20 season before Covid dashed the Nittany Lions’ NCAA Tournament chances. While at Penn State, he recruited Tsimbila, who spent 2020-21 with the Nittany Lions before transferring to Fordham with Urgo the following year.
 
Penn State is coming off a 102-89 win over Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday night.  The 13-point margin was the Nittany Lions’ closest of the season, as they also toppled Virginia Tech by 22, Saint Francis by 30 and UMBC by 49.  Penn State opened the season against a common Fordham opponent in Binghamton, defeating by Bearcats, 108-66, on Nov. 4
 
The Nittany Lions are led by a pair of familiar faces in former VCU head coach Mike Rhoades and 2023 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Ace Baldwin.  Baldwin, a two-time A-10 Defensive Player of the Year while at VCU, is averaging 16.4 points 7.8 assists and 2.6 steals per game on the campaign.  Senior forward Zach Hicks, a Temple transfer, is averaging 15.8 points and 5.0 boards per game in Penn State’s 5-0 start.
 
The winner of Monday’s game between Fordham and Penn State will face the winner of the other semifinal between Clemson and USF on Tuesday at 4 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.  The third-place game will tip off at 1:30, also on CBS Sports Network.