Penn State star Ace Baldwin was excited to play college basketball against Purdue. Unfortunately, the officials during Thursday’s upset win misconstrued his elation as
They called what is perhaps the softest and worst technical foul of the season after a harmless celebration.
Baldwin, a fifth-year senior, followed head coach Mike Rhoades from VCU to Penn State prior to last year. He specifically called out Boilermakers guard Braden Smith during the preseason and not-so-subtly threw shade in his direction. The Nittany Lions’ primary scorer referred to him as the “player of the year, supposedly” while sharing his excitement to shut him down.
Oh boy. We might have fireworks tonight folks.
— Jordan Stocks (@StockTalks21) December 5, 2024
Here is the clip of Penn State guard Ace Baldwin Jr saying he wants to get the best of Purdue’s Braden Smith.
“He’s the player of the year, supposedly.” 👀 pic.twitter.com/k3K6vVZdTh
With that in mind, the referees on Thursday night might’ve been oversensitive to the trash talk. They either paid extra attention to any/all of Baldwin’s actions or completely misunderstood what happened.
Penn State took a 17-point lead over Purdue on a wide-open straightaway triple during the second half. Baldwin celebrated by holding out his left arm and pointing to his left forearm with his right hand. He was assessed a technical foul. The Boilermakers got two shots and the ball.
Ace Baldwin DRAINS the 3 🥶 👌 then gets called for the technical pic.twitter.com/rwo99brrSr
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 6, 2024
Although the foul did not impact the result, it was totally bogus. Ace Baldwin was inferring that he has “ice in his veins,” which has been his signature celebration. The Nittany Lions posted the following image back in October. It shows him doing the exact same gesture during practice.
There has been a crackdown on gun-like celebrations in every sport on all levels this year— especially college football and the NFL. Perhaps the college basketball officials in State College thought Ace Baldwin was brandishing a weapon. They might’ve T’d him up because his left hand was pointed outward with only two fingers and a thumb pointed outward. They might’ve T’d him up because they were hypersensitive to his trash talk toward Smith.
Regardless of the reason, Baldwin picked up the softest technical foul of the season because he gestured about the metaphorical ice in his veins. Weak.