Nov. 24, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., Nov. 24, 2008 - Penn State sophomore point-guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) earned his first Big Ten Player of the Week honor Monday after a sensational week in which he averaged 20.3 points, 5.0 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 66 percent (21-of-32) from the field to lead Penn State to three wins and a 4-0 start to the season.
Battle, a team co-captain, shared his first weekly conference honor with Northwestern's Craig Moore. He earned the 20th weekly honor for the Lions since joining the conference in 1993 and is the 11th Nittany Lion basketball player to be honored overall.
Battle was sensational in three games last week helping Penn State improve to 4-0 on the year and extend its home court win streak to nine games, the team's longest in 12 years. Battle posted outings of 16, 21 and 24 points on the week, twice logged a career high and team-leading total of six assists and tied for the team lead once with eight rebounds in victories over NJIT (74-47), Hartford (89-64) and New Hampshire (70-50).
For the week Battle tallied 61 points (20.3 ppg), 15 assists (5.0 apg), 14 rebounds (4.7 rpg) and five steals. He shot 21-of-32 (66%) from the floor and 10-of-17 (59%) from three, including a career-best 9-of-11 (82%) outing from the field for a game-high 24 points in Penn State's victory over New Hampshire Sunday in which he added a team-high total of eight boards.
Battle committed just three turnovers (1.0 tpg) while playing an average of 34 minutes per game at the point. Following the week's games the Big Ten Network's Tim Doyle proclaimed Battle "the best point-guard in the Big Ten" on the Big Ten Tonight show Sunday evening. He currently ranks third in the Big Ten averaging 20.5 points per game.
Penn State will hit the road for a four-game road swing, the program's longest since 2001, starting with a Tuesday clash at Pennsylvania. That game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip and can be heard live on the Penn State Sports Network. A live audio feed and Gametracker link will be available on GoPSUsports.com.