Nov. 7, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., Nov. 7, 2008 - The Nittany Lion basketball team has named captains as they prepare for their first exhibition game Sunday at 2:00 p.m. vs. Bloomsburg in the Bryce Jordan Center and the season opener Fri., Nov. 14 vs. William and Mary in the BJC.
A vote of 14 team members installed seniors Jamelle Cornley (Columbus, Ohio) and Danny Morrissey (Cleveland, Ohio) and sophomore Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) as captains for the 2008-09 season.
"I think we have some strong leadership from seniors such as (Jamelle) Cornley and (Danny) Morrissey who have been in the program for several years, played a lot of games for us and have really bought into the goals and ideals of our program," sixth-year head coach Ed DeChellis said. "That's a great thing between Talor, Jamelle and Danny when they were named captains by their teammates. I think that's a great thing when you see a sophomore at that age be nominated by his teammates to be one of the captains. I think that speaks volumes about how the guys on the team feel about him."
Battle and Cornley shared team MVP honors last season and are the team's top two returning scorers averaging 10.2 ppg and 12.1 ppg, respectively. Battle started 30 games as a freshman and proved to be one of the top freshmen in the Big Ten by seasons end. Cornley, two-time All-Big Ten honoree, earned third-team All-Big Ten honors last season despite dealing with a knee injury the entire year. Morrissey, who has played in 91 games and started 52, returns for his final campaign as the sixth all-time three-point shooter in Nittany Lion history with 175 career threes. He has led the team in three-point shooting every season he has played and is within range of joining Cornley among the 28 Nittany Lions to score 1,000 career points.
"We are excited about this year's team," DeChellis said. "I think we have a good team. I think the kids really enjoy themselves and like each other. They worked hard in the summer. We had a great summer. They are excited about the team and think we can be good. They saw what they could do together in a joint effort. We are very optimistic about what we can do."
Penn State, picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten by Lindy's College Basketball pre-season magazine, will play an exhibition game this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. vs. Bloomsburg in the Bryce Jordan Center. Tickets are just $5.
Penn State officially opens the season on Friday, Nov. 14 with a 6:30 p.m. match-up with William and Mary. That game will be played the night before the football team's Nov. 15 match-up with Indiana in Beaver Stadium. Football tickets for the Indiana game can be shown at the door of the Bryce Jordan Center to receive a 2-for-1, buy-one-get-one free ticket to the game.
The Nittany Lions return their top two scorers and five of their top six from last season.
Nittany Lion basketball tickets can be purchased by calling the ticket office during regular business hours at 814-865-5555 or visiting GoPSUsports.com anytime. Penn State basketball offers the most flexible ticket package ever with the 2009 FLEX pack. For just $99 fans can receive 10 vouchers that can be redeemed in any quantity, bring one friend or nine, for any men's or women's game on any date. You pick the games, the dates and the number of tickets that work for you. The Penn State Basketball FLEX Pack - now our schedule fits yours!