Jan. 9, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., Jan. 9, 2009 - The Nittany Lion basketball team will look to post a program record third straight win vs. a ranked opponent on Sunday when Penn State takes on No. 19/22 Minnesota at 3:30 p.m. (ET) in Minneapolis, Minn. The game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network, can be heard live on the Penn State Sports Network and will have Gametracker and audio options available at GoPSUsports.com.
Penn State enters Sunday's game with a 13-3 record (2-1 Big Ten) after an upset of No. 14 Purdue Tuesday in the Jordan Center. The Lions have won their last two games vs. ranked foes dating to a victory over No. 17 Indiana last March. Penn State has never won three consecutive games vs. ranked teams and last posted wins in back-to-back games vs. ranked foes in the 1954 NCAA Tournament on its way to the Final Four.
It will be a big hill to climb as Penn State is just 1-14 in Minneapolis and has lost seven straight games to the Gophers, the last five by an average of just six points. Penn State's lone win in Williams Arena came with an 82-62 rout in 2001. A victory would also improve Penn State to 3-1 in the Big Ten, which would be its best conference start since going 4-0 in 1996.
Penn State will be led by Big Ten leading scorer Talor Battle (18.9 ppg) who posted 21 points and a career-high tying nine assists in the victory over Purdue. He and Stanley Pringle (15.1 ppg, 6th in Big Ten) form one of the conference's top guard tandems and join senior forward Jamelle Cornley (14.2 ppg, 8th in Big Ten) in forming the scoring punch for the Nittany Lions.
Minnesota is off to a 14-1 start, its best in the their modern era of basketball and the best since starting 14-1 in 1948-49. The Gophers rallied back from a 13-point first-half deficit to beat Iowa 52-49 Thursday night in Iowa City. Forward Travis Busch and guard Lawrence Westbrook led the way for the 19th-ranked Gophers with 10 points each. It certainly wasn't Minnesota's most dazzling offensive performance of the season - the Gophers shot 33.9 percent from the field (19-of-56) and 22.7 percent from behind the arc (5-of-22). Westbrook is the only Gopher averaging double-digits (12.8 ppg). Blake Hoffarber leads the team with 29 threes. The Gophers lead the Big Ten in blocked shots (6.87 bpg) and steals (8.87 spg) and are second in field goal defense (38.5%).