March 8, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., March 8, 2009 - The Nittany Lion basketball team earned the No. 6 seed for this weekend's 12th annual Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament (March 12-15) at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. Penn State (21-10; 10-8 Big Ten) finished in a three-way tie for fourth in the conference, but came up on the short end of a tie-breaker with Wisconsin (10-8 Big Ten) and Ohio State (10-8 Big Ten) which earned the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, respectively, and first round byes.
Penn State earned its highest ever seed in the tournament and will face No. 11 seeded Indiana (6-24; 1-17 Big Ten) at 5:00 p.m. (ET) on Thursday in the opening round's last game. That game will be broadcast live on ESPN2. The Nittany Lions swept the season series with the Hoosiers claiming a 65-55 victory in Bloomington in January and a 61-58 victory in the Bryce Jordan Center just a week ago.
The winner of the season's third meeting will face No. 3 seed Purdue (22-9; 11-7 Big Ten) at 9:00 p.m. (ET) in Friday's last game on the Big Ten Network. The Nittany Lions split a pair of games with Purdue this season winning 67-64 in the Jordan Center and falling 61-57 in West Lafayette.
Penn State has a 5-11 tournament record and is 3-8 in first round games in 11 previous Big Ten Tournaments. The Lions were a No. 7 seed last year and lost in the first round to Illinois, 64-63. Penn State has not won a tournament game since 2006 and have won just one tournament game in the last seven years. Penn State has twice reached the semifinals of the tournament in 2000 and 2001.
Michigan State (25-5; 15-3 Big Ten) claimed the No. 1 seed after earning its fifth Big Ten title under Tom Izzo while Illinois (23-8; 11-7 Big Ten) is the No. 2 seed. The top five seeds all receive first round byes and will begin play on Friday, March 13.
The tournament will tip off with No. 8 seed Minnesota (21-9; 9-9 Big Ten) taking on No. 9 seed Northwestern (17-12; 8-10 Big Ten) at noon (ET) on Thursday on the Big Ten Network. The second game of the tournament will feature No. 7 seed Michigan (19-12; 9-9 Big Ten) taking on No. 10 seed Iowa (15-16; 5-13 Big Ten) at approximately 2:30 (ET) on ESPN2.
Day two will start with Michigan State facing the winner of the Minnesota/Northwestern game at noon (ET) on ESPN. Game two will feature Ohio State taking on Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN. Illinois will face the winner of the Michigan/Iowa game at 6:30 p.m. (ET) on the Big Ten Network followed by the final game of the day between Purdue and the Penn State/Indiana winner.
All of Penn State's games will be broadcast live on the Penn State Sports Network. The tournament semifinals and final will be broadcast live on CBS. Semifinal games Saturday are at 1:40 p.m. (ET) and 4:05 p.m. (ET). The final will be played at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday finishing shortly before the NCAA Tournament selection committee unveils its 2009 NCAA Tournament bracket on CBS.
All-session and single-session tickets to the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament can be purchased through the Conseco Fieldhouse box office, Ticketmaster outlets, www.tickemaster.com, or by calling Ticketmaster at (317) 239-5151.