March 11, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 11, 2009 - After completing a regular season that tied for its best-ever, Penn State (21-10; 10-8 Big Ten) will open post-season play Thursday at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis looking to solidify its claim on its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2001.
Led by 2009 Big Ten Coach-of-the-Year Ed DeChellis, Penn State enters as the No. 6 seed, its highest ever, in the 12th annual tournament and will take on No. 11 seeded Indiana (6-24; 1-17) at 5:00 p.m. Thursday live from Conseco Fieldhouse on ESPN2. The teams will play just two weeks after Penn State completed a first-ever season sweep of the Hoosiers in State College with a 61-58 victory. Indiana will be playing just 55 miles from its Bloomington campus.
The Nittany Lions will be led by first-team All-Big Ten selection and Big Ten leading scorer Talor Battle (17.3 ppg) as well as second-team all-conference selection Jamelle Cornley (13.9 ppg) and honorable-mention pick Stanley Pringle (12.9 ppg). Penn State has an all-time record of 5-11 in the Big Ten Tournament and is 3-8 in first round games. The Lions have played Indiana once in the tournament, falling 77-49 in the first round in 2003 for Penn State's worst tournament loss ever. The Lions lost in the first round last year to Illinois, 64-63, on a last second lay-up from Chester Frazier and have not won a tournament game since defeating Northwestern (68-55) in the first round in 2006.
Penn State swept the season series with Indiana for the first time ever winning 65-55 in Bloomington (for the first time ever) and 61-58 in State College on Feb. 28. IU holds a 27-6 lead in the series, but PSU has won the last three games.
The Hoosiers bring a nine-game losing streak into the tournament and have won just once since December but nearly knocked off Big Ten Champion Michigan State in Bloomington in the second to last game before falling 64-59. Indiana is led by freshman guard Devan Dumes who averages 12.7 ppg and freshman post Tom Pritchard who posts 9.9 ppg and 6.3 rpg.
Penn State has twice reached the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament getting that far in 2000 and 20001. The Lions have won just one tournament game in the last seven years.
A first round victory would be just Penn State's fourth ever and put the Lions into a second round game with No. 3 seed Purdue (22-9; 11-7 Big Ten) that would be shown on the Big Ten Network. The teams split the season series with PSU winning 67-64 in State College and Purdue winning 61-47 in West Lafayette. Purdue leads the all-time series 21-10. The teams have never met in the Tournament.
-NITTANY LIONS-