Dec. 17, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Dec. 17, 2009 - The Nittany Lion basketball team (6-4) will return to the court after a week off for final exams when it takes on Gardner-Webb (3-5) in the Bryce Jordan Center in a 9:00 p.m. tip on ESPNU. It will be "Bring a Friend Night" for season ticket holders who can bring up to two friends for free to the contest.
Saturday will be the third game of the week for the Runnin' Bulldogs who are coming off a loss to No. 7 Duke on Tuesday and play host to James Madison on Thursday. Gardner-Webb will be the third of four-straight home games for the Nittany Lions to wrap-up the non-conference season. Penn State is 22-2 vs. non-conference opponents at home the last three seasons.
Penn State is led by All-Big Ten point guard Talor Battle (Albany, N.Y.) who stands second in the Big Ten posting 18.8 ppg coming into Saturday. Saturday's game will be the second of four of the next six Nittany Lion games aired nationally on one of the ESPN networks. The Lions have won seven of their last nine appearances on an ESPN network and are 11-3 on the network the last two seasons.
Battle equaled a career-high 32 points in his last outing, a close 66-64 loss to Virginia Tech last Saturday in the BJC. Battle became the first Lion since Joe Crispin in 2001 to post multiple 30-point games in a season. He leads the Big Ten in 30-point outings and with four 20-plus point outings on the season and 20 for his career stands second only to Michigan's Manny Harris in both categories in the conference.
Gardner-Webb has played a brutal schedule, which includes losses at No. 11 North Carolina, No. 7 Duke and at Charlotte. The Runnin' Bulldogs are led by 6-0 senior guard Grayson Flittner who posts 10.6 ppg. GWU likes to get up and down the floor averaging 73.4 ppg and shocked the nation in 2007 with its win at No. 20 Kentucky.
Penn State season basketball tickets, PNC Bank Flex Book plans (10 tickets to use at any game for $99) or single game tickets can be purchased by visiting GoPSUsports.com, Ticketmaster or calling 814-865-5555. Single-game tickets for Nittany Lion games are $18 for lower bowl seating, $15 for upper bowl seating and $7/$5 for youth. Penn State also offers special group ticket rates (15 fans or more) of $10 for adults.
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