Jan. 4, 2011
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Jan. 4, 2011 - Guards Talor Battle (1,803) and E'Twaun Moore (1,809) will bring a combined 3,612 points and nearly 500 three-pointers to the Bryce Jordan floor Wednesday night as the top two active scorers in the Big Ten square off when Penn State (8-5; 1-1 Big Ten) takes on Purdue (13-1; 2-0 Big Ten) in a 6:30 p.m. tip on the Big Ten Network.
The game can be heard live on the Penn State Sports Network, 1450 AM locally, and on Sirius channel 127 and XM radio channel 196.
Both Battle and Moore are coming off 31-point outings in their last contest as Penn State fell 76-69 at Michigan and Purdue continued a string of eight straight wins with an 82-69 victory at Northwestern. The Boilermakers will be the first of five-straight opponents for the Nittany Lions currently ranked in the Top 25. The run would equal a program record for consecutive ranked opponents played and will be the longest in the Big Ten this season.
Battle has played every minute of the last four games for the Nittany Lions averaging 25.5 ppg over that stretch while posting his sixth career 30-point game on Sunday. He enters Wednesday as the leading scorer in the Big Ten posting 21.3 ppg on the season. Fellow senior David Jackson also brings a string of four-straight double-digit outings into Wednesday and has been scoring at a 15.0 ppg clip in that stretch.
Penn State lost a close 64-60 game to the then No. 6 ranked Boilermakers last year in the Jordan Center. Purdue leads the all-time series 24-10, but hold a much closer 9-8 edge in State College. The Nittany Lions last defeated Purdue with a 67-64 victory on Jan. 6, 2009 in the Jordan Center behind 21 points from Battle.
Purdue is averaging 75.9 ppg and has won 32-straight games when scoring 70 or more points. The scoring combination of Moore (20.4 ppg), the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, and JaJuan Johnson (19.9 ppg) is the second most productive combination in the nation. Johnson also ranks fourth in the Big Ten posting 8.0 rpg and second with 2.21 blocks per game. The Boilers 13-1 record includes non-conference victories at Virginia Tech (58-55 OT) and vs. Alabama (66-47).
Nittany Lion Basketball single-game tickets can be purchased by calling the ticket office at 814-865-5555, visiting GoPSUsports.com or through Ticketmaster. Single-game tickets are $18 for the lower bowl and $15 for upper level tickets for adults. Youth tickets (18 and under) are $7 for the lower bowl and $5 for upper level seating, while Penn State student tickets (University Park or branch campus) are $5 for each of the 19 home contests.
For all the latest information, notes, pictures and related links on Penn State basketball follow Assistant Athletic Communications Director Brian Siegrist on Twitter (@PSUSTRETCH) and check GoPSUsports.com. The Nittany Lions are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennstatebasketball.
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