Jan. 5, 2012
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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.; JAN. 5, 2012 - Dominating from start to finish, the Penn State men's basketball team (9-7, 1-2 Big Ten) posted the first Big Ten victory of the Patrick Chambers era Thursday at the Bryce Jordan Center in impressive fashion posting a 65-45 victory over Purdue (12-4, 2-1 Big Ten).
Penn State held Purdue to season lows of 18 first half points and 45 for the game and dominated the glass 38-26 to hand Purdue its first conference loss of the season. Penn State led by 14 at the half and held a double-digit lead for most of the second half.
The Nittany Lions were led by a career night from redshirt junior Billy Oliver (Chatham, N.J.) who posted a career-high 21 points on a career-best 7-of-11 from three. Oliver's seven threes tied for the second-most for a Nittany Lion in a game Penn State history. Junior Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas) nearly got his fifth double-double with 15 points and a game-high nine assists. Redshirt sophomore Jermaine Marshall (Etters, Pa.) rounded out the top scorers for Penn State with 10 points. Sophomore Matt Glover (Orange, Calif.) was key on defense and had career highs of 11 rebounds and five assists.
"If we could have someone to play as hard at Matt Glover; he clearly played harder than anyone who attempted to guard him," said Purdue coach Matt Painter. "He did little things. He gets 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals. He just made a lot of hustle plays for them and that's something we really prided our program on in terms of doing whatever it takes."
Penn State shot 43 percent for the game, including 52 percent in the second half, and hit 10-of-21 from three. The Nittany Lions dominated the Boilermakers in the paint outscoring them 26-8, and got 14 points off of 12 Purdue turnovers.
Purdue was led by 14 points from senior Robbie Hummel, who scored nine of those early in the second half as the Boilers closed a 14-point halftime deficit to four, 36-32, with 15:15 to play. But, the Boilers were held to 32 percent shooting for the game and 6-of-23 from three and would get no closer as Penn State held a double-digit lead for the final 12:34 and pushed its margin to as much as 22.
"We got a lot of effort," Chambers said. "I knew we were going to come out and compete and play hard. Does that always add up to a win? Not all the time, but I knew we were going to go out and lay it all out there for 40 minutes. We took that run and turned it right back around. It was great for this group. It was great for them to take a couple hits and get right back up and throw some hits."
The Nittany Lions grabbed an early 5-0 lead after a layup from redshirt freshman Jon Graham (Baltimore, Md.), who made his first career start, and a three-pointer from Frazier. Oliver sparked a 12-3 run with two trifectas sandwiching a three-pointer from Purdue's Ryne Smith for a 17-6 advantage. Purdue closed the gap to eight, 20-12, near the nine minute mark, but Penn State worked up to a 12-point lead, 24-12, after Glover tallied two from the free throw line and Frazier converted.
Purdue scored the next five points to close the gap to seven, 24-17. However, Oliver nailed his third three of the half to spark a 7-0 Nittany Lion run for a 15-point cushion, 32-17, with three minutes remaining in the first half. Marshall fouled Purdue's Kelsey Lewis to send him to the foul line where he added one final point to the Boilermaker's total. Penn State headed to the locker room with a comfortable 32-18 lead.
The Boilermakers came out on fire in the second half with a 14-4 run sparked by Hummel to come within four points of tying the game, 36-32. Marshall scored two points, followed by another trey from Oliver and a jumper from Frazier to put Penn State ahead by double-digits, 43-32, with 12:34 to play. D.J. Byrd notched a point at the foul line for Purdue to bring the Boilermakers within 10, but that was the closest Purdue would come to the Nittany Lions for the remainder of the game.
"I don't know if Coach told you guys but we had three-hour practices before the game focusing on our staples: defending, rebounding, doing the little things, diving on the ground, getting tough rebounds," Frazier said. " There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to come down and compete. I didn't know what the score was going to be at the end of the game but we were going to compete."
An 11-5 run, including two successful trips to the foul line for Penn State, saw the Nittany Lions leading by 16, 52-36, with a little under nine minutes left. By the 6:30 mark, Purdue had closed the gap to 13, 56-43, but back-to-back trifectas from Oliver pushed Penn State up by 19, 62-43. After two scoreless minutes, the Nittany Lions recorded their final points of the game off a free throw from Marshall and a jumper from redshirt sophomore Sasa Borovnjak (Belgrade, Serbia). Penn State emptied its bench and the Boilermakers scored off one final basket with 38 seconds on the clock to give Penn State the ball back to run out the clock.
Penn State is back in action on Sunday, Jan. 8 in the Bryce Jordan Center as the Lions take on No. 12/12 Indiana at noon. The game will air on the Big Ten Network. Fan favorite "Quick Change" will perform at halftime and it is a Subway Full-Court Four Pack game.
All of Penn State's games can be heard live on the Penn State Sports Network throughout Pennsylvania with Steve Jones and Dick Jerardi calling the action. "The Penn State Basketball Show" featuring Nittany Lion coach Patrick Chambers and Steve Jones airs each Thursday live from Damon's Grill in State College. Fans are encouraged to attend the live broadcast or call in their questions for the coach at 1-800-52LIONS.
PNC Flex Books for Nittany Lion and Lady Lion basketball are available again this year for $99. The Flex Book gives fans 12 vouchers, 10 that can be redeemed in any combination for Nittany Lion and Lady Lion Basketball tickets throughout the year and two extra vouchers for the Nittany Lions' Coaches Vs. Cancer game on Feb. 11 vs. Nebraska and the Lady Lions' Think Pink game on Feb. 26 vs. Minnesota.
Nittany Lion Basketball single-game tickets or group tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-NITTANY, 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. Penn State also offers special basketball group ticket rates for groups of 15 fans or more. Nittany Lion group rates are $10 for adults and $5 for youth.
For all the latest information, notes, pictures and related links on Penn State basketball follow Associate Athletic Communications Director Brian Siegrist on Twitter (@PSUSTRETCH) and check GoPSUsports.com. The Nittany Lions are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennstatebasketball.
-NITTANY LIONS-
Penn State vs. Purdue Notes
- Penn State held Purdue to a season-low 45 points tonight. Purdue's previous season-low was 56.
- Penn State beat Purdue by 20 or more points for the fourth time in program history. The 20-point win tonight is its second largest margin over the Boilermakers.
- Penn State held Purdue to 18 points in the first half tonight, the Boilermakers' lowest scoring half of the season.
- Purdue is Penn State's third opponent to be held under 20 points in a half this season.
- With nine dimes tonight, Tim Frazier passes Ron Brown for 10th all-time in assists. Frazier now has 355 career assists.
- Billy Oliver scored a career-high 21 points, beating his previous high of 13 against Mount Saint Mary's on Dec. 18.
- Oliver made a career-high seven three-pointers, beating his previous high of four at Saint Joseph's on Nov. 26.
- Oliver is the first Penn State player to hit seven three-pointers since Talor Battle did on Feb. 17, 2011 in 66-63 win over Minnesota.
- The seven three-pointers for Oliver are tied for the second most by a Penn State player in one game.
- Matt Glover earned a career-high five assists on the night. Glover's previous career-high was four at Duquesne on Dec. 10.
- Glover also earned a career-high 11 rebounds, beating his previous best of nine against Lafayette on Dec. 7.
- Nick Colella tied his career-high of three points and also set a career mark in rebounds with three.
- Making his first career start tonight, sophomore John Graham scored the first field goal of the game.