Nov. 14, 2012
VIDEO: PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF DAY 1
VIDEO: PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF PREVIEW
Game Notes Puerto Rico Tip-Off | Watch | Listen |
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, NOV. 15, 2012 - Penn State (1-0) will open play in the sixth annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off Thursday when the Nittany Lions take on No. 6-ranked North Carolina State (1-0) in a 5:00 p.m. tip at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriquez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and can be heard live on the Penn State Sports Network with Brian Tripp and Dick Jerardi calling the action.
Penn State returns to the sight of head coach Patrick Chambers' first victory as a head coach as he led Boston University to an upset victory over Indiana (71-67) in the 2009 Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
The Nittany Lions will be making their 69th appearance in a regular season tournament and playing their first regular season game outside the contiguous United States since three games in the 1978 Seawolf Classic in Anchorage, Alaska. The Lions will be taking on a top 10-ranked team in the non-conference season for the second straight year after falling to No. 2-ranked and eventual national champion Kentucky (85-47) last year in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off. The Lions went 3-1 in that tournament, including a 53-49 victory over eventual NCAA Tournament participant South Florida.
The Lions and Wolfpack will be facing off for the first time since an 85-76 Wolfpack victory in Raleigh, N.C. in 2000. N.C. State leads the series 15-3, but Penn State has won two of the last three meetings, including a 74-72 victory in the third-place game of the 2000 NIT in Madison Square Garden. Penn State is 20-46 all-time vs. ACC teams, including wins in four of the last five ACC/Big Ten Challenge events.
Senior guard Tim Frazier, who has been named to preseason watch lists for both the Wooden and Naismith awards, will lead Penn State after posting 23 points and six assists in the Lions season-opening win over Saint Francis. He needs just seven points to become the 30th 1,000-point scorer in Penn State history. Sophomore guard D.J. Newbill also contributed 16 points and seven rebounds in the opener.
N.C. State, which opened the season with a 97-59 victory over Miami (Ohio), is led by preseason ACC Player of the Year C.J. Leslie, who posted 14.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg last year, and junior point guard Lorenzo Brown, who ranked second in the ACC with 6.3 apg last year.
Penn State will take on either Providence or Massachusetts in its second game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Friday. Oklahoma State takes on Akron (10:30 a.m.), Tennessee faces UNC Asheville (12:30 p.m.) and Providence squares off vs. UMass (7:30 p.m.) in other first round action Thursday.
PENN STATE (1-0; 0-0 Big Ten) vs. #6 N.C. STATE (1-0; 0-0 ACC)
THURSDAY, NOV. 15, 2012 @ 5:00 P.M. (ET)
COLISEO RUBEN RODRIQUEZ (9,000)
BAYAMON, PUERTO RICO
GAME INFO
TELEVISION: ESPN2: Jon Sciambi (p-by-p) & Dan Dakich (analyst)
RADIO: Penn State Sports Network: Local (1450 AM); Brian Tripp (p-by-p) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
Sirius/XM: CH 123 & 190
LIVE STATS:
COACHES:
PENN STATE: Patrick Chambers - 13-20 (2nd at PSU); 55-48 (4th Overall)
N.C. State: Mark Gottfried 25-13 (2nd at NC State); 303-168 (16th Overall)
NEXT UP:
PSU second game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off will be played Friday vs. either Providence or UMass. The Lions are 1-1 all-time vs. Providence, winning the last meeting, 69-59, in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament in New Orleans. The Lions are 13-10 all-time vs. UMass, a former A-10 foe, but lost the last meeting, 73-64, at UMass in 1991.
THE TOURNAMENT:
Penn State will open the sixth annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Thursday with a 5:00 p.m. tip vs. No. 6 North Carolina State. It will mark the Lions' first-ever game in Puerto Rico and the second straight season in which Penn State has played a Top 10 ranked team in the non-conference season (#2 Kentucky last year). The event will mark Penn State's 69th appearance in a regular season tournament and first regular season games outside of the contiguous United States since playing three games in the Seawolf Classic in Anchorage Alaska in 1978. Penn State is 68-83 all-time in regular season tournaments, including going 3-1 last year in the Hall of Fame Tip-off Tournament. The Lions downed Radford and Long Island at the Jordan Center and fell to eventual 2012 NCAA Champion Kentucky and defeated 2012 NCAA participant South Florida in two games played at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. in last year's HOF Tournament. Penn State has claimed 10 regular season tournament championships and 11 second-place finishes.
PUERTO RICO FIELD:
The Puerto Rico Tip-Off field features five teams that reached the 2012 post-season and four teams that finished 2012 in the top 100 of the RPI, with all eight teams finishing 160 or lower. In the field are 2012 NCAA Tournament participants North Carolina State and UNC Asheville; 2012 NIT participants Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Akron; as well as Oklahoma State from the Big 12 Conference and Providence from the Big East. The 2012 tournament marks the fourth-straight year in which a Big Ten team has competed in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Minnesota won the event in 2010 and Purdue fell in the championship game to Alabama, 65-56, last year.
CHAMBERS IN PUERTO RICO:
Patrick Chambers will be making his second trip to the Puerto Rico Tip-Off as a head coach. He led his Boston University team to a 1-2 mark in the 2009 Puerto Rico Tip-Off and downed Indiana in San Juan, 71-67, for his first victory as a head coach.
SCOUTING N.C. STATE:
The Wolfpack returns four starters from a team that posted a 24-13 overall record and a 9-7 ACC mark in 2011-12, coach Mark Gottfried's first at the Wolfpack helm. Gottfried led his team to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament and to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. NC State was picked to win the ACC in a preseason poll of ACC media and was ranked No. 6 in the preseason AP and USA Today/Coaches Polls. Junior forward C.J. Leslie was chosen as the ACC's preseason player of the year. He posted 14.7 ppg and 7.3 rpg last year. Junior point guard Lorenzo Brown ranked second in ACC with 6.3 assists per game last year. Senior guard Scott Wood was ranked the nation's top shooter by ESPN.com. N.C. State also welcomes three McDonald's All-Americans. The Pack opened the season with a 97-59 victory over Miami (Ohio). Freshman Rodney Purvis and senior Richard Howell led the team with 16 points each.
LIONS WIN EIGHTH-STRAIGHT OPENER:
Penn State posted its eighth-straight season opening win with a 65-58 victory over Saint Francis on Nov. 9, the earliest start date in program history. Patrick Chambers improved to 2-2 in season openers in his second season at Penn State. Penn State is now 87-30 overall in season openers and 77-10 in home season openers.
VS. NON-CON:
Penn State went 8-5 in non-conference games last year, including a neutral court loss to No. 2 Kentucky (85-47) in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament and three losses by seven points or less, including home losses to Mississippi (72-70) and Lafayette (61-57) and a road loss at Duquesne (66-59). The Lions won at Boston College (62-54) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and defeated eventual NCAA Tournament participant South Florida (53-49) on a neutral floor in the HOF Tournament.
TAYLOR'S N.C. STATE CONNECTION:
Freshman Brandon Taylor's cousin, Tiffany Stansbury, was a two-time All-ACC selection at North Carolina State and played in the WNBA. She graduated from N.C. State in 2006.
FRAZIER BACK AT TOP OF BIG TEN:
After week one, Tim Frazier ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring (23.0), fifth in assists (6.0) and first in minutes played (39.0).
FRAZIER NAMED TO WOODEN TOP 50:
Tim Frazier was named to the Wooden Award Men's Preseason Top 50. He is the second Nittany Lion in the last three years to be named to the preseason list joining Talor Battle who was named prior to the 2010-11 season. The Preseason Top 50 was chosen by a poll of national college basketball media members. Frazier was among nine Big Ten players named to the list, which led all conferences. The Wooden Award All American Team, consisting of the nation's top 10 players, will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round of the NCAA Tournament.
BIG BACKCOURT:
The focus of attention all preseson, the backcourt tandem of Tim Frazier and D.J. Newbill delivered in the season opener combining for 39 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in a 65-58 victory, delivering 60% of the team's scoring. The pair were deadly at the foul line combining to go 26-of-28 at the foul stripe on a night when the Lions shot 28-of-32 as a team. Frazier led the Lions with 23 points and six assists, his 19th career 20-point game, and, after three-straight SFU threes gave them a 31-30 lead, he took over posting a steal and five points in under a minute to regain a Penn State advantage. Newbill had 16 points and seven rebounds. Both played 35 minutes or more.
FRAZIER PRESEASON ALL-BIG TEN:
Senior guard Tim Frazier was named to the Preseason All-Big Ten team by conference media voters. Frazier, the lone returning first-team All-Big Ten selection from last year, was joined on the preseason team by Ohio State's Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas, Michigan's Trey Burke and Indiana's Cody Zeller who was also named the preseason Player of the Year.
FRAZIER SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE:
Tim Frazier was one of 30 Division I men's basketball players selected as candidates for the 2012-13 Senior CLASS Award presented to a senior student-athlete with notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. The award will be trimmed to 10 finalists midway through the season with the winner announced at the 2013 NCAA Final Four in Atlanta.
Single game tickets for men's basketball are available by calling 1-800-NITTANY or by visiting GoPSUsports.com/tickets or Ticketmaster. Single-game tickets for Nittany Lion games are $24 for lower bowl seats between the baselines, $18 for the lower bowl behind the baskets and upper level between the baselines and $15 for upper level behind the basket seats for adults and seniors. Youth tickets (18 and under) are $10, while Penn State student tickets (University Park or branch campus) are $5.
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