Jan. 12, 2013
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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., JAN. 12, 2013 - Penn State (8-7; 0-3 Big Ten) will look to ride the strength of one of the highest scoring guard tandems in the Big Ten Sunday when it takes on Purdue (7-8; 1-2 Big Ten) in a noon tip in West Lafayette, Ind. The game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network and can be heard across the Penn State Sports Network.
Sophomore guard D.J. Newbill (Philadelphia, Pa.) posted his fifth 20-point game of the season leading Penn State with 20 points and junior guard Jermaine Marshall (Etters, Pa.) added 13 in the Lions loss to Northwestern on Thursday. The game with the Wildcats marked the first of three games in a seven-day stretch for the Lions. Newbill ranks seventh and Marshall eighth in the Big Ten in scoring and are the second-highest scoring tandem of teammates in the conference.
Purdue has lost two games since knocking off No. 11 Illinois, 68-61, in West Lafayette in its Big Ten opener. The Boilers pushed No. 14 Ohio State before falling, 74-64, in their last outing. Junior guard Terone Johnson leads Purdue and ranks fifth in the Big Ten posting 18.0 ppg. Freshman 7-0, center A.J. Hammons is posting 10.3 ppg and is one of the Big Ten's leading shot blockers.
Penn State will return to the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday, Jan. 16 to take on No. 18 Michigan State in a 7:00 p.m. tip. The Spartans will be the Lions third ranked foe of the season and part of nine opponents on the schedule that reside in the Top 25.
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.
For all the latest information, notes, pictures and related links on Penn State basketball follow Associate Athletic Communications Director Brian Siegrist (@PSUSTRETCH) and the official Penn State men's basketball handle (@PennStateMBB) on Twitter and check GoPSUsports.com. The Nittany Lions are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennstatebasketball.
PENN STATE (8-7; 0-3 Big Ten) at PURDUE (7-8; 1-2 Big Ten)
SUNDAY, JAN. 13, 2013 @ 12:00 P.M. (ET)
MACKEY ARENA (14,846)
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.
GAME INFO
TELEVISION: BTN: Tom Hamilton (pxp) & Sean Harrington (analyst)
RADIO: Penn State Sports Network: Local (1450 AM); Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
Sirius/XM: 93/190
LIVE STATS:
COACHES:
PENN STATE: Patrick Chambers - 20-27 (2nd at PSU); 62-55 (4th Overall)
PURDUE: Matt Painter - 167-85 (8th at Purdue); 192-90 (9th Overall)
RPI: PSU:124; PU: 149
NEXT UP:
PSU will return to the Jordan Center on Wednesday to face No. 18 Michigan State, the LIons third Top 20 foe of the year. The Spartans lead the series 30-7 and are 11-4 in State College. The teams met just once last year with MSU taking a 77-57 win in East Lansing. PSU has won two of the last four, including 66-62 in the last meeting in the BJC in 2011.
THE GAME:
Penn State will hit the road for a weekend road game at Purdue, the second of a three games in seven days run for the Lions. Penn State trails the series 11-27 and is 2-16 in West Lafayette, having not won there since a 69-60 victory in 2009, a string of six games. The teams split games last year with PSU taking a 65-45 victory in the BJC for Patrick Chambers first career Big Ten conference win at Penn State and Purdue winning 80-56 in Mackey Arena. After posting four straight wins to end the non-conference season, Penn State has opened Big Ten play with three losses and seen its scoring plummet from 78.5 ppg in the final four non-con games to 52.0 ppg in conference.
NOTES TO KNOW:
• Penn State is in the midst of playing three games in seven days and will complete the string Wednesday vs. No. 18 Michigan State, which will be the Lions third ranked opponent. The Lions are slated to face at least nine opponents currently ranked in the Top 25.
• Coach Patrick Chambersa twitter account (@Coach_Chambers) eclipsed 10K followers early this week. Chambers was ranked among the Top 25 most followed Division I basketball coaches, and fourth among Big Ten coaches, in a preseason survey by the basketball blog runthefloor.com. He has gained more than 1,000 followers since that survey.
• D.J. Newbill is the only Big Ten player to rank in the Top 15 of the conference statistics in scoring (7th), assists (8th) and rebounding (11th). He scored his 500th career point vs. IU, and posted his fifth 20-point game of the season (20) to lead PSU vs. Northwestern.
• After posting 70+ points, its four highest scoring games on the season, and averaging 78.5 ppg in the final four non-conference games, Penn State has not eclipsed 54 points in its three Big Ten games and is averaging 52 ppg in the Big Ten.
• PSU grabbed a season high 17 offensive rebounds vs. Indiana & 15 vs. Northwestern, marking 11 games with double-digit offensive boards. The Lions allow 8.0 offensive boards per game in the Big Ten and lead the conference collecting 75.9% of defensive rebounds.
• PSU has posted season lows shooting 31.7% vs. Indiana and 31.6% vs. Northwestern ending a string of seven straight games shooting over 40%.
• Penn State had a season high 19 turnovers vs. Indiana and is averaging 15 turnovers per game in Big Ten play.
• Penn State has been on the wrong end of a 71-41 foul differential in Big Ten play resulting in an 86-28 deficit in free throws attempted and 53-23 in free throw line scoring.
• Ross Travis led Penn State in scoring for the first time in his career logging a season high equaling 14 points on a career high 17 field goal attempts vs. Indiana. He ranks 4th in the Big Ten in rebounding with 7.6 rpg and has five double-digit scoring games on the year.
• D.J. Newbill leads Penn State with 98 free throw attempts and has gotten to the foul line at least once in 44 of 47 career games.
• Jermaine Marshall has posted double-figure scoring in 10 of his last 11 games. He leads the team with 26 threes and 26 steals.
• Penn State went 6-2 in the eight non-con games after losing do-everything guard Tim Frazier to a season-ending Achilles injury. The Lions 8-4 record in the non-con season equaled their win total from last year (8-5), despite losing Frazier early in the fourth game of the year.
• Nick Colella leads the Lions with 10 charges taken and 47 dives on the year.
• Brandon Taylor has made a three in 10 of 12 games since Tim Frazier went down with injury. He leads the team shooting 37.7% from three.
• D.J. Newbill ranks second (35.7) and Jermaine Marshall fifth (34.3) in minutes played in the Big Ten.
• Newbill (7th, 15.3 ppg) and Marshall (8th, 14.5 ppg) are one of two sets of teammates to rank in the Top 10 in scoring in the Big Ten, and the 2nd highest scoring backcourt (29.8 ppg), behind Michigan's Trey Burke (3rd, 18.2) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (5th, 16.3), 34.5 ppg.
• Former walk-on Nick Colella (28) and current walk-on Kevin Montminy (12) combined to play 40 minutes vs. Northwestern. For Montminy it was a career high.
SCOUTING PURDUE:
The Boilers have lost their last two games after upsetting No. 11 Illinois, 68-61, in Mackey in their Big Ten opener. They played No. 14 Ohio State very close in Mackey before falling 74-64 in their last outing. Penn State will be Purdue's first unranked Big Ten opponent in Big Ten play as they also fell at No. 18 Michigan State. Purdue leads the Big Ten with 14 offensive rebounds per game and have scored 60 percent of their points in the paint over the last four games. Junior guard Terone Johnson ranks fifth in the Big Ten posting 18.0 ppg. Freshman center A.J. Hammons is posting 10.2 ppg and has blocked 23 shots while leading the team with 6.1 rpg. The Boilers are one of the top rebounding teams in the Big Ten pulling down 41.2 per game.
BOARDIN:
Penn State has won the rebounding battle in nine straight games, posting an average margin of +7.9 over that span, and in 11 of 15 on the year. The Lions have had 15 or more offensive rebounds in three of their last four games.
SCORING DROUGHT:
After posting 78.5 ppg in its final four non-conference games, Penn State has not eclipsed 54 in Big Ten play and is posting 52 ppg. The Lions have posted back-to-back season lows in shooting logging 31.7% vs. Indiana and 31.6% vs. Northwestern in the Jordan Center.
LAST TIME OUT: NORTHWESTERN 70, PENN STATE 54, Jan. 10, 2013 • Bryce Jordan Center
Penn State led 12-8 midway through the first half before suffering a scoring drought of 6:30 and seeing Northwestern seize control of the game with a 13-0 run. The Wildcats built a 21-12 lead and eventually used a 25-4 run to build a 17-point first half lead Penn State never got under 13 the rest of the way. D.J. Newbill led Penn State with 20 points on 6-of-19 shooting and Jermain Marshall added 13, all in the second half. Penn State shot just 31 percent and 3-of-15 from three and turned 15 offensive boards into just eight points. Northwestern was led by 18 points from Dave Sobolewski who went 3-of-6 from three and 17 from Jared Swopshire who was 5-of-8 from the floor for an NU team that shot 45 percent and 9-of-22 from three. Trailing 33-18 at the half, Penn State played the second half nearly even trailing NU 37-36. Foul trouble plaqued the LIons and limited freshman Brandon Taylor to 20 minutes.
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.
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