Jan. 2, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.; JAN. 2, 2013 - As Penn State prepared to open its 21st season of Big Ten Conference play Thursday at Wisconsin, Nittany Lion coach Patrick Chambers named senior Nick Colella (New Castle, Pa.) and junior Jermaine Marshall (Etters, Pa.) to join red-shirt sophomore D.J. Newbill (Philadelphia, Pa.) as team captains.
"Naming captains is very important to my program and when Tim (Frazier) went down I felt like D.J. needed some help," Chambers said. "I didn't want to just jump right in and name them though. I wanted them to earn it and prove worthy of the `C' on their chest. Over the last month Nick and Jermaine have shown great leadership and consistency on and off the floor and earned it."
Colella is in his third season with the program after joining the team as a walk-on in the 2010-11 season. A two-year player at the Penn State-Behrend campus who earned a spot on the team through the open walk-on tryout process, Colella was granted a scholarship during the spring semester of the 2011-12 season and had that scholarship renewed for his final campaign after starting in six Big Ten games last year. One of the team leaders in "Attitude Points," Colella has played in every game so far and started one in the 2012-13 campaign. He is posting 4.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game while playing 23.8 minutes per game. The left-hander has found his shot in the last four games hitting a team best 11-of-20 (55%) from behind the arc to post 9.0 ppg during the Lions' four-game win streak. He posted a career-high 15 points on 5-of-7 from three in his last outing vs. Duquesne.
Marshall is in his fourth season with the program after redshirting his freshman season. He leads the team with 22 threes and 25 steals on the year and is second on the team in scoring (14.6 ppg) and assists (2.2 apg). Marshall ranks ninth in the Big Ten in scoring and fourth in assists. He has led the team in scoring in five games on the season and is the team's leading active scorer with 581 career points.
Newbill has served as a team captain alongside Tim Frazier since the preseason. In his first season on the court after redshirting last year upon transferring from Southern Mississippi, Newbill has taken on the bulk of the point guard duties in the absence of injured guard Tim Frazier and has excelled. He leads the Lions in scoring (15.8 ppg) and assists (3.9 apg) and is the team's second-leading rebounder (6.2 rpg) and is the only player in the Big Ten to rank in the top 15 of those categories in the conference statistics, ranking sixth, seventh and 14th, respectively. Newbill's four 20-point games on the year are tied for the third-most in the Big Ten this season. He posted his first double-double in a Penn State uniform in his last outing leading the Lions to a victory over Duquesne posting a career high 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
Penn State will open the Big Ten Conference season Thursday with an 8:30 p.m. (ET) tip at Wisconsin. That game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
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