Feb. 13, 2013
Chambers to donate $10 to THON for all Penn State students in attendance
STUDENTS: $10 CHAMBERS' THON PLEDGE CARD PICK-UP
1) May be picked up at any BJC gate from 8:00-9:15 p.m.
2) One Card per Penn State students with valid Penn State ID
3) Cards will be picked up in the student section beginning with 5:00 to play in second half
4) Cards may be dropped off at Gates A, B, or D starting at the 4:00-minute mark of the second half.
5) Students attending the game can also register at the Code Blue Area near Portal 31 for the chance to win a 32" television or one of two Ipads. Penn State freshmen students can take part in a contest to win free pizzas for every room on their dorm room floor simply by attending the game and registering.
VIDEO: Wisniewski on-on-one; Iowa preview
GAME NOTES | WATCH: ESPNU| LISTEN |
Penn State Basketball Show Live Thursdays from Damon's Grill
Lions' game at Minnesota set for 3:00 p.m. tip on Saturday, March 2
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA., FEB. 13, 2013 - Penn State (8-15; 0-11 Big Ten) will face Iowa (15-9; 4-7 Big Ten) on the Thursday night in the Bryce Jordan Center on the eve of Penn State Dance Marathon. Nittany Lion coach Patrick Chambers has pledged to donate $10 to THON 2013 for every Penn State student that attends the 9:00 p.m. tip on ESPNU. It will also be Dollar Dog Night at the Jordan Center.
Students attending the game will also be registered for the chance to win a 32" television or one of two Ipads. Penn State freshmen students can take part in a contest to win free pizzas for every room on their dorm room floor simply by attending the game.
Penn State will look to avenge a loss two weeks ago, 76-67, at Iowa. Sophomore guard D.J. Newbill (Philadelphia, Pa.) led Penn State in that game posting his seventh 20-point game of the season and adding six rebounds and four assists as Penn State posted its second highest point total in Big Ten play on the year. Newbill and Indiana's Victor Oladipo, a strong Player of the Year candidate, are the only two Big Ten players to appear in the statistical rankings for scoring, rebounding and assists in Big Ten play. Newbill currently stands fourth in scoring (15.8), third in assists (4.2) and 20th in rebounding (5.2) in conference games.
Iowa is coming off a 71-57 victory over Northwestern on Saturday behind 21 points from guard Roy Devyn Marble. Iowa, 1-6 on the road this season, is led by forward Aaron White who is posting 13.5 ppg and 5.9 rpg and had 27 points in the Hawkeyes' victory over Penn State in Iowa City.
The Lions will close the Big Ten campaign with four of six games on the road. Penn State's game at Minnesota has been confirmed by the conference office for Saturday, March 2 with a 3:00 p.m. tip on the Big Ten Network.
Penn State will begin the run of road games this weekend with a Sunday contest at No. 4 Michigan. That game is scheduled for a noon tip on the Big Ten Network.
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 (all commonwealth campuses) 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 (8-15; 0-11 Big Ten) vs. IOWA (15-9; 4-7 Big Ten)
THURSDAY, FEB. 14, 2013 @ 9:00 P.M. (ET)
BRYCE JORDAN CENTER (15,261)
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.
GAME INFO
TELEVISION: ESPNU: Dan Gutkowsky (p-by-p) & Malcolm Huckaby (analyst)
RADIO: Penn State Sports Network: Local (1450 AM); Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
Sirius/XM: 93/199
LIVE STATS:
COACHES:
PENN STATE: Patrick Chambers - 20-35 (2nd at PSU); 62-63 (4th Overall)
IOWA: Fran McCaffery - 44-46 (3rd at Iowa); 295-223 (17th Overall)
RPI: PSU: 202 ; IOWA: 92
NEXT UP:
PSU will play four of its final six regular season games on the road beginning Sunday at Michigan. The Lions are 2-16 at Michigan and last won in Ann Arbor in 2010, 55-51. UM has won the last four meetings, including 71-53 in Crisler Arena last year. UM leads the series 27-11.This will be the first of two meetings this season within a span of three games.
THE GAME:
Penn State will return to the Jordan Center on Valentine's Day for its second straight 9:00 p.m. tip, this time vs. Iowa. The Hawkeyes posted a 76-67 victory in Iowa three games prior to this meeting. Iowa holds a 24-13 lead in the series. The Lions hold a 10-6 advantage in State College, including a 69-64 victory last February. The teams have split the last 10 meetings, both winning five games at home. Penn State is seeking its first conference victory of the season. The Lions will be making their 32nd appearance on Valentine's Day and are 17-14 all-time, 3-3 in the Big Ten. They won their last outing on the day with a 68-63 victory over Minnesota in 2009.
SUPPORTING THON:
Penn State coach Patrick Chambers pledged on Monday to donate $10 to Penn State Dance Marathon 2013 for every Penn State student that attends Thursday night's game. THON 2013 will kickoff the next day in the BJC and runs February 15-17 with over 700 dancers and thousands of student volunteers taking part in the 46-hour event. The world's largest student run philanthropy, THON raised a record of more than $10.6 million last year and has raised more than $89 million since its inception in 1977 to support the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.
• Patrick Chambers, Kevin Montminy, Patrick Ackerman and on-campus recruiting coordinator David Caporalletti shaved their heads as part of the No Hair, Don't Care campaign.
NOTES TO KNOW:
• GAME TIME SET: The Lions game at Minnesota has been confirmed for Saturday, March 2 and will be a 3:00 p.m. (ET) tip on BTN.
• PINK: Penn State's coaching staff will don pink ties and players will wear pink shoe laces in support of the 7th Annual Pink Zone at Penn State Lady Lion event on Feb. 24.
• Penn State coach Patrick Chambers and Iowa coach Fran McCaffery were both born in Philadelphia and have strong ties to the city. McCaffrey played and coached at Penn and was later also head coach at Lehigh, about an hour north of the city.
• Penn State has a 600-541 (+59) advantage in field goal attempts vs. B1G opponents.
• Penn State trails B1G opponents 322-194 (-128) in free throw attempts.
• Penn State has been whistled for 73 more fouls than opponents in Big Ten games.
• Penn State is shooting 19% from three and making 3.7 threes per game, while opponents are hitting 2.7 per game and shooting 25% in the last three home games.
• Sasa Borovnjak is posting 8.0 ppg while shooting 55% in his last three home games.
• Playing the first significant minutes of his career, junior walk-on Alan Wisniewski posted six points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes at Nebraska.
• D.J. Newbill posted his seventh 20-point game of the season with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists at Iowa. His seven 20-point games are third most in the Big Ten.
• D.J. Newbill & Victor Oladipo are the only Big Ten players to appear in the conference statistical rankings for Big Ten games in scoring, rebounding and assists.
• Newbill (9) or Marshall (9) have led the Lions in scoring in 18 of the 20 games since Tim Frazier went down with injury.
• D.J. Newbill ranks third in the Big Ten with 163 free throw attempts trailing only Cody Zeller (174) and Aaron White (164). Brandon Paul (157) is the only other player within 25 attempts. Newbill has gotten to the foul line at least once in 51 of 54 career games.
• Penn State has gotten to the line an average of 22 times in the last six games and ranks fourth in conference games shooting 71.1% at the line, but is being outscored 22.7-15.1 ppg at the foul line in the last seven games and trails Big Ten foes 14.4 to 18.5 ppg at the foul line overall, having been outscored at the foul line in every Big Ten game so far.
• Newbill (6th, 15.8 ppg) and Marshall (7th, 14.7 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 (30.4 ppg), behind Michigan's Trey Burke (2nd, 18.2) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (5th, 16.0), 34.2 ppg.
• Newbill and Marshall account for 50% of the Lions' points and steals.
SCOUTING IOWA:
The Hawkeyes are coming off a 71-57 victory over Northwestern on Saturday behind 21 points from Roy Devyn Marble. Iowa is 15-9 overall and 4-7 in Big Ten play. They are 1-6 on the road this season with a 70-50 victory at Northwestern. They have Big Ten wins over Northwestern, Penn State (76-67) and Wisconsin (70-66). Aaron White leads the Hawkeys with 13.5 ppg and 5.9 rpg. White had 27 in the Hawkeyes win over Penn State in Iowa City. Marble adds 13.2 ppg. Iowa is scoring 72.2 ppg to rank among the top scoring teams in the Big Ten, but is allowing 63.9 ppg to rank among the bottom three in the conference. They are one of the strongest rebounding teams pulling 40 per game and lead the league in assists with 16.1 per game.
WHAT A WONDERFUL WIZ HE WAS:
Junior walk-on Alan Wisniewski (6-9) saw the first significant action of his career at Nebraska (2/9) and delivered with six points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes of play. It marked his first career points and rebounds in a game for the Michigan native who is an Industrial Engineering major and holds a job making sandwiches at a downtown Quiznos. Wisniewski is the fourth current or former walk-on to play first half minutes for Penn State this season joining Nick Colella, Kevin Montminy and Kevin Onyeaka.
GUARDING THE ARC:
Penn State has made considerable improvement in limiting opponent's threes, including an 0-10 effort by Purdue (2/5) for the first opponent shutout from the arc since November of 2006. Penn State is giving up just 5.5 threes per game to Big Ten opponents, a big improvement over the 7.9 per game allowed last season to Big Ten foes and 8.0 per game allowed in the non-conference season this year. The Lions have held seven Big Ten foes to five threes or less.
FOUL TROUBLE:
Three Lions fouled out of the 58-49 loss to Purdue (2/5), including both post players Sasa Borovnjak and Jon Graham, and four had four or more at Nebraska. Penn State has had 15 disqualifications in Big Ten play and 23 on the year after having 13 and 19 all of last season. The hardest hit have been the Bigs with Borovnjak fouling out of three of the last six games and four in Big Ten play. Brandon Taylor has fouled out of three Big Ten games and four on the year and Graham and Travis have fouled out of two Big Ten games. Seven different Lions have fouled out of a Big Ten game. Penn State is suffering a 255-182 (+73) foul disparity in Big Ten play with opponents having two disqualifications.
NEWBILL HITS GROOVE/JOINS OLADIPO IN RARE CATEGORY:
Over his last seven games, sophomore guard D.J. Newbill is averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting 44-61 (72%) from the foul line. He now stands fifth in Big Ten games in scoring (15.8), third in assists (4.2) and 20th in rebounding (5.2) joining Indiana's Victor Oladipo, a conference player of the year candidate, as the only players to appear in the rankings of those three categories in conference play. Oladipo is seventh in scoring (15.3), 14th in assists (2.7) and 14th in rebounding (6.0).
LAST TIME OUT: NEBRASKA 67, PENN STATE 53, Feb. 9, 2013 • Lincoln, Neb.
Penn State shot 20% in the first half and 29% for the game and committed 28 fouls to send Nebraska to the line 41 times in dropping its 16th straight road game. D.J. Newbill (17) and Jermaine Marshall (16) led the Lions in scoring, but didn't make a field goal until 13 minutes remained in the game and the Lions trailed by 17. Penn State made 23-of-32 free throws to stay in the game, but Nebraska hit 32-of-41 to pull away for the win. PSU used a 13-3 run to take a 15-11 lead but suffered through an 11-minute drought without a field goal and saw NU put together an 18-4 run to lead 29-19. It was 33-26 at the half. Nebraska opened the second period with an 8-0 run to lead by 15. The Lions got one field over an 18-minute stretch spanning halftime. NU built as much as an 18-point second half lead, scoring 20 of its 34 second half points at the foul line. Ross Travis tied a career high with 13 rebounds and Alan Wisniewski had career highs of six point and eight boards for PSU.
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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