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Jan. 16, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's basketball team returns to the Bryce Jordan Center to face Purdue at 1 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU with Clay Matvick and Sean Harrington on the call.
The Nittany Lions are seeking their first win in Big Ten play, though the teams still has the most wins (12) through the first 17games of the season since 2008-09 (13-4).
Penn State's last three Big Ten games have been decided by a total of 16 points with two games being separated by three and four points. The loss to Indiana, 76-73, was the Nittany Lions' first one-possession loss of the season and broke a seven-game streak of wins in games decided by three points or fewer, dating back to last season.
PROMO PLANS
TEAM REAM | The second annual Team Ream Day will take place vs. the Boilermakers. There will be pregame autographs with Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson and former Nittany Lion football standout Tim Shaw and a postgame BMX show as part of the festivities. The Team Ream Foundation is a not-for-profit organization established to preserve the memory, to grow the legacy, and to carry on the fight, the will and determination of Brandon Ream for future generations. The mission of the Team Ream Foundation is to assist financially-disadvantaged individuals in State College and surrounding areas who have been affected by serious medical and various conditions. [MORE: TeamReam.org]
GROWTH CHART | Fans will receive an Alan Wisniewski growth chart while the supplies last featuring the 6-foot-10 center from Sterling Heights, Mich.
QUICK HITS
PURDUE | The Boilermakers are 10-7 on the season and 2-2 in conference play, defeating Minnesota and Michigan before falling to Wisconsin and Maryland. They are 0-2 on the road this season (0-1 in the Big Ten).
THE SERIES | Penn State and Purdue have met 32 times, dating back to 1959. The Boilermakers lead 30-12, though the teams split regular-season meetings a year ago and Penn State has won two of the last three meetings in the BJC.
LAST TIME OUT | Penn State was led by Ross Travis and Shep Garner, who each had 14, but a late charge from Indiana was enough to hold off the Nittany Lions 76-73 Tuesday. The Nittany Lions cut a 12-point deficit to 76-73 on Travis' basket with 53.1 seconds to go. A 3-point shot at the buzzer was waved off.
LEADER | Senior guard D.J. Newbill, the Big Ten leading scorer and eighth in the nation, has paced the Nittany Lions throughout the season with 20.8 ppg, with nine outings of 20-plus points. He is 9th all-time in PSU career scoring, despite playing just three seasons.
SCOUTING PURDUE
• The Boilermakers enter the BJC with a 10-7 overall record and are 2-2 in the Big Ten. They have played just two true road games to date, going 0-2 at Vanderbilt in the non-conference and at Wisconsin among league foes.
• Purdue won each of its first two Big Ten games, but dropped its last two againt ranked foes Wisconsin and Maryland.
• Purdue has three players averaging just over 10 points per game, led by Kendall Stephens with 10.9 ppg. Isaac Haas and A.J. Hammons both produce 10.1 ppg with Hammons adding 5.9 rebounds and a Big Ten-leading 2.5 blocks per game.
• As a team, the Boilermakers averaged 72.9 ppg in non-conference play, but have been limited to 62.2 ppg once in league play.
14-15 PLAYERS vs. THE BOILERMAKERS
Nine players on the current PSU roster have seen action vs. Purdue with D.J Newbill leading the group in scoring with 15.5 ppg in four meetings. He had 19 points in the 79-68 victory at the BJC last season, which is tied for for he sixth-most points scored by a PSU player all-time against the Boilermakers. Brandon Taylor is the leading rebounder with 5.8 per game.
SERIES HISTORY
• The teams split last season's meetings with each team winning at home. Purdue leads the all-time series 30-12 and is 11-10 when playing in University Park.
• Penn State has won two of the last three meetings in the BJC.
• The Nittany Lions were victories in the BJC last season, knocking off the Boilermakers 79-68 for what stood as the team's third Big Ten victory in a row.
LAST TIME VS. PURDUE
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Feb. 2, 2014) - The Penn State trio of D.J. Newbill (Philadelphia, Pa.), Tim Frazier (Houston, Texas) and Brandon Taylor (Tabernacle, N.J.) led the men's basketball team to a 79-68 victory over Purdue Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center. Newbill led all scorers with 19 points, Frazier followed closely with 18 points and Taylor added 15 points to give the Nittany Lions three-consecutive Big Ten regular-season wins for the first time since 2009.
Taylor also led the Lions in rebounding, pulling down eight boards while Newbill registered seven. Frazier recorded another complete game, dishing out five assists and grabbing five rebounds. The graduate guard is just two helpers away from taking over the PSU career assists record, currently held by Freddie Barnes (600; 1989-92). [RECAP]
THREE MORE NOTABALE GAMES Jan. 5, 2012: Penn State posted the first Big Ten victory of the Patrick Chambers era with an impressive 65-45 victory in the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions were led by redshirt junior Billy Oliver, who posted a career-high 21 points on a personal-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.
March 13, 2009: The Lions' last loss of the 2008-09 season came to Purdue, 79-65, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. Jamelle Cornley had 20 points to lead four Lions in double-figures, but 24th-ranked Boilermakers shot 63 percent in the first half to fuel the win. They went on to win the B1G tourney, while the Lions bounced back to earn the NIT Championship, the program's first and only national title to date.
Feb. 21, 1998: The Nittany Lions used Pete Lisicky's 19 points and Jarrett Stephens' 17 to upset No. 5 Purdue, 74-63, in the Bryce Jordan Center. The win was Penn State's first over a team ranked in the Top 5 in nearly 50 years.