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Feb. 3, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's basketball team begins a stretch of four out of five games vs. Top 20-ranked opponents when it heads to No. 17/16 Maryland for an 8:30 p.m. Wednesday tipoff on BTN.
The Nittany Lions have won two of their last three games by outlasting Minnesota, 63-58, Jan. 28 and downing Rutgers by 28 points, 79-51, Jan. 24. They were clipped by Illinois, 60-58, Saturday in Champaign.
QUICK HITS
SCORING DEFENSE | In six of nine Big Ten games, Penn State has held its opponent under their season scoring average, including each of last four by average of 12.4 points.
14 WINS | It took Penn State 21 games to reach 14 wins on the season, the fewest games since 2008-09 since the Nittany Lions got to 14 wins in the span of 19 games. It took 28 games a year ago
MARYLAND | The Terps are 18-4 overall and 6-3 in Big Ten play, tied for second, after losing to Ohio State last Thursday. [MORE: Page 2]
THE SERIES | Penn State and Maryland have met 17 times, dating back to 1938, with this standing as the first meeting as conference foes. The teams last faced each other in the 2010 Big Ten/ACC Challenge. [MORE: Page 2]
NARROW MARGINS | ISix games this season have been separated by one possession with PSU winning the first four before falling short in the last two (Indiana and Illinois). In Big Ten play, six of the team's seven Big Ten losses have been decided by an average of 4.8 points. ]
HEY DJ, THAT'S MY DJ | Senior guard D.J. Newbill, the top scorer among Power 5 conference players and fifth in Division I, has paced Penn State throughout season with 21.5 ppg. The No. 5 scorer all-time at PSU, he is 25 points away from 4th-place and 28 points away from being just second player in program history to reach 500 points in three-consecutive seasons. [MORE: 17-18]
SENIOR CLASS AWARD | D.J. Newbill was named one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, presented annually to a four-year student-athlete who excels in all four areas of classroom, community, character and competition. [seniorclassaward.com]
BEFORE & AFTER
LAST TIME OUT
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - D.J. Newbill led Penn State with 20 points, but the Nittany Lions fell to Illinois 60-58 in a game that came down to the very last play.
Illinois forward Malcolm Hill scored 27 points Saturday including two on a layup with four seconds left in the game to put Illinois up by two. Newbill raced down the court and drove to the basket but couldn't convert on the layup as time expired.
Shep Garner added 14 for Penn State. Julian Moore posted a career-high 10 points for the Nittany Lions, having entered the game averaging just 1.1 points a game.
The biggest lead of the afternoon was eight, in the first five minutes for Illinois. [RECAP]
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions return to the Bryce Jordan Center to face Nebraska at 4 p.m. Saturday on ESPNU. The Huskers are 12-9 on the season and 4-5 in the Big Ten with a home game vs. Northwestern scheduled for Tuesday night in Lincoln. Nebraska is 0-4 on the road in league play, falling at Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
Terran Petteway is the team's leading scorer at 18.6 ppg and is third in the league behind D.J. Newbill and Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell. Shavon Shields is behind Petteway with 16.3 ppg and a team-leading 6.4 rpg.
The game vs. Nebraska is the lone contest featurning an unranked opponent within the next five for Penn State . The Nittany Lions and Huskers split the regular-season series a year ago with each team capturing its respective home game.
It will be THON Hoops Day Saturday with a record 70-plus Four Diamonds Fund families expected at the BJC.
THE MATCHUP
SCOUTING MARYLAND
- The Terps are 18-4 on the season with a 6-3 record, tied for second, in their first season of Big Ten action. They are coming off a 80-56 setback at Ohio State last Thursday and had a bye weekend leading up to the Wednesday night matchup in College Park.
- The Terps fell to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio State, all on the road, by a margin of -16.7 points. Their six wins have been separated by +8.0. They have not lost back-to-back games this season.
- Maryland is 13-1 in the Xfinity Center this season with a 4-0 mark in conference games. The lone loss was to Virginia in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
- The Terps are the only the team in the Big Ten with three players averaging 13.5 or more points per game as Melo Trimble (15.7), Jake Layman (14.1) and Dez Wells (13.5) lead Maryland offensively. Maryland has utilized a total of nine different starting lineups this season with Trimble and Layman being the lone two players to start every game.
- Trimble's 15.7 ppg are eighth in the Big Ten and third among league rookies. He was limited to 3 points, 1 assist and 0-8 shooting from the field in the loss to the Buckeyes.
SERIES HISTORY
- This is the first meeting between Penn State and Maryland as conference foes.
- The Terps lead the all-time series with a 9-8 record and captured the last meeting between the squads, in the 2010 ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
- The teams first met in 1939 and then once a season from 1960-68 with sporadic meetings thereafter.
LAST TIME VS. THE TERPS
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Dec. 1, 2010) - Penn State jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on Maryland and then put a lid on the basket hitting just 20 percent (14-68) from the floor and 3-of-27 from three (11%) as Maryland (6-2) pulled away in the second half for a 62-39 victory and its fifth-straight ACC/Big Ten Challenge win.
The Nittany Lions fell to 5-2 on the year as Talor Battle logged his Big Ten leading 34th 20-point game (21) and no other Lion logged more than six on the night. Battle was a below average 7-of-21 from the floor as he tried to create for a struggling Lion offense while the rest of the team went 7-of-47. Penn State pulled down 20 offensive boards and got 68 shots to Maryland's 47, but was only able to record eight second chance points, got just three from its bench and went just 5-of-28 in the second half, four of those from Battle.
THREE MORE NOTABALE GAMES
March 19, 1990 (PSU, 80-78): Ed Fogell tallied 20 points to lead Penn State over Maryland in the second round of the NIT in University Park, en route to a third-place tourney finish. This was the lone meeting vs. Maryland under Gary Williams.
Nov. 30, 1968 (UMD, 66-56): The last meeting in College Park was a loss for the Nittany Lions in the 1968-69 season opener.
Dec. 7, 1963 (PSU, 91-62): The largest scoring margin in the series was a 29-point decision in Penn State's favor in 1963. Former Maryland head coach Gary Williams was a freshman on that Terrapin squad. Penn State was 2-2 during Williams' time as a player.
CONNECTIONS
- Three members of the Penn State coaching staff are from the DMV: Associate head coach Keith Urgo (Washington), assistant coach Dwayne Anderson (Silver Spring, Md.) and director of operations Ross Condon (Springfield, Va.).
- Longtime radio analyst Dick Jerardi, a member of the USBWA Hall of Fame, and Alissa Clendenen, the team's sports information director, are both graduates of the University of Maryland.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS
D.J. Newbill | was named one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, presented annually to the one four-year student-athlete with exceptional accomplishments in all four areas of classroom, community, character and competition. Newbill is one of just two players from the Big Ten among the candidate pool, joining Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky. [MORE]
Newbill is averaging 21.5 ppg, tops in Division I among Power 5 conferences and fifth overall, and 21.6 ppg in Big Ten games only. After posting 20 points to move into No. 5 overall at Penn State, he is averaging nearly 25 ppg in the last five games with 13 outings of at least 20 points and two topping 30, most recently with a record-setting 37-point vs. Purdue Jan. 17. That effort stands as:
- BJC arena record
- PSU single-game record vs. Big Ten
- 8th-most points in a game all-time
- Most since 1965 (Dick Weiss vs. Duke, 38)
With 1,580 career points at Penn State, Newbill holds the record among players to spend just three years in the Blue and White and is No. 5 all-time overall. He is averaging 18.2 ppg over his three seasons with Penn State, a career scoring average which is second among 1,000-point scorers, behind only Jesse Arnelle (1952-55; 21.0 ppg; 2,138 points). He needs just 25 points to take over the No. 4 spot and 28 points to reach 500 for the third-consecutive season.
Brandon Taylor | has missed the last two games with a mild knee sprain. He is second on the team in scoring with 9.9 points per game. Over the last four games he has played, Taylor is averaging 9.2 ppg in the first half alone and is shooting 53 percent from behind the arc in last three games. He produced the team's first double-double of the season and the first of his career with 14 points and 11 rebounds in win vs. Drexel Dec. 20.
Shep Garner | is third on the team in both scoring (9.5 ppg) and assists (2.3 apg) as a freshman. He has scored 10+ in all but nine games this season, and has seen increased assist and rebound numers when limited in scoring. He has tied his career-high 14 points four times, most recently at Illinois
Geno Thorpe | has started each of the last four games and five this season. In the last four games, he has led the team with 12 assists (3.0 apg) and seven steals (1.8 spg), while averaging 6.0 ppg. Thorpe was the top scorer off the bench with 8.4 points per game as a reserve.
Thorpe has produced and then topped career highs twice this season. He leads the team and is third in the Big Ten with 87 percent free-throw shooting. He is 71-82 from the line overall and 22-24 (92 percent) in league action.
Devin Foster | finished the Minnesota game last Wednesday with eight points and was perfect from the field (3-3) and free throw line (2-2). Foster saw action in just two non-conference games while getting up to speed after transferring from a junior college this semester. Over the last five games, Foster is fifth on the team in scoring with 4.6 ppg and 2.6 rebounds in 18.2 minutes.
Donovon Jack | is 12-13 from the free-throw line in the last seven games combined and is averaging 5.0 ppg during the stretch. Against Rutgers, he hit his first 3-pointer of the season on his seventh attempt of the year. Jack averages 3.2 fouls per game on the season, but has committed just 2.4 in the last seven games. He played 21 minutes vs. the Wolverines and did not pick up a foul, the first time in 50 games played without a personal foul.
Ross Travis | is ninth in the Big Ten in rebounding with 6.5 per game after leading the team in 11 games this season. Travis is sixth all-time at Penn State with 745 boards and with his career average produced this season, will end up in the Top 3.
Jordan Dickerson | has blocked multiple shots in seven of the last 12 games, including a career-high six in the win over George Washington Dec. 14. He leads the team with 31 and is ninth in the Big Ten with 1.4 per game. He has had three blocks in the each of the last three games.