| PENN STATE (10-8, 1-4) at NORTHWESTERN (15-3, 3-2) | ||||||||||||||||
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Jan. 15, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State men's basketball (10-8, 1-4 B1G) has its second road game of the week, traveling to Northwestern for an 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday matchup on ESPNU.
STORYLINES
- The Nittany Lions, who had three of their first five Big Ten matchups vs. Top 25 foes, are coming off back-to-back losses to ranked teams. Northwestern has won each of its last two contests.
- Penn State has defeated NU on the road in two of the last three outings. This is the fourth-consecutive meeting to take place in Evanston and the sixth out of the last eight. The Wildcats will visit University Park March 3 for the first time since 2013 and just the third time since 2011.
- Three Nittany Lions are scoring in double-figures: Brandon Taylor (16.2 ppg), Shep Garner (14.6) and Payton Banks (10.8) with Taylor controlling the boards (6.0) and Garner also leading in assists (2.8).
- Brandon Taylor is one of just three Big Ten players to rank in the Top 15 in both scoring and rebounding. He became the 32nd Penn State player to pass the 1,000-point mark with this 18 points vs. Michigan Jan. 2. and now has 1,061 over his four-year career to rank No. 24 all-time.
GAMEDAY INFO
SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN
The Wildcats enter Saturday with a 15-3 overall record and a 3-2 mark in the Big Ten after a 70-65 win over Wisconsin at home Tuesday. They have won each of their last two games after falling to Maryland and Ohio State in back-to-back games at home. Northwestern opened the league slate with four of its first six games in Welsh-Ryan Arena, traveling only to Nebraska and Minnesota to date.
Bryant McIntosh leads four scorers in double-figures with 16.1 points per game to go with a Big Ten-leading 7.1 assists per contest. Tre Demps (14.0), Alex Olah (12.8) and Derek Pardon (10.3) are also producing an average above 10 ppg. Led by Aaron Falzon's 40, three NU players have 30 or more 3-pointers on the season. The Wildcats average 9.1 treys per game and are 8-0 on the season when converting on 10 or more.
| PSU | STAT CATEGORY | NU | STAT | PSU LEADER | NU LEADER | ||
| 66.8 | Points Per Game | 76.8 | Points | Brandon Taylor: 16.2 | McIntosh: 16.1 | ||
| 69.1 | Opponent Points Per Game | 64.1 | Rebounds | Brandon Taylor: 6.0 | Lumpkin: 4.6 | ||
| 41.8 | Field-Goal Percentage | 47.3 | Assists | Shep Garner: 2.8 | McIntosh: 7.1 | ||
| 42.1 | Opponent FG Percentage | 39.2 | Blocks | Jordan Dickerson: 1.9 | Olah: 2.0 | ||
| 5.6 | 3-pointers Per Game | 9.1 | |||||
| 29.6 | 3-point FG Percentage | 37.0 | |||||
| 38.5 | Opponent 3-point FG % | 32.0 | |||||
| 69.1 | Free-Throw Percentage | 68.7 | |||||
| 34.4 | Rebounds Per Game | 38.5 | |||||
| 35.3 | Opponent Rebs Per Game | 33.6 | |||||
| 9.2 | Assists Per Game | 17.6 | |||||
| 11.1 | Turnovers Per Game | 10.4 | |||||
| 5.3 | Steals Per Game | 4.1 | |||||
| 4.4 | Blocks Per Game | 4.7 |
SERIES HISTORY
- This is the 44th meeting between the teams with Penn State owning a 28-16 advantage in the all-time series. The Nittany Lions also lead 12-10 all-time when playing in Evanston.
- This is the fourth-consecutive meeting to take place in Evanston and the sixth out of the last eight. The Wildcats will visit University Park March 3 for the first time since 2013 and just the third time since 2011.
- PSU has defeated NU on the road in two of the last three outings.
CURRENT ROSTER VS. NORTHWESTERN
Seven current members of the Nittany Lions have seen action against Northwestern, led by Shep Garner's 9.0 ppg in one career meeting. Brandon Taylor has the series high scoring effort among current players with 11 points in a 59-32 win March 6, 2014 in Evanston.
| PLAYER | GP-GS | PPG | RPG | SERIES HIGH |
| S. Garner | 1-1 | 9.0 | 3.0 | 9, at NU (2/21/15) |
| P. Banks | 1-0 | 4.0 | 1.- | 4, at NU (2/21/15) |
| J. Dickerson | 1-1 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 6, at NU (2/21/15) |
| B. Taylor | 5-3 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 11, at NU (3/6/14) |
| D. Jack | 3-0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | -- |
| J. Moore | 1-0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | -- |
| D. Foster | 1-0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- |
LAST TIME VS. THE WILDCATS
Evanston, Ill. (Feb. 21, 2015) - The Nittany Lions fell to Northwestern 60-39 in a game where they struggled from the field. Geno Thorpe scored 13 points for Penn State, which scored a season-low point total and shot a season-low 27 percent. D.J. Newbill, the Big Ten's leading scorer at 21.1 points per game, finished with three points on 1-for-6 shooting and nine rebounds. He scored his first points on a 3 with 1:25 remaining to cut the lead to 56-39. Vic Law scored 17 points, Tre Demps added 16 for Northwestern.
NOTABLE GAMES IN THE SERIES
Feb. 25, 2012 (NU, 67-66): The Lions held a one-point lead for much of the final 2:48 until a foul call sent John Shurna to the free throw line with :03 to play. Shurna hit both to seal the win for the Wildcats, who hit 15 free throws in the contest.
Feb. 28, 2010 (PSU, 79-60): Talor Battle had 16 points to lead Penn State to what was the Lions' largest margin of victory since 2007. They shot 68 percent in the first half and ended the night at 57 percent.
Jan. 28, 2004 (PSU, 63-61-OT): The last of five overtime games between the teams went to Penn State when Marlon Smith posted 23 points and Ndu Egekeze converted on a lay-up with :01 remaining in the extra period.
UP NEXT
Penn State hosts Wisconsin at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Bryce Jordan Center in the lone home game in a five-contest stretch. The Nittany Lions have at least two-consecutive road/neutral league contests four times in the 18-game league slate with a stretch of seven out of the first 10 away from University Park.