Feb. 2, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" Sophomore guard Shep Garner put on a show for the Nittany Lions in the second half of Saturday's 79-72 decision against Michigan inside Madison Square Garden.
The Philly native poured in 17 of his 22 points in the final 20 minutes of action, helping the Lions pull within five after trailing by as much as 17 to the Wolverines.
After a cold stretch from three-point range, Garner found his touch from the outside in MSG and is primed to get back on track as Penn State (11-11, 2-7 Big Ten) heads to No. 5 Iowa (17-4, 8-1 Big Ten) on Wednesday.
"It felt really good," Garner said. "I knew it would come back around. When you go in the gym and put the work in (it's going to happen). It could have been any day. The shots just happened to fall Saturday, but I never got down on myself. I just got back in the gym and went to work. When you put the work in, there is no sense getting down on yourself."
Garner made five triples against Michigan, including four in the second half. In the previous five games, the sophomore had only made four total threes. When he takes in rhythm shots, Garner is a tremendously accurate shooter, and the Lions need his production to be successful in the Big Ten.
"Hopefully, he finishes strong in February," said head coach Patrick Chambers. "I thought we shared the ball really well (on Saturday), and he finally had some good in rhythm threes where he is not shooting off the bounce. And other guys got him some shots, which is something we talked about. He should be feeling really good."
Garner, who also had six rebounds, four assists and zero turnovers in The Garden, attributed a big piece of Penn State's offensive success to ball movement. The Nittany Lions have generated good looks at the basket during the past two weeks. In the second half on Saturday, the shots began to fall.
"We are moving the ball well," said Garner. "We are getting the ball inside with BT (Brandon Taylor). He's making great decisions. And that's huge for us, using our big men more. We get more open shots that way. We've just got to make them."
The Nittany Lions shift their attention to a week that features back-to-back matchups against the teams atop the Big Ten standings. Penn State will face Iowa at 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday before welcoming No. 22 Indiana (18-4, 8-2 Big Ten) to the BJC on Saturday (8 p.m. on BTN).
Iowa has been one of the hottest teams in America during the past month and a half. The Hawkeyes have won 10 of their last 11 games, with the lone loss coming by six points (74-68) at No. 4 Maryland. Iowa has two wins over No. 18 Purdue and two wins over No. 10 Michigan State.
A veteran team, Iowa takes care of the basketball as good as anyone in the country. The Hawkeyes are No. 7 nationally in fewest turnovers per game (10.0), No. 13 in turnover margin (plus-3.8) and No. 3 in assist-turnover ratio (1.71).
Senior Jarrod Uthoff and junior Peter Jok are Iowa's top scorers. Uthoff is a difficult matchup with his size and ability to shoot from anywhere on the floor. He is averaging 18.6 points, 6.3 rebounds per game and shooting better than 46 percent from three. Jok is averaging 15.3 points and is shooting 40 percent from three. Iowa is second in the Big Ten at 81.2 points per game.
"If we fight like we did on Saturday, we are going to be in a lot of games," said Chambers. "I'd like to see us play 40 minutes. It's not about Iowa. It's not about their record. It's not about Indiana. It's not about their record. It's about Penn State...I know these next two teams are very good, but it's got to be about the progression and the process for us."
Wednesday will mark Penn State's first visit to Iowa City in three seasons. Penn State defeated Iowa in the second round of the 2015 Big Ten Tournament, 67-58. The Hawkeyes have won seven of the last 10 in the all-time series, but nine of the last 12 meetings between the two teams have been decided by single-digits.