Nov. 17, 2016
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Nov. 17, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lions will take on No. 1 Duke in the first semifinal of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Mohegan Sun. The game will be shown on ESPN3 with Bob Picozzi, Malcolm Huckaby and Jeff Goodman on the call.
STORYLINES
- It is the first meeting vs. the top-ranked team in the country since 2011. Penn State is 0-13 all-time against the No. 1 team.
- Penn State has won each of its last two games after starting the season with loss vs. Albany. Last time out, the Lions defeated Grand Canyon 85-76 as part of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off on-campus contests. [Recap: Page 23]
- The Lions will play six games within the first two weeks of the season and a program-record tying eight in the month of November. They had three within the first five days of the season.
- Five players are averaging in double figures after three games, led by freshmen Lamar Stevens (17.7 ppg).
- Three freshmen - Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins - were among the starters on opening night, marking the first time in program history three rookies were on the floor to start the season opener and the first time since the final three games of the 2007-08 season that at least three starters were freshmen in any game.
SCOUTING DUKE
The Duke Blue Devils (2-1) enter Saturday's clash as the top team in the country in both the USA Today Coaches' Poll and the AP Poll. Duke blew past Marist in the season opener, 94-49, before defeating Penn State's most recent opponent in Grand Canyon, 96-61.
In its most recent outing Duke fell to No. 7 Kansas, 77-75. The Blue Devils rallied from a 12-point deficit, trailing 62-50, with a key three-pointer from freshman guard Frank Jackson tying the game, 75-75, with eight seconds remaining. Kansas' Frank Mason III went on to hit the game-winning jumper with 1.8 seconds left on the clock.
The Blue Devils are guided by veteran leadership in junior guard Grayson Allen and graduate student forward Amile Jefferson. Allen, whose breakout performance in the 2015 national championship game helped the team earn its fifth NCAA title, was the leading vote-getter in the Associated Press' preseason All-American team.
Through the first three games, Allen leads Duke's scoring output, averaging 17.7 points per game while adding 5.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists in each contest. Allen was not his usual self against the Jayhawks, going just 4-for-15 shooting. Jefferson leads the 2016-17 squad in rebounds (6.7 rpg) and blocks (3.0 bpg) while posting 10.7 points per game scoring. Jefferson posted 12 points, four boards and a pair of assists against Kansas.
SERIES HISTORY
Penn State matches up with the Blue Devils for just the 10th time in program history on Saturday, entering the game with a 1-8 record against Duke all-time. The lone win came in the teams' first meeting when the Nittany Lions edged Duke, 51-48, on Dec. 28, 1949. Saturday's matchup marks the first time the two sides have met since Dec. 30, 1970, in which Duke earned a 67-56 win over Penn State.
PENN STATE VS. THE ACC
Penn State is 147-187 against ACC opponents all-time, most frequently facing Pittsburgh (76-69) and Syracuse (43-62). Duke is the first of three ACC teams on the 2016-17 schedule for the Nittany Lions. They will host Georgia Tech Nov. 29 in the B1G/ACC Challenge and take on Pittsburgh Dec. 10 in the inaugural Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The latter is part of a doubleheader with Villanova and Notre Dame.
PENN STATE AGAINST NO. 1 TEAMS
Penn State enters Saturday with an 0-13 record all-time against opponents ranked No. 1 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. PSU last faced a No.1 team on March 13, 2011, when Penn State fell, 71-60, to top-ranked Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament.
UP NEXT
No. 21/22 Rhode Island and No. 24/25 Cincinnati will tip-off following the Penn State vs. Duke contest in the second semifinal matchup. The winners of each game will meet at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament championship with the losers taking the court at 3:30 p.m. for the consolation game.
Series History vs. Rhode Island
Penn State holds a 12-11 edge against Rhode Island all-time and is 1-1 against Rhode Island in neutral-site games. The Nittany Lions won the most recent meeting with the Rams, an 11-point, 83-72, win on March 19, 2009 in the second round of the NIT en route to winning the tournament.
Series History vs. Cincinnati
The lone matchup in series came on Dec. 28, 1973, in which Penn State defeated Cincinnati in overtime, 74-66, as part of the Quaker City Classic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
ABOUT THE HALL OF FAME TIP-OFF TOURNAMENT
The Basketball Hall of Fame hosts the annual Tip-Off Tournament each November. The Tip-Off Tournament is an NCAA exempt men's basketball tournament sponsored by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). Each year, top teams and conferences will compete in the Basketball Hall of Fame's event showcasing its talents in New England's only exempt Division I college basketball tournament. The original Tip-Off was held in Springfield for more than 25 years. The format has changed, but the name has remained the same.
Penn State participated in 2011 event, falling to eventual national champion Kentucky and defeating South Florida.EARLY-SEASON TOURNEYS
Penn State is 77-89 in early-season tournaments. The Lions have participated in at least one each season since 1981 and have captured 10 tourney championships, 12 second-place and 27 third-place finishes.
Last season, Penn State finished the Las Vegas Classic with a 3-1 record and a third-place finish. The Lions defeated Canisius and Lousiana-Monroe in the on-campus contests, before splitting with Colorado (L, 71-70) and Kent State (W, 75-69).
GRADUATION SUCCESS RATE
The Nittany Lions have once again earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 100 percent, according to statistical information released by the NCAA, this week.
The program had a 100 percent success rate for the fourth-consecutive year and is the only Big Ten men's basketball team with a perfect score in the 2016 NCAA Graduation Rates report.
For the 12th-consecutive year, every year the GSR data has been released, PSU basketball earned four-year Graduation Success Rates at least three points higher than the national average for its sport.
The men's basketball graduation figure was 24 points higher than the Division I average in the 2016 NCAA report and 20 points above the Big Ten sport average.
HIGH-SCORING OFFENSE
Head coach Patrick Chambers stated in the preseason one of the team's goals was to score at least 80 points per game and they have done just that through three contests.
The last time the Nittany Lions scored 80+ points in three-consecutive games was in the 2013-14 season (vs. Longwood, Monmouth and St. John's).
The Nittany Lions scored 48 points in the first half against Grand Canyon Sunday. This is the most first-half points since scoring 49 in the first half vs. Penn on Nov. 25, 2008.
DROPPING DIMES
The Nittany Lions have tallied 20 assists in each of their last two games vs. Duquesne (11/13) and Grand Canyon (11/15).
The last time Penn State secured 20 assists in back-to-back contests was in three-consecutive games in the 2006-07 season (vs. Maine, VMI and Northwestern).
Freshman Tony Carr leads the team in assists (4.7 apg) after tallying six in the win over Grand Canyon. He is 10th in the Big Ten and first among freshmen point guards.