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Dec. 16, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State faces St. John's at 11 a.m. Sunday in the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden. The game will be televised on FS1.
STORYLINES
- The event also features a 1:30 p.m. matchup between Rutgers and Fordham.
- This is just the third meeting between the programs. Penn State captured the last one with an 89-82 overtime decision in the 2013 Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn.
- The Nittany Lions will be making their 18th appearance in the current Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1968. Penn State is 10-7 all-time at MSG, winning five of its last six games.
- Five players are averaging in double figures, led by Garner (14.5). Three freshmen are among the top five scorers.
- The game Sunday features two of the youngest teams in Division I. St. John's is the fifth least-experienced team in the country (348/351) with an average of 0.9 years experience among players on the roster, while Penn State is the 18th least-experienced squad with an average of 1.03 years.
SETTING THE SCENE
- The annual Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival, presented by Advance Auto Parts is back for another classic matchup on Sunday, December 18, teaming up local rivals.
- The Holiday Festival is the longest-running in-season college basketball event and will feature favorites St. John's and Penn State in the marquee game. Rutgers will take on Fordham in the other marquee matchup.
- Penn State is 3-2 in previous Holiday Festival matchups in MSG, capturning a pair of wins in 2000-01 vs. Princeton and Hofstra.
MATCHUP MORSEL
- The game Sunday features two of the youngest teams in Division I. St. John's is the fifth least-experienced team in the country (348/351) with an average of 0.9 years experience among players on the roster.
- Penn State is the 18th least-experienced squad with an average of 1.03 years. The Nittany Lions are the sixth-youngest team among Power 5 schools and second-youngest in the Big Ten, trailing only Iowa.
SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
- The Red Storm enters the weekend with a 5-6 record after a loss to LIU Brooklyn Sunday in the Barclays Center. The loss ended a three-game win streak for St. John's.
- Marcus Lovett leads four players in double figures with 18.8 ppg. Shamorie Ponds is second with 17.4 ppg and a team-leading 3.2 3-pointers per game.
- As a team, the Red Storm is shooting over 41 percent from behind the arc and has four players with at least 15 treys to their credit.
- Following a 2-1 week for the Red Storm, Ponds was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week Monday. He averaged 23.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game with wins over Cal State Northridge and Fordham.
SERIES HISTORY
- Penn State has faced St. John's twice - for the first time in 1911 and not again until nearly 102 years later in the 2013 Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn.
- The teams split the meetings with the Nittany Lions taking the last matchup in overtime, 89-82, Nov. 29, 2013. [RECAP: Below]
LAST TIME AGAINST THE RED STORM
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Nov. 29, 2013) - Tim Frazier scored 10 of his game-high 29 points in overtime to lead Penn State to an 89-82 win over St. John's in the second game of the Barclays Center Classic.
D.J. Newbill had 25 points, and Ross Travis and Brandon Taylor each had 10 points for Penn State, which improved to 6-1. The Nittany Lions went on to play Mississippi in the championship game.
Penn State went into halftime with a 42-35 lead as they made exactly 50 percent of their shots from the field (14-for-28) and from 3-point range (7-for-14) in the opening 20 minutes.
The Nittany Lions led by as many as 15 (62-47); however, the Johnnies fought back and tied the game at 67-67 and the teams eventually headed into extra tied at 75.
PENN STATE AT MSG
The Nittany Lions will be making their 18th appearance in the current Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1968. Penn State is 10-7 all-time at MSG, winning five of its last six games.
| 1971-72 | ||
| 12/27/71 | vs. Providence | L 81-65 (ECAC Holiday Classic) |
| 12/28/71 | vs. Utah | W 80-69 (ECAC Holiday Classic) |
| 12/29/71 | vs. Syracuse | L 92-77 (ECAC Holiday Classic) |
| 1975-76 | ||
| 2/28/76 | vs. Fairfield | W 76-68 |
| 1989-90 | ||
| 3/26/90 | vs. Vanderbilt | L 75-62 (NIT) |
| 3/28/90 | vs. New Mexico | W 83-81 (OT) (NIT) |
| 1994-95 | ||
| 3/27/95 | vs. Marquette | L 87-79 (NIT) |
| 3/29/95 | vs. Canisius | W 66-62 (NIT) |
| 1997-98 | ||
| 3/24/98 | vs. Georgia | W 66-60 (NIT) |
| 3/26/98 | vs. Minnesota | L 79-72 (NIT) |
| 1999-00 | ||
| 3/28/00 | vs. Notre Dame | L 73-52 (NIT) |
| 3/30/00 | vs. North Carolina State | W 74-72 (NIT) |
| 2000-01 | ||
| 12/26/00 | vs. Princeton | W 65-52 (ECAC Holiday Classic) |
| 12/27/00 | vs. Hofstra | W 74-71 (ECAC Holiday Classic) |
| 2008-09 | ||
| 3/31/09 | vs. Notre Dame | W 67-59 (NIT) |
| 4/2/09 | vs. Baylor | W 69-63 (NIT) |
HOT FROM CHARITY STRIPE
- Penn State has hit 80.0 percent (160-200) of its free throws attempts this season, including a season-high 91.7 percent effort (11-12) against Cincinnati. The season percentage is ranked seventh in Division I and first in the Big Ten.
- Four players are shooting 80 percent or higher from the FT line.
- Among players with more than 15 attempts, Lamar Stevens leads the way with a 91.5 (43-47) showing. He is third in the Big Ten.
BLOCK. THAT. SHOT.
- After posting eight vs. Wright State (12/3), Mike Watkins has the most second-most blocks (37) of any player in the Big Ten and the fourth-most of an Division I player.
- He is second in the league and seventh in Div. I with 3.4 blocks per game.
- Watkins' eight blocks are tied for the sixth-most all-time by a Penn State player and are the most since 1999. He is the only player besides Calvin Booth to tally at least eight blocks in a game.
WATKINS DOUBLE-DOUBLES
- With 17 points and 15 rebounds against Pitt (12/10/16), Mike Watkins posted his second double-double of his freshman campaign. It marked the first time a rookie has tallied at least two double-doubles since the 2004-05 season when Geary Claxton achieved the milestone.
- Watkins' 15 rebounds vs. the Panthers marked the first time that a Penn State player has had 15 or more rebounds since Geary Claxton did so against Purdue on Feb. 18, 2006.
- Watkins previously had a double-double vs. Georgia Tech (11/19) with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
STREAK-Y STATS
- The loss to George Mason Dec. 7 ended a four-game win streak for Penn State, the longest stretch of wins since 10 in a row during 2014-15 non-conference play.
- In the four-game win streak, Penn State was out-scoring opponents by an average of 12 points per game with the 22-point win over Wright State standing as the largest margin of victory since Jan. 24, 2015 when the Lions downed Rutgers 79-51.
- Opponents were shooting 35.6 percent, down nearly seven percent from the season average of 42.1 percent. Wright State shot 24.2 percent (16-66) from the field, the lowest field-goal percentage by a Penn State opponent since Northwestern shot 23.3 percent (10-43) on March 6, 2014.
- Penn State had a +4.3 rebound margin over the four contests, compared to -8.6 through the first five games. The Nittany Lions had a 47-rebound performance vs. Wright State.
DROPPING DIMES
- Nearly 57 percent of the team's field goals are assisted so far this season (157/276), compared to 44 percent a year ago.
- The Nittany Lions tallied 20 assists in back-to-back 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 (3.5 apg) after tallying a team-high five in two of the last five games.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
- According to KenPom, Penn State is ranked No. 333 out of 351 Division I programs in terms of experience, with players averaging just 1.03 years.
- This average is second-lowest among Big Ten programs, trailing Iowa, and the sixth-lowest among all 'Power 5' conference schools.
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 did just that through the first three contests.
- On the season, Penn State is averaging 71.8 ppg, compared to 67.3 through non-conference play last season.
- 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 Nov. 15. This is the most first-half points since scoring 49 in the first half vs. Penn on Nov. 25, 2008.
UP NEXT
Penn State will close out the non-conference in the Bryce Jordan Center against Morgan State at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21. The Nittany Lions will remain at home to open their 25th season of Big Ten play vs. Northwestern at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27. This is just the second time in eight years they will open the season at home.