Dec. 20, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's basketball program closes out its non-conference schedule with Morgan State at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game will be shown on BTN Plus.
STORYLINES
- This is sixth meeting between the programs with Penn State owning a 5-0 record. The teams last met in the 2014-15 season opener.
- The Nittany Lions are coming off a win over St. John's Sunday in Madison Square Garden. They used a 35-5 run to close out the first half against the Red Storm. They ended with 52 first-half points, the most since 2006, and wrapped up the game with 13 team 3-pointers, the most since 2008.
- Five players are averaging in double figures for Penn State, led by junior captains Shep Garner (15.0) and Payton Banks (12.2). Three freshmen round out the top five scorers.
- Mike Watkins earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors Monday after posting his third double-double of the season in a 92-76 win over St. John's Sunday. He had 15 points and 13 rebounds, plus four assists and three blocks. He is the first freshman since 2003 to produce three double-doubles.
SETTING THE SCENE
- Penn State is wrapping up its non-conference schedule against Morgan State Wednesday.
- The Lions have concluded non-con play and headed into the holidays with a win in each of the last five seasons under Chambers.
- A win would give Penn State eight victories on the season. The Lions have at least eight regular-season, non-conference wins in each of the last five years.
- The last time Penn State ended with a loss and failed to reach at least eight wins was in 2010-11.
SCOUTING MORGAN STATE
- The Bears enter Saturday with a 3-7 record and are coming off an 11-day break following a 68-66 loss to Wagner Dec. 10.
- Tiwian Kendley earned MEAC Player of the Week honors last week after tallying 40 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Manhattan Dec. 6. He did not play in the team's game vs. Wagner.
- Kendley is averaging 22.9 ppg - with just 5.7 ppg coming from behind the arc - and is ranked 11th in Division I scoring. He has scored one-third of his team's total points this season.
- Phillip Carr is the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer with 9.6 rpg and 17.1 ppg.
- Six players have at least 10 assists with a team-high 35 (3.5 rpg) from Martez Cameron.
SERIES HISTORY
- Penn State has captured all five of the previous meetings with Morgan State with the first one taking place in 1985.
- The teams last met in the 2014-15 season opener with the Nittany Lions taking a 61-48 win.
HOT FROM CHARITY STRIPE
- Penn State has hit 78/5 percent (175-223) of its free throws attempts this season, including a season-high 91.7 percent effort (11-12) against Cincinnati (12/20). The season percentage is ranked 12th in Division I and tied for first in the Big Ten.
- Four players are shooting 80 percent or higher from the FT line.
- Among players with more than 25 attempts, Lamar Stevens leads the way with a 87.3 (48-55) showing. He is fourth in the Big Ten.
BLOCK. THAT. SHOT.
- After posting eight vs. Wright State (12/3), Mike Watkins has the most second-most blocks (40) of any player in the Big Ten and the third-most of an Division I player.
- He is second in the league and sixth in Div. I with 3.3 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.
UNDER 40 PERCENT
- The Nittany Lions are 4-0 this season when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field.
- Penn State holds a 50-17 record under head coach Patrick Chambers when limiting opponents to a sub-40 percent field-goal percentage.
WATKINS NAMED FRESHMEN OF THE WEEK
- Mike Watkins earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors after leading Penn State over St. John's (12/18) in Madison Square Garden. The award is the first freshman of the week honor for the Nittany Lions since the rookie recognition began in 2010-11.
- Watkins tallied 15 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in the Nittany Lions' win over the Red Storm
- It was the third double-double of the season for Watkins, becoming the first PSU freshman to accomplish the feat since 2003.
- Watkins has led the Nittany Lions in rebounding seven times this season and is ranked fifth in the Big Ten with 8.4 boards per game.
- Watkins has previously posted double-doubles over Pitt (12/10) and Georgia Tech (11/29).
DEFEND & REBOUND
- Head coach Patrick Chambers has long been a proponent of "defend and rebound" as the keys to success.
- In the team's seven wins, Penn State is outrebounding opponents by a +1.3 marin, compared to a -9.6 spread in games lost.
- The Lions also average more than two steals and three blocks more in victories compared to defeats.
SHARE THE LOVE
- Five players are averaging in double-figures through the first 12 games with all five leading the team in scoring at least once and posting 20 or more points in at least one game.
DROPPING DIMES
- Over 58 percent of the team's field goals are assisted so far this season (180/308), compared to 44 percent a year ago.
- The Nittany Lions have tallied 20 or more assists in three games this season, vs. St. John's (23; 12/18) and 20 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 (3.8 apg) after tallying a season-high six against St. John's
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 have done that in four games this season, including each of first three.
- On the season, Penn State is averaging 73.5 ppg, compared to 67.3 through non-conference play last season.
- The Nittany Lions scored 52 points in the first half against St. John's (12/18). This is the most the team has scored in a first half since Dec. 30, 2006, when the Nittany Lions posted 62 against VMI.
- 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).
UP NEXT
Penn State will open its 25th season of Big Ten play against Northwestern at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27 in the Bryce Jordan Center. It is just the second time in eight years the Nittany Lions have been given a home game to start league play. The matchup will be televised on ESPN2 with Mike Corey and Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun on the call.