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January 4, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's basketball team plays host to Northwestern in its first-ever Friday night Big Ten game at the Bryce Jordan Center on January 5. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
GAMEDAY
Northwestern (10-6, 1-2) at Penn State (11-5, 1-2 Big Ten)
Friday, January 5
8 p.m. ET
Bryce Jordan Center (15,261)
WATCH: FS1 and Fox Sports to Go
Lisa Byington (pxp) and Dickey Simpkins (analyst)
LISTEN: Penn State Sports Network, Steve Jones (pxp) and Dick Jerardi (analyst)
2017-18 Affiliates and free online at GoPSUsports.com/lionvisionSirius XM: Sirius 81 | XM 81 | Internet 81
FOLLOW:Twitter @PennStateMBB & @Coach_Chambers | Facebook | Instagram
TICKETS:
Tickets are available for Penn State's upcoming slate of eight Big Ten home games. Visit for more information.
DIGITAL PROGRAM FEATURING
FRESHMAN GUARD JAMARI WHEELER:
Desktop | Mobile
NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS
RECORD: 10-6, 1-2 Big Ten
Coach: Chris Collins (5th year at Northwestern)
2017-18 Leading Scorer
#20 Scottie Lindsey, Sr., G/F - 14.6 ppg
2017-18 Leading Rebounder:
#5 Dererk Pardon, Jr., C - 6.9 rpg
2017-18 Assists Leader:
#30 Bryant McIntosh, Sr., G - 5.5 apg
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
RECORD: 11-5, 1-2 Big Ten
Coach: Patrick Chambers (7th year at Penn State)
Starters Returning/Lost: 5/0
2017-18 Leading Scorer:
#10 Tony Carr, So., G - 18.7 ppg
2017-18 Leading Rebounder:
#24 Mike Watkins, RSo. F - 9.0 rpg
2017-18 Assists Leader:
#10 Tony Carr, So., G - 4.8 apg
NITTANY LION PROBABLE STARTERS
# / Name / Pos. / ELG. / Pts / REB / STAT / NOTES
11 / Lamar Stevens / F / So. / 14.1 / 6.8 / 2nd ppg/rpg | 6-straight double-figure scoring games
24 / Mike Watkins / F / R-So. / 12.7 / 9.0 / 51 blks | 17pts / car-best 17 reb at Md.
10 / Tony Carr / G / So. / 18.7 / 4.8 / ppg 3rd in B1G | 39th career gm with 10+ pts / 6.0 apg in B1G
23 / Josh Reaves / G / Jr. / 11.0 / 4.5 / B1G steals leader | Nationally ranked for steals & A:T ratio (3.87)
33 / Shep Garner / G / Sr. / 10.8 / 1.9 / 263 career 3s | 49.1 3FG pct. in month of December (26-53)
OPENING TIP
Penn State has played or will play at least one scheduled basketball game on every day of the week this season. The Nittany Lion-Wildcat contest in the BJC is Penn State's first-ever home regular season conference game to take place on a Friday.
Penn State's only other Friday Big Ten game was at Ohio State on November 20, 1998.
QUICK HITS
• The Nittany Lions have scored 80 or more points seven times so far in this season. On the defensive side, Penn State has held seven opponents under 60 points in 2017-18.
• Penn State continues to rank as the Big Ten's top team in steals, now with 145 and 16 more than the league's second-place team, Illinois (129), through 16 games.
• Junior guard Josh Reaves, who averages 2.47 steals per game, good for 15th in the national rankings, has 133 career steals. The Fairfax, Va., native has been the team's steals leader in 36 games and needs three more steals to tie for the No. 10 spot on Penn State's all-time list.
Senior guard Shep Garner is also positioned to enter the Nittany Lions' all-time steals chart with 130 career steals. He has led the Nittany Lions in that category in 33 games in his career.
• Redshirt sophomore forward Mike Watkins was named Penn State's male student-athlete of the week for his 17-point/17-rebound performance at Maryland (1/2). Watkins had his fifth double-double of the season and 13th in his career.
• The latest kenpom.com rankings place Penn State 42nd overall with a No. 17 rating for adjusted defense.
SERIES VS. NORTHWESTERN
Penn State leads the overall series versus Northwestern 29-18 and 15-6 in games played at University Park. Northwestern, however, has won the last two games, including the 2016-17 Big Ten opener, at the Bryce Jordan Center.
These two teams meet again in 15 days on Saturday, January 20, at Allstate Arena.
Here are the details of the series:
Overall series: Penn State leads 29-18
at University Park: Penn State leads 15-6
at Northwestern: Penn State leads 13-10
at neutral sites: Northwestern leads 2-1
Big Ten games: Penn State leads 29-17
The list of all games in the series is on page 187 of the Penn State media guide.
REAVES, PRINCE OF THIEVES
Junior Josh Reaves currently ranks in the NCAA top 15 individually for total steals (11th-37) and steals per game (15th-2.47). His defensive contributions have helped Penn State to a No. 9 national ranking with 145 total steals and No. 14 rank in steals per game (9.1).
He has 133 career steals to date and needs three more to enter Penn State's career top-10 list. The No. 10 spot is currently held by Jarrett Stephens (1996-2000) with 136. His 133 total ranks him 37th on the NCAA list of active career leaders. His 1.93 career per game average places him 16th on the NCAA list of active career leaders.
Reaves had 60 steals in 2016-17, a total that was just on the outside of Penn State's single-season chart at 11th, quite an accomplishment since Reaves missed six games to start the season.