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January 8, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's basketball team travels to Indiana for a Tuesday night tilt in Bloomington, Ind. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
GAMEDAY
Penn State (12-5, 2-2 Big Ten) at Indiana (9-7, 2-2 Big Ten)
Tuesday, January 9
6:30 p.m. ET
Simon Skjodt Assemby Hall (17,222)
WATCH: BTN and BTN2Go
Dave Revsine (pxp) and Stephen Bardo (analyst)
LISTEN: Penn State Sports Network, Steve Jones (pxp) and Dick Jerardi (analyst)
2017-18 Affiliates and free online at GoPSUsports.com/lionvision
FOLLOW: Twitter @PennStateMBB & @Coach_Chambers | Facebook | Instagram
TICKETS:
Tickets are available for Penn State's remaining seven Big Ten home games. Visit for more information.
INDIANA HOOSIERS
RECORD: 9-7, 2-2 Big Ten
Coach: Archie Miller (First year at Indiana)
2017-18 Leading Scorer
#13 Juwan Morgan, Fr., F - 15.7 ppg
2017-18 Leading Rebounder:
#13 Juwan Morgan, Fr., F - 7.3 rpg
2017-18 Assists Leader:
#2 Josh Newkirk, Sr., G - 3.0 apg
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
RECORD: 12-5, 2-2 Big Ten
Coach: Patrick Chambers (7th year at Penn State)
Starters Returning/Lost: 5/0
2017-18 Leading Scorer:
#10 Tony Carr, So., G - 18.3 ppg
2017-18 Leading Rebounder:
#24 Mike Watkins, RSo. F - 9.5 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. / 15.1 / 6.7 / 2nd ppg/rpg | 30 pts vs. NU, broke BJC MBB record w/14 FG
24 / Mike Watkins / F / R-So. / 13.0 / 9.5 / 55 blks | 14th car dbl-dbl w/18 pts/tied car-best 17 reb vs. NU
10 / Tony Carr / G / So. / 18.3 / 4.6 / ppg 3rd in B1G | 40th career gm with 10+ pts vs. Northwestern / 5.8 apg in B1G
23 / Josh Reaves / G / Jr. / 10.8 / 4.6 / B1G steals leader | Nationally ranked for steals & A:T ratio (11th-3.47)
33 / Shep Garner / G / Sr. / 10.2 / 1.9 / 263 career 3s | 49.1 3FG pct. in month of December (26-53)
OPENING TIP
In the 20 meetings between Penn State and Indiana in the last 10 seasons, the Nittany Lions are 9-1 when allowing the Hoosiers 71 points or less. Indiana is 10-0 when the Hoosiers score 72 points or more.
QUICK HITS
• The latest kenpom.com rankings (1/8) place Penn State 41st overall with a No. 16 rating for adjusted defense.
• Sophomore forward Lamar Stevens became the 45th Nittany Lion to register 30 points in a game with 30 vs. Northwestern (1/5). From North Wales, Pennsylvania, Stevens now has scored 20 or more points in 11 career games and has 36 games with at least 10 points.
• In going 14-19 from the field vs. the Wildcats, Stevens set the Bryce Jordan Center MBB record for field goals in a single game.
• Redshirt sophomore Mike Watkins had a doubly good week last week with back-to-back double-doubles vs. Northwestern and at Maryland. Watkins was the leading scorer vs. the Terps with 17 points and pulled down career-best mark with 17 rebounds. He tied that mark with 17 rebounds against the Wildcats and added 18 points in that win.
• Penn State continues to rank as the Big Ten's top team in steals, now with 154 and 18 more than the league's second-place team, Illinois (136), through 17 games.
• Junior guard Josh Reaves, who averages 2.47 steals per game, good for 15th in the national rankings, has 134 career steals. The Fairfax, Va., native has been the team's steals leader in 36 games and needs two 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 132 career steals. He has led the Nittany Lions in that category in 33 games in his career.
SERIES VS. INDIANA
The last six meetings between Penn State and Indiana have been decided by an average of four points with the largest margin of eight occurring in the triple overtime contest at Bloomington, Ind., on February 1, 2017.
This is the only regular-season meeting between these two teams this year.
Here are the details of the series:
Overall series: Indiana leads 37-11
at Bloomington: Indiana leads 19-3
at neutral sites: Indiana leads 3-2
Big Ten games: Indiana leads leads 35-11
The list of all games in the series is on page 183 of the Penn State media guide.
DOUBLE-DIGITS IN DECEMBER
Penn State has reached double-digit wins by the calendar year end for the third time under coach Patrick Chambers and only the fourth time since 1997-98.
| Season | Wins By 12/31 |
|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 11 |
| 2015-16 | 10 |
| 2014-15 | 12 |
| 2008-09 | 12 |
MARGINS OF EXCELLENCE
In the Patrick Chambers era, steady progress has been made in increasing the Nittany Lions' scoring and rebounding averages. In the most recent NCAA statistical rankings, Penn State is ranked 45th for scoring margin at +12.9. Its highest ranking was 35th at +14.2 scoring margin.
On the rebounding side, the Nittany Lions are ranked 78th with a +4.8 margin.
POINTS RISING
Just one of the indicators of Penn State's increase in its offensive output was the setting of the program's record for points scored in the Big Ten (1,262) and finish in the top 10 for total points (2,367) in 2016-17.
In comparing the season's figures after 17 games, including, for the first time, two early Big Ten Conference games, the current 77.8 points per game average is the highest at this point in the season a 13.8-point difference from Chambers' first season in 2011-12.
Scoring
17-game Final
Season Record FG% Avg. Avg.
2017-18* 12-5 47.1 77.8
2016-17 10-7 42.2 73.9 71.7
2015-16 10-7 41.6 67.4 65.8
2014-15 12-5 43.5 70.1 66.9
2013-14 9-8 45.4 77.4 70.9
2012-13 8-9 39.3 62.1 61.6
2011-12 9-8 39.7 64.0 61.8
*includes two Big Ten games