BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Penn State men's basketball team (5-1) squares off against Syracuse (4-2) Friday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. in the Barclays Center in the third-place game of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The Nittany Lions were edged by Ole Miss in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader, 74-72, and the Orange fell to Oklahoma State 86-72.
The two teams, who have played 105 times previously, last met in January of 1982.
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ROSTER: Penn State | Syracuse
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SYRACUSE
Coach: Jim Boeheim (Syracuse, 1966)
Record at Syracuse: 950-387 (44th season)
Career Record: Same
2019-20 Record: 4-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast
Top Scorers
#33 Elijah Hughes, R-Jr., F – 19.0 ppg
Top Rebounder
#34 Bourama Sidibe, Jr., F – 7.3 rpg
Top Assists Leader
#33 Elijah Hughes, R-Jr., F – 4.3 apg
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
Coach: Patrick Chambers (Philadelphia, 1994)
Penn State Record: 132-141 (9th season)
Career Record: 174-169 (11th season)
2018-19 Record: 5-1, 0-0 Big Ten
Top Scorer
#11 Lamar Stevens, Sr., F – 17.7 ppg
Top Rebounder
#11 Lamar Stevens, Sr., F – 8.2 rpg
Top Assists Leader
#0 Myreon Jones, So., G – 4.0 apg
STARTING 5
Penn State leads the Big Ten with 64 steals, 22 more than the team in second place. The Nittany Lions are 10th in the nation in steals per game with 10.7 and 35th in total steals. The Nittany Lions also top the Big Ten in turnovers forced at 17.2 per game.
Senior forward Mike Watkins registered his 28th career double-double with 18 points, 12 rebounds and was a stat-sheet stuffer who tied career bests with eight blocked shots and four steals.
One made field goal shy of the total needed to rank nationally for field goal percentage, Mike Watkins went 8-11 from the field vs. Ole Miss to boost his season field goal percentage to 69.0.
Watkins, who set Penn State's single-season field goal percentage mark as a sophomore (68.5), also owns the Nittany Lion career field goal percentage record, now currently at at 62.2.
Senior forward Lamar Stevens moved to fourth on PSU's all-time list for field goals with 649.
SERIES VS. SYRACUSE
Syracuse and Penn State have met 105 times since their first game in 1917 through 1982. Twice they have played neutral site games, in 1967 and 1971, both at the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden.
Series streak: Syracuse, W11
Overall series: Syracuse 62-43 (N: 2-0)
Last game: University Park, Pa.
Syracuse 69, Penn State 68, 1/25/1982
Chambers vs. Syracuse: First meeting
Chambers vs. ACC: 8-7, 7-7 at Penn State
BACK IN TIME
The last time Penn State and Syracuse played, in the year 1982...
No. 1 song -- "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John
Top grossing movie -- "E.T."
Top toys -- BMX bike/Glo Worm
Top fashions -- leg warmers & popped collars
Cost of a Super Bowl ad -- $345,000
Most popular TV show -- "Magnum, P.I."
Miscellaneous
- Mike Lang led Penn State in scoring, field goal percentage and rebounding in 1981-82
- "Cheers" debuted
- First issue of USA Today produced
- Price of a gallon of gas: $1.22
- CD players first sold to consumers
- Disney's EPCOT Center opens
- Michael Jackson released "Thriller"
- Time's "Man of the Year is The Computer
- Elvis Presley's home, Graceland, opens to the public
- The game Trivial Pursuit is released
STEVENS IN SELECT COMPANY
With a career-best 13 rebounds as part of his double-double with 13 points vs. Yale, Lamar Stevens became one of only four Nittany Lions with 1,500+ career points and 700+ career rebounds. He was the fastest Nittany Lion junior to 1,500 points and is the 14th Penn State player to collect 700 rebounds.
Individual (Years) – Points, Rebounds
Jesse Arnelle (1952-55) -- 2,138 points, 1,238 rebounds
Jamelle Cornley (2005-09) -- 1,579 points, 755 rebounds
Geary Claxton (2004-08) -- 1,542 points, 755 rebounds
Lamar Stevens (2016-present) – 1,744 points, 702 rebounds
OLE MISS RALLIES IN SECOND HALF TO EDGE PENN STATE
Ole Miss used a furious late-game rally to defeat the Nittany Lions 74-72 in the early game of Wednesday's doubleheader of the NIT Season Tip-Off at the Barclays Center. Senior forward Lamar Stevens finished the night with a game-high 22 points and senior forward Mike Watkins recorded his 28th career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Watkins also tied his career high in blocked shots with eight.
The Rebels' Bryce Williams connected on two free throws with 13.8 seconds left to give Ole Miss its only lead of the game. Penn State's potential game-winning 3-point attempt was off the mark.
The Nittany Lions came out of halftime with a 43-27 lead after shooting 53.3 percent from the field. Watkins, who had 14 points in 13 minutes in the first half, started a 9-2 run for a 52-31 Penn State advantage at the 16:23 mark.
A stretch of poor shooting for Penn State, going 2-8 from the floor over the next five minutes, allowed the Rebels to start to creep back into the game. Three-straight 3-pointers by Ole Miss over a span of 90 seconds midway through the second half reduced the Nittany Lion lead to single digits at 57-50.
Stevens popped in a 3-pointer to put the Nittany Lion lead back to 10 and baskets by sophomore guard Izaiah Brockington and Watkins put the score at 64-50 with 7:21 to play.
Over the next 4:29, Penn State's next six points would come at the free throw line. The Rebels used a 15-4 run to pull within three, 68-65.
The two teams traded points at the charity stripe over the next 75 seconds before Rebel guard Breein Tyree tied the game at 70 all with 76 seconds left when he scored in the paint and then converted the three-point play.
Breein countered Steven's go-ahead field goal 12 seconds later with another to tie the game at 72 with just 26 seconds remaining.
Williams finished the game with his two free throws for the final 74-72 margin.
Penn State kept Ole Miss' top three scorers to a combined nine points in the first half as the team's leading scorer, Tyree, was scoreless in the first 20 minutes. Tyree finished with 18 points and went 7-13 from the field in the second half. Williams had 13 of his 15 points in the second period.
The Nittany Lions forced 14 Rebel turnovers in the first 20 minutes, but Ole Miss had only one in the second half. Ole Miss cashed in on 12 points off the Nittany Lions' eight turnovers in the second half and had the 13-7 bench points advantage in that timeframe.