UNIVERISTY PARK, Pa. – A second-half scoring outburst by the Penn State men's basketball team powered the Nittany Lions to an 81-71 win over No. 14/13 Wisconsin (13-5, 7-4) on Saturday afternoon in the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions' (6-7, 3-6) 81-point scoring effort was the highest in the series against Wisconsin and highest point total allowed by the Badgers this season.
Penn State shot 53.6 percent from the field and made 18 free throws in the second period for its first win over Wisconsin since 2011. The Nittany Lions forced Wisconsin into a season-high 12 turnovers in the game while scoring a season-best 50 points in the game's final 20 minutes.
Myreon Jones finished with a game-high 20 points. Izaiah Brockington added 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Senior John Harrar finished with a career-high 17 points and had eight rebounds.
"I thought that was a great team win, a great program win," said Penn State men's basketball interim head coach Jim Ferry. "I have the ultimate respect for Wisconsin, the way they do things, the way they play, they are so difficult to beat…The resiliency of this group keeps showing, the connectiveness of this group keeps coming through. After that tough loss at Ohio State, we really locked in and I thought we defended really well. We got the game to be played at our pace, which we talked about being very important. This was a total team win…(I'm) really proud of these guys…we're getting better, that's the focus…We're starting to play more games, and we're seeing ourselves getting better and better and better and that's what we have to continue to focus on."
Penn State went 5-5 from the field over an early second-half stretch, including a 3-pointer by senior guard Jamari Wheeler for a 34-34 tie just one minute into the second period. The Badgers' Aleem Ford countered with a trey to give Wisconsin a 37-36 lead at the 17:58 mark, but the Nittany Lions responded a Jones basket and an emphatic one-handed dunk by Brockington off a Jones pass, and the Penn State never trailed again.
Foul shooting, fast-break points and points off turnovers all proved pivotal in Saturday's win. Over the final five minutes of the game, Penn State made 17 free throws to secure the 10-point win. The Nittany Lions scored 15 points off Badger turnovers and 21 points came on fast breaks. PSU took care of the ball with only six turnovers, and had only 10 personal fouls, its lowest totals in Big Ten play.
The Penn State lead went to double-digits late in the game with Wisconsin sending Penn State to the foul line with about two minutes left. Wheeler had game-high totals with five assists and two steals.
Jones led the way in the first half, starting the game with a quick seven points off 3-4 shooting and he had 10 points to lead all Nittany Lion scorers. Sam Sessoms and Brockington added six points each in the first period.
Neither team led by more than four during the first half with eight lead changes and four ties.
The Nittany Lions' 3-point shooting produced with six triples in the opening half, with Jones and Sessoms each making two.
With the Nittany Lions leading by one, 25-24, after a Brockington jumper, Wisconsin used a 5-0 run to take a four-point lead, 29-25, with 5:48 left in the first half. The Penn State defense held Wisconsin scoreless for over four minutes until Ford halted the Badgers' scoring drought with a 3-pointer. Jones came back with a 3-pointer with 1:12 left but two Wisconsin free throws gave the Badgers a 34-31 advantage at the halftime break.
Nate Reuvers led the Badgers with 18 points and Tyler Wahl had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
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