UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team (6-7, 3-6) heads to Madison for the second of the teams' back-to-back meetings at 8:30 p.m. ET Feb. 2. Tuesday night's tilt will be broadcast by Big Ten Network. Penn State topped the then-14th-ranked Badgers Saturday 81-71 in the Bryce Jordan Center for its 36th home win over a ranked team.
It's been nearly two years since Penn State played at the Kohl Center (3/2/19) with only one meeting, in the BJC, in the 2019-20 season.
The last time the Nittany Lions played the same opponent in back-to-back games was at the end of the 2013-14 season. Penn State faced Minnesota in the final regular-season game and then met the Golden Gophers in the first game of the 2014 Big Ten Conference Tournament.
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ROSTER: Penn State | Wisconsin
SCHEDULE: Penn State | Wisconsin
STATS: Penn State | Wisconsin
GAME NOTES: Penn State | Wisconsin
WISCONSIN
Coach: Greg Gard (UW-Platteville, 1995)
Wisconsin Record: 114-62 (Sixth season)
Career Record: Same
2020-21 Record: 13-5, 7-4 Big Ten
Leading Scorer
#00 D'Mitrik Trice, R-Sr., G – 14.1 ppg
Leading Rebounder
#11 Micah Potter, R-Sr., F – 6.6 rpg
Assists Leader
#00 D'Mitrik Trice, R-Sr., G – 3.8 apg
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
Interim Head Coach: Jim Ferry (Keene State, 1990)
Penn State Record: 6-7 (First season)
Career Record: 320-272 (20th season)
Top Scorer
#12 Myreon Jones, Jr., G – 15.8 ppg
Top Rebounder
#21 John Harrar, Sr., F – 8.4 rpg
Assists Leaders
#5 Jamari Wheeler, Sr., G – 4.0 apg
PENN STATE LAST GAME STARTERS
F -- 1 – Seth Lundy – Sr. | 12.9 ppg | 4.3 rpg
Note: Had key rebounds and career-best 3 assists in Saturday's win vs. No. 14 Wisconsin; Scored game-high 26 points with 17 in first half at No. 13 Ohio State
F -- 21 – John Harrar – Sr. | 8.5 ppg | 8.4 rpg
Note: Averaging 10.5 rebounds and 10.3 points since restart (6 games); Recorded career-best 17 points, 14 in second half, 8 in final 2:37 in win vs. No. 14 Badgers
G – 0 – Myreon Jones -- Jr. | 15.8 ppg | 2.8 rpg
Note: Scored 20 or more points for 5th time in 2020-21; Has 11-straight games with 10 or more points; Ranks eighth in Big Ten in scoring, sixth in B1G only games.
G – 5 – Jamari Wheeler -- Sr. | 5.2 ppg | 4.1 rpg | 4.0 apg
Note: Had game-high 5 assists with 9 points in victory over No. 14 Badgers; Tops B1G in conference games, 2nd in all games with 1.8 steals per game
G – 12 – Izaiah Brockington -- Jr. | 15.2 ppg | 4.9 rpg
Note: Averaging 19.0 points per game over last 3 games; Had 18 points vs. No. 14 Wisconsin, 12 coming in second half.
STARTING 5
As of the Feb. 1 NCAA NET rankings, Penn State is now at 29, its highest ranking of 2020-21. PSU is one of seven Big Ten teams, most of any league, in the top 30.
Penn State owns two of the top rankings for strength of schedule. According to the NCAA and ESPN.com, the Nittany Lions rank as the SOS leader and are second in SOS on kenpom.com.
The Nittany Lions trailed 34-31 at the half vs. No. 14 Wisconsin and earned their first Big Ten come-from-behind victory since a 76-56 win over Illinois (3/10/2019).
Junior guard Sam Sessoms is a spark for the Nittany Lions with the highest scoring average (10.1 ppg) of any Big Ten player in a non-starting role.
Combining the second halves of the last two games, at Ohio State (1/27) and Wisconsin (1/30), senior forward John Harrar is averaging 12 points and 6.5 rebounds. Harrar had 10 pts and five rebounds at OSU and 14 points and eight boards vs. Wisconsin.
SERIES vs. WISCONSIN
Penn State broke Wisconsin's 13-game series win streak Saturday for its first win against the Badgers since 2011 (Big Ten Tournament, 36-33, 3/11/11). In the victory, the Nittany Lions scored 81 points, their highest point total in the 50-game series history.
The last Penn State visit to the Kohl Center was a 61-57 loss (3/2/19). PSU's last win in Madison came during the 1994-95 season (1/26/1995).
Series streak: Penn State, W1
Last game: University Park, Pa.,
Penn State 81, No. 14 Wisconsin 71, 1/30/2021
Overall series: UW leads 39-11 (PS A: 2-20)
Ferry vs. Wisconsin: 1-0
Series record and results from last 20 games are listed on page 5 of the game notes.
BACK-TO-BACK WITH BADGERS
Penn State will play No. 19/20 Wisconsin in back-to-back games over four days. The last time the Nittany Lions faced the same opponent in back-to-back games was in the 2013-14 season, finishing the regular-season at Minnesota (L, 3/9/14) and then playing the Golden Gophers in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament (L, 3/13/14).
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK RANKED FOES
The Nittany Lions last played three-straight ranked opponents in the 2017-18 season, defeating No. 8 Ohio State (H, 79-56, 2/15/18) and falling to No. 6 Purdue (A, 76-73, 2/18/18) and No. 17 Michigan (H, 72-63, 2/21/18).
NCAA NET & KENPOM.COM
Penn State is one of seven Big Ten teams ranked in the top 30 in the Feb. 1, 2021 NCAA NET rankings and the only team among the group at or below .500. The kenpom.com calculations have Penn State at No. 35 the highest rated team with a record at or below .500.
Both current rankings tie the Nittany Lions' highest of the 2020-21 season.
Feb. 1, 2021
NCAA NET -- 29
Kenpom.com -- 35
POINTING IT OUT
In 50 previous games vs. Wisconsin, Penn State had only scored 70 or more points seven times, winning five of those contests.
Penn State's 81 points Saturday were the most by the Nittany Lions in the series and the only time recording 80+ points vs. the Badgers.
BY THE NUMBERS
3 – The Nittany Lions have had three different leading scorers in their last three games.
5 – Junior guard Myreon Jones was the top scorer vs. the Badgers with 20 points, his fifth career 20-point game.
10.5 – Senior forward John Harrar has averaged 10.5 rebounds and 10.3 points per game over the last six contests (since the restart).
12 – Penn State is one of the 12 oldest basketball programs in the nation, playing its 125th season of basketball in 2020-21.
36 – Thirty-six of the Nittany Lions' 58 wins over ranked teams have come on their home court, 27 in the BJC.
81 – Points scored in the win over No. 14 Wisconsin, the Nittany Lions' highest total in the series. Saturday's game marked only the eighth time Penn State had scored 70 or more points vs. the Badgers.
LAST TIME OUT: SECOND-HALF SURGE LIFTS LIONS OVER NO. 14 WISCONSIN
A second-half scoring outburst powered the Penn State to an 81-71 win over No. 14/13 Wisconsin as the 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 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. John Harrar finished with a career-high 17 points and had nine rebounds.
Penn State went 5-5 from the field over an early second-half stretch, including a 3-pointer by 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.
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.
FOLLOW PENN STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL VIRTUALLY
Please stay connected and follow Penn State men's basketball virtually throughout season. While we are unable to host fans this season due to COVID-19 protocols, fans are able to join the interest list for tickets for the 2021-22 men's basketball season. Sign up for the 2021-22 interest list by clicking here.
