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Penn State Athletics

Men’s Basketball Faces #19 Indiana in Big Ten Tournament Semifinals Saturday

CHICAGO -- The Penn State men's basketball team takes on third-seeded #19 Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals Saturday afternoon from the United Center in Chicago. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.
 
FOLLOW ALONG

 
OPENING TIPS

  • The 10th-seeded Nittany Lions take on the third-seeded Hoosiers in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals Saturday afternoon from the United Center in Chicago.
  • Penn State has won seven of its last eight games and advanced to the semifinals by way of wins over Northwestern (67-65 OT) and Illinois (79-76).
  • Consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection Jalen Pickett leads PSU in scoring (17.8 ppg), rebounds (7.4 rpg) and assists (6.8 apg) and is the only player in the country averaging 17/7/6. Honorable mention All-Big Ten picks Seth Lundy (14.2 ppg) and Andrew Funk (12.3 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.

 
IF PENN STATE BEATS #19 INDIANA

  • The Nittany Lions would advance to Sunday's Big Ten Tournament Championship for the first time since 2011 and take on either top-seeded Purdue or 13th-seeded Ohio State at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT.

 
SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS

  • The third-seeded Hoosiers took down sixth-seeded Maryland 70-60 in Friday night's quarterfinal game to advance to Saturday's semifinal matchup.
  • The #19 Hoosiers are 22-10 on the season. Indiana finished tied for second in the Big Ten standings with a 12-8 conference record.
  • First team All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis leads Indiana with 20.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.

 
AGAINST INDIANA

  • The Nittany Lions and Hoosiers meet for the first time since Jan. 11 in the Big Ten Semifinals Saturday.
  • Penn State won the season's only meeting 85-66 inside the Bryce Jordan Center. The 19-point win was Penn State's largest margin of victory over Indiana in program history.
  • The Nittany Lions drilled a program record-tying 18 3-pointers in the big win, shooting a blistering 58.1 percent clip from downtown, while the Nittany Lion defense limited Indiana to just a 4-for-14 mark from deep.
  • Seth Lundy scored his 1,000th career point to highlight his 25-point performance that also included a career-best seven 3-pointers. Senior Andrew Funk also drilled seven triples in Penn State's 3-point barrage and finished with 23 points. Jalen Pickett had 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists.

 
MARCHING ON

  • The 10th-seeded Nittany Lions are set to make their first Big Ten Tournament Semifinals appearance since 2018. Penn State defeated second-seeded Northwestern 67-65 in overtime in Friday night's quarterfinals after ousting seventh-seeded Illinois, 79-76, in Thursday's second round. 
  • Penn State looks to advance to the Big Ten Tournament Championship game for the second time in program history and first time since 2011.
  • Andrew Funk is averaging 17.0 points per game through the two tournament contests, while shooting 53.3% (8-15) from 3-point range and 50.0% (9-18) from the field. Seth Lundy is averaging 16.5 ppg and 8.5 rebounds per game in Chicago, while Jalen Pickett has tallied 13.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg and 5.0 apg.
  • The Nittany Lion defense has stepped up through its tournament run, holding its opponents to a 38.5 FG% and 26.7 3FG%.

 
RESUME WORKSHOP

  • Penn State owns seven total Quad 1 wins. Five of those Quad 1 wins have come in the last 16 days as the Nittany Lions have put together a dazzling run, going 7-1 since Feb. 14.
  • Penn State Quad 1 Wins:
    • 3/10    vs. Northwestern        W, 67-65 (OT)
    • 3/9      vs. Illinois                    W, 79-76
    • 3/5      Maryland                    W, 65-64
    • 3/1      at Northwestern         W, 68-65 (OT)
    • 2/23    at Ohio State               W, 75-71
    • 1/11    Indiana                        W, 85-66
    • 12/10  at Illinois                     W, 74-59
  • The Nittany Lions also own four Quad 2 wins in home victories over Illinois, Iowa and Michigan, in addition to a neutral site win against SoCon Tourney champion Furman.
  • Penn State is 10-1 in Quad 3/4 games, with the lone loss being a home overtime defeat to Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions have only lost one game to a team outside of the NET top 90, with that loss coming on the road at Nebraska on Feb. 5.

 
PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME

  • The Nittany Lions have won seven of their last eight games. That stretch started with Penn State's 93-81 win over Illinois on Feb. 14.
  • Five of those seven wins are currently Quad 1 victories: at Ohio State, at Northwestern, Maryland, vs. Illinois, vs. Northwestern.
  • The last four wins have been by three points or less. Entering the road win at Northwestern on March 1, the Nittany Lions were 0-3 this season in games decided by three points or less.

 
THE SHREWSBERRY EFFECT

  • Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry has guided the 21-12 Nittany Lions to just the 12th 20-win season in the 127-year history of Penn State basketball.
  • Penn State is poised to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 (2020 team was projected to make the field before the Covid-19 pandemic canceled postseason play).
  • He collected more Big Ten wins (17) in his first two seasons than any other Penn State head coach has previously through their first two seasons.
  • The Nittany Lions finished 10-10 in the Big Ten this season, just the eighth time in Penn State's 31 seasons in the Big Ten that the Nittany Lions have finished .500 or better.

 
THE THREE IS KEY

  • Penn State ranks fourth in the nation with 10.6 3-pointers made per game. The Nittany Lions are shooting the long ball at a 38.8 percent (349-899) clip, a mark that ranks 11th in the nation.
  • The 2022-23 Penn State team (33 games played) has already set the program single-season team record for 3-pointers made in a season (currently at 349). The previous school record stood with the 2017-18 team's 294 treys (39 games played, NIT Champions). The Big Ten record for 3-pointers in a season is 365, which was set by Purdue in 2018-19 (36 games, Elite 8) while Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry was an assistant coach on Purdue's staff.
  • Penn State has made double-digit 3-pointers in 20 games this season, including a program-record 18 triples in two games.

 
17/7/6

  • Jalen Pickett is the only player in the country averaging at least 17 points (17.8) per game, seven rebounds (7.4) per game and six assists (6.8) per game.
  • Only two men's college basketball players in the last 30 years (since 1992-93 season) have finished the season averaging 17/7/6 or better: Michigan State's Denzel Valentine (19.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 7.8 apg - 2015-16) and Memphis' Penny Hardaway (22.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 6.4 apg - 1992-93).

 
THE ALL-AMERICAN MAESTRO

  • Jalen Pickett is Penn State's first All-American in nearly 70 years. He was named to the Sporting News All-America Second Team Tuesday. Pickett joins Jesse Arnelle as the only two Nittany Lions in program history to earn second-team or higher All-America status. Arnelle collected first-team All-America honors in 1954 from the Helms Foundation and second-team honors in 1955. Pickett is the first Penn State player to ever land on the Wooden Award National Ballot and is also an Oscar Robertson Trophy Late Season Watchlist honoree and Top 5 Finalist for the Bob Cousy Award.
  • Pickett ranks in the top 10 nationally in both assists per game (6.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.05) while engineering a Penn State offense that ranks 16th in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency metric. The six-foot-four guard played his best in Big Ten play, averaging 19.2 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game and 6.6 assists per game while shooting 55.8% from the field.
  • The Rochester, N.Y. native's season highlights include a 41-point game, a 32-point game, 12 20-point games, six double-doubles and one triple-double. He has already set a Penn State single-season assists record through 33 games this season, dishing 226 assists to this point.

 
PICKETT 1 AWAY FROM 1,000 AT PENN STATE

  • Jalen Pickett has scored 999 points through his 64 games as a Nittany Lion, putting him just one point away from becoming the 40th member of Penn State's 1,000-career point club.
  • Pickett spent his first three seasons at Siena before transferring to Penn State ahead of the 2021-22 season. He currently owns career marks of 2,138 points, 749 rebounds and 824 assists and is the only Division I men's college basketball player in AT LEAST the last 37 years to have accumulated marks of 2,000+ career points, 700+ career rebounds and 800+ career assists.

 
ALL-BIG TEN HONORS

  • The Nittany Lions collected the following All-Big Ten honors Tuesday:
    • Jalen Pickett - Consensus First Team All-Big Ten (Coaches & Media - unanimous pick by the conference media)
    • Seth Lundy - All-Big Ten Honorable Mention (Coaches & Media)
    • Andrew Funk - All-Big Ten Honorable Mention (Coaches & Media)
    • Camren Wynter - Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree

 
THE BIG TEN'S BEST SHOOTING DUO

  • Penn State's duo of Andrew Funk and Seth Lundy have provided a lethal 1-2 punch on the perimeter as they both rank in the top three in the Big Ten in 3FG% and 3FG made per game.
  • Andrew Funk leads the conference with a 41.4 3FG% and 3.0 triples per game. Seth Lundy ranks second with a 40.5% 3FG% and third with 2.6 treys per contest.

 
ELITE EFFICIENCY FOR LUNDY

  • Senior Seth Lundy is producing at an elite level. He is one of just 14 players in the nation that is averaging double-digit points (14.2) and six-plus (6.3) rebounds per game while shooting at least 50% from two (53.6%), 40% from three (40.5%) and 75% from the free throw line (78.9%).
  • Lundy is having his most consistent year in the Blue & White and has scored in double figures in 27 games this season, including five 20-point contests. In addition to his offensive consistency, Lundy serves as one of the team's top defenders and is consistently tasked with guarding the opposing team's best players.

 
WYNTER IS COMING

  • Camren Wynter has kicked it up a notch over the last seven games. He's averaging 14.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg while shooting 60.3% (38-63) from the field and 68.4% (13-19) from 3-point range in Penn State's last seven games.

 
UP NEXT

  • The winner of the Penn State-Indiana semifinal game advances to Sunday's Big Ten Tournament Championship contest to take on the winner of Purdue-Ohio State at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT Sunday afternoon on CBS.

 
The 2022-23 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.