Cagers, Purdue look to rebound following falls


Friday, Feb. 20, 1998	Cagers, Purdue look to rebound following falls By TODD J. ENGEL Collegian Sports Writer The Penn State and Purdue men's basketball teams have something in common. They are both coming off games they should have won, but for one reason or another didn't.
`Penn State Men's Basketball page`	The Nittany Lions and the Boilermakers' string of similarities will come to an end at 12:15 p.m. tomorrow at The Bryce Jordan Center when the two teams meet for the second time this season. For the Lions (13-10, 6-7 Big Ten) it was a matter of execution and ball control. Holding a six-point lead with more than five minutes remaining in Wednesday night's contest at Minnesota, Penn State turned the ball over on numerous occasions allowing the Golden Gophers squeak by en route to an 82-77 victory. "You have to take the good with the bad," Penn State freshman guard Joe Crispin said. "The best part about basketball is if you have a bad game you play another one pretty soon. The bad part is if you have a good game then you have to play another right away. You have to take it all in stride."
Nittany Lion guard Greg Grays rebounds the ball over an Ohio State defender in Monday night's victory over the Buckeyes. Penn State will try to rebound from a disappointing loss at Minnesota when it faces No. 6 Purdue tomorrow afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center. (Collegian Photo/Alex de Jesus - click for full size image)	For the No. 5 Boilermakers (22-5, 11-3) it was the swarming press of Iowa and their slow start that cost them an 88-69 conference-shaking loss. The upset by the Hawkeyes, to some, makes Penn State's win over then-No. 16 Iowa back on Jan. 28 look even more impressive. "Iowa is a good team and has potential to be a good team," Crispin said. "It doesn't change our outlook on Purdue. It does make our win over Iowa look better." Last time out against Purdue the Lions were handed a 22-point loss (77-55) in their first Big Ten game of the season. But the Penn State team of today is much different than the Penn State team that showed up at Mackey Arena on Jan. 7. "It was the beginning of our Big Ten season," Crispin explained. "We're not the same team as we were then. We're looking forward to playing them." In the initial conference game, two Lion freshmen emerged on the scene. Greg Grays and Gyasi Cline-Heard tied for a team-high 12 points. Cline-Heard was perfect from the floor, hitting all five of his shots.
`Purdue Men's Basketball page`	On the darker side, Crispin, center Calvin Booth and forward Titus Ivory combined to go 3 of 22 from the floor. The Lions' main concern will be with the play of All-American candidates Chad Austin at guard and Brad Miller at center. Austin and Miller combined for 29 points against Penn State in their first meeting.