Cagers face Northwestern for third time this season

By VITO FORLENZA
Collegian Staff Writer

Only six points separate Penn State and Northwestern.

In two evenly played games, the Wildcats used late runs down the stretch to edge the Nittany Lions.

Now, the evenly matched teams with nearly identical records will do it again, but this time, they're polls apart.

In the kickoff game of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, No. 9-seeded Penn State (13-13, 5-11 Big Ten) will take on No. 8-seeded Northwestern (14-12, 6-10) at 2 p.m. today at the United Center in Chicago. The winner faces Big Ten regular-season champion Michigan State in tomorrow's quarterfinals.

The Lions are on a three-game winning streak and looking to seize the automatic-yet-seemingly-implausible NCAA Tournament bid. But they must top Northwestern to guarantee the .500 record necessary to at least be considered for participation in the National Invitation Tournament.

"I think we're anxious to start what we refer to as the 'new season,' " Lions coach Jerry Dunn said. "We have to put ourselves in a position to be successful in the postseason."

Northwestern has won twice as many Big Ten games this season compared to last year, including the regular-season sweep of the Lions. On Jan. 20, the Wildcats edged the Lions 62-60 in overtime in Evanston, Ill., then captured a 71-67 victory at The Bryce Jordan Center Feb. 6.

However, that four-point win was the Wildcats' last of the regular season. Since then, Northwestern has lost six straight games, five of which were to ranked opponents.

After dropping 10 of 11 conference games and finding themselves at the bottom of the Big Ten, the Lions upended Purdue Feb. 20 to begin this current stretch.

"It looks like they got to the point where they were 10-13, and they just said, 'Hey, what the hell, let's go play basketball,' " Wildcats coach Kevin O'Neill said. "And they played their best basketball of the year after that."

However, in a single-elimination tournament some teams unintentionally play more conservatively. Whether the Lions continue playing with the carefree style that has carried them to their current winning streak may be the primary factor in determining when they leave Chicago.

"We just went out with the idea that we had nowhere to go but up," Lions guard Dan Earl said of the team's mentality during the winning trend. "We had lost so many in a row, so we might as well go out and play ball. I think we have to go (into the tournament) with the same attitude."

Both teams are led by their respective 6-foot-11 centers, Northwestern's Evan Eschmeyer (19.6 rebounds, 10.3 points per game) and Penn State's Calvin Booth (15.7 points, 8.6 rebounds per game).

"The difference is Esch and Calvin is that Calvin has different people around him that can score, so he doesn't get the ball as much as Esch does," O'Neill said. "Esch gets the ball 50 times a game. Unless people just stop him from getting touches, he gets it way more than Calvin."

The key for Penn State will be to guard the periphery once Eschmeyer gets the ball. In the last two games between the two teams, the Lions collapsed inside on Eschmeyer, and he repeatedly passed the ball to the Wildcats guards who hit open jump shots, which were often 3-pointers.

In postseason play, however, teams have a chance to make the necessary changes to defend against such tendencies. The Lions also have the opportunity to establish themselves as a hard-luck team capable of topping the conference's top teams.

"It's a chance for us to regroup and get on a roll and get into the NCAAs," Dunn said. "I think what's most important for us is the chance to prove we're a better team than our record shows."