Jamelle Cornley had heard it enough: UNC Greensboro forward Kyle Hines was quite a basketball player.

After Hines put up 38 points in the Spartans' opener against Marshall, Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis said he let Cornley hear about the 6-foot-6 post player "quite eloquently" for two straight days.

DeChellis knows how to push Cornley's buttons.

"Me, I'm the type of player, I hate when people blow people up. I hate it, just like, OK, I respect players, but come on now," Cornley said. "He knows, he's starting to really figure me out, when he keeps on doing that. He knows it irritates me."

Cornley then went about his business and made Hines look ordinary. Hines did have 20 points, but Cornley bested that with 23 points and 11 rebounds of his own, eight of those on the offensive side of the court.

For one night, Cornley, an inch shorter at 6-foot-5, dwarfed a man that was only slightly bigger. It was a matchup that Cornley salivated at the chance to win. Both players have a similar build, and both he and Hines weigh in at about 240 pounds.

His mission was clear -- go hard at Hines and make him work on both ends of the court.

"He was quote-on-quote 'a beast' from what I hear, from what I heard and everything," Cornley said. "The rep going into this game was a good one."

For sure, Hines was thinking about the matchup during the week, as well.

He saw in Cornley as a carbon-copy of himself and said, "It was pretty much like looking at myself in the mirror," and the competition was entertaining. Both players jawed at each other for most of the game, something that Cornley said was all in good fun.

Greensboro head coach Mike Dement was looking forward to seeing the go at it.

"It was fun to watch," he said. "They can play anywhere for anybody, and later on after college, too, they are going to play with that type of tenacity."

Harping on Hines got to Cornley, and that was all DeChellis was hoping for.