Purdue's Carl Landry caught the ball five feet from the basket, turned his hips on a defender and painlessly dropped a lay-up through the cylinder for two points.

Other times the 6-foot-7 and 245-pound senior stood even closer to the rim, received an entry pass and, without a Penn State player nearby, dunked the ball with two hands.

Rarely though, even with two or three defenders guarding him, was Landry prevented from scoring.

He put up 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead Purdue in its win against the Penn State men's basketball team Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center.

"He's one of those players that you just have to try your hardest to prevent him from getting the ball and if he gets it, hope that he misses it," said sophomore forward Jamelle Cornley, who had the task of lining up against Landry on both ends of the floor most of the game.

The Nittany Lions (10-11, 1-7 Big Ten) attempted to keep the ball out of Landry's hands by surrounding him with several defenders at all times.

Penn State big men Brandon Hassell and Milos Bogetic were first responsible for finding Landry in the Lions' zone defense.

Cornley, Geary Claxton and others also lurked nearby, looking to force Landry into difficult shots if he did receive the ball from his teammates.

But more often than not, Purdue's fifth-year senior found open space in the paint, got the ball and scored before anyone could step in front of him. And if someone was there, Landry powered his way through the defense to create open looks.

"The disappointing thing for me is we just didn't use any fouls on him," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "We didn't hammer him, not one time, to make him get to the free throw line. He had several drop-step lay-ups to the basket. We didn't get between him and the basket and make him shoot over us."

Landry scored 22 points in the paint, finished 4-of-7 from the free-throw line, and grabbed six offensive rebounds. In comparison, Penn State's Hassell, Bogetic and Cornley combined for 21 points and five total rebounds.

"In that zone, you just continue banging and banging it," Landry said. "Every time, it's always at least two guys on you. You just continue to bang and get some rebounds and do the little things out on the floor because that's what it takes to win games in the Big Ten."

It was all part of the plan for the Boilermakers (15-8, 4-5), who kept the possibility of an NCAA tournament berth alive.

"He's our rock down there," Purdue coach Matt Painter said of Landry. "When people go zone against us, we really try to emphasize to still get the basketball inside ... We're always trying to jam that basketball into him without it being obvious."

During this seven-game losing streak for Penn State, opposing guards have often sunk plenty of shots, meaning that forcing the ball inside against the Lions became secondary. But Saturday, Purdue's offense went through Landry inside.

"Get it into Carl as much as possible," Purdue sophomore guard Chris Lutz said of the Boilermakers' game plan. "I had a couple times I could barely see, I just chucked it in and he's got mitts. He's a load. Every time he gets the ball, he's got two or three people on him, and he comes through big time."