No, this post is not about the next hit FOX reality show.

Viewers of the Rice-Tulane showdown on CBS College Sports on Wednesday were treated to Rice mascot Sammy the Owl running into referee Curtis Shaw after a no-call and then getting into an apparent argument with him.

Shaw promptly threw Sammy out of the game, much to the dismay of 5-year-old Rice fans everywhere. No word on whether or not Sammy went into a Charles Barkley-like "I am not a role model" speech in the locker room after the game.

All I want to know is, what did Sammy say to Shaw? Since when do mascots talk?

-Brown

Tuesday, Alabama coach Mark Gottfried resigned in the midst of his 11th season at the help in Tuscaloosa.

Gottfried came under scrutiny following the departure of injury-prone star guard Ronald Steele from the team earlier this season.

Today, Georgia axed Dennis Felton in his sixth season as the head man in Athens. Felton may be best remembered for leading the Bulldogs to a surprising SEC tournament championship last season.

This year, the Georgia administration decided not to wait and see if the Bulldogs would make a similar surprise run, as they fired Felton after a 0-5 start in the SEC.

Coaching changes like this might be expected in the NBA or NHL, but it's unusual to see major moves made in the middle of a college basketball season -- unless of course you're Kelvin Sampson.

But it's been a bad year all-around in the SEC, which finds itself in the basement among the major conferences. Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology shows just three SEC teams in the tournament (Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida). That equals the total of the Mountain West and is less than the five other "BCS" leagues.

RealTimeRPI's conference RPI also places the SEC sixth, with no teams in the top 25 and just two in the top 50.

According to those rankings, Alabama (129) and Georgia (216) are the lowest ranked teams in the conference, so maybe it was time for a change.

-Brown

Say all you want about the parity in the Big Ten this season (and, quite frankly, it has been a crapshoot), but nothing compares to the monster that is the Big East in 2009.

The league's toughness and balance was never more evident than on Wednesday night, when current No. 3 (and former No. 1) Pitt became the first ranked team to lose to No. 21 Villanova, 65-57.

Meanwhile, No. 15 Syracuse began to look more and more good (and less and less great) by losing to Providence, 100-94.

Around the same time, No. 25 Georgetown (how are they still ranked?) fell to 3-5 in the conference with a 65-57 loss at Cincinnati.

Georgetown got blown out by 17 at home last week to a West Virginia team (how are they NOT ranked?) that toppled St. John's, 75-52.

Things will only get tougher for the Hoyas when they travel to Marquette to take on the league-unbeaten Golden Eagles on Saturday.

The league's only other unbeaten, Louisville, took care of business with an 80-54 home win over USF.

A few weeks ago, Rick Pitino said on ESPN2's "First Take" that he would get a small tattoo of a cardinal should his team win the national championship. I won't say his squad is that good, but it sure has come a long way since a non-conference season that saw it drop three games, including one to Minnesota in Glendale, AZ.

With everyone beating each other up in the Big East, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the conference's first-place team at the end of the season will have at least five conference losses.

***
What, you really thought I'd make a post and leave out the Big Ten?

Indiana was thisclose to winning a conference game Wednesday, but ultimately fell at the the hands of two Craig Moore free throws as Northwestern survived the home scare, 77-75.

Ohio State got to .500 in the conference while giving its rival a losing record in Big Ten play in a 72-54 home win over Michigan.

***
Remember that Texas high school that was all over Sportscenter last week after winning a game by the score of 100-0?

Well, as it turns out, winning wasn't so fun after all.

Micah Grimes, head coach of the Covenant School, was fired not long after the game after disagreeing with an apology the school listed on its Web site.

I wonder what the spread was for that game...

***
In more serious matters, Chicago public schools are doing everything they can to prevent harmful behavior after the shooting of one player in a parking lot following a game.

The list of rules in place is too long to list here, but it's truly a shame that it has come to this at the high school level. Here's hoping we see less situations like this in the future as schools are forced to crack down on security.

-Fortuna

I love college football, but it seems a bit ridiculous that just about every team .500 or better gets a postseason bid.

Well, college basketball appears to be on its way to duplicating that. For years, the NCAA tournament and the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) were the only two shows in town after the season, with the NIT serving as a sort of consolation prize for those who missed out on the Big Dance.

Last year, the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) made its debut, more or less taking NIT rejects. Tulsa won the inaugural championship with a win over Bradley in a best-of-three series. But my guess is a good portion of casual fans have no idea the CBI even exists.

If all that isn't enough, CollegeInsider.com will be holding its own 16-team postseason tournament starting this season. Apparently schools must boast winning records against Division I opponents to qualify, and the tournament will also favor schools from conferences not as well represented in the NCAAs and NIT.

I'm not going to complain about having more games to watch (that is, if they are readily available on TV and not competing with NCAA/NIT games... further inspection seems to indicate that, like the CBI, these games will appear on the FOX College Sports channels), but I don't know if games matching NIT rejects from the Southland and Big Sky conferences will qualify as riveting TV in March with so many bigger games going on.

-Brown

Surprise, surprise! Duke climbed into the top spot of this week's AP Top 25 poll, garnering 62 of the 72 first place votes.

Michigan State fell two spots to No. 7 after its loss to Northwestern at the Breslin Center. Purdue moved up two spots to No. 16, while Illinois leaped all the way to No. 19 from No. 25.

Minnesota fell out of the poll from No. 21 and Ohio State received a single vote.

AP Top 25
Rank-School-Record-Pts-Pvs
1. Duke (62) 18-1 1,789 2
2. Connecticut (6) 18-1 1,694 3
3. Pittsburgh (3) 18-1 1,647 4
4. Oklahoma (1) 19-1 1,539 6
5. North Carolina 17-2 1,529 5
6. Wake Forest 16-1 1,509 1
7. Louisville 15-3 1,351 9
8. Marquette 17-2 1,209 11
9. Michigan St. 16-3 1,136 7
10. Xavier 17-2 1,084 15
11. Texas 14-4 1,017 14
12. Clemson 17-2 929 10
13. Butler 18-1 916 16
14. Arizona St. 16-3 834 17
15. Syracuse 17-4 808 8
16. Purdue 15-4 724 18
17. UCLA 15-4 544 13
18. Memphis 16-3 530 22
19. Illinois 17-3 401 25
20. Gonzaga 14-4 381 23
21. Villanova 15-4 276 20
22. Saint Mary's, Calif. 18-1 247 --
23. Washington 15-4 218 --
24. Kentucky 16-4 217 --
25. Georgetown 12-6 189 12
Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 154, Minnesota 138, Kansas 84, Florida 65, Missouri 52, Virginia Tech 37, Baylor 34, West Virginia 32, Davidson 27, Utah St. 23, Dayton 14, California 13, UNLV 4, Florida St. 3, Ohio St. 1, Va. Commonwealth 1.

-Fortuna

Jamelle Cornley was named the Big Ten's co-player of the week today, the power forward's first such honor.

The senior captain led the Nittany Lions to home wins over Michigan and Iowa last week, scoring 17 and 24 points, respectively.

Cornley tied Titus Ivory for eight on Penn State's all time scoring list with 1,369 points.

He shares the award with Northwestern's Kevin Coble.

It was a successful week for Penn State with a blowout win against Michigan Tuesday night and a dramatic comeback victory over Iowa Saturday. Thanks to the wins, RealTimeRPI's daily update on Sunday morning had the Nittany Lions up 12 spots from 87th to 75th.

Of course, the weak resumes of PSU's non-conference opponents continue to hold back the Lions' RPI. So again, here is the week's look at Penn State's opponents and the Big Ten (Jan. 19-25):

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary (6-13)...L 54-44 at Hofstra, L 62-49 at Drexel
-NJIT (1-19)... W 61-51 vs. Bryant, L 63-51 at Longwood
-Hartford (6-15)... L 66-59 at Binghamton, L 79-65 vs. Vermont, L 72-63 at Stony Brook
-New Hampshire (7-11)... L 78-75 at Maine, L 60-47 at Binghamton, L 72-56 at Vermont
-Penn (4-10)... L 79-70 at La Salle, L 80-68 vs. St. Joe's
-Rhode Island (13-7)...L 78-75 at Richmond, W 94-89 at George Washington
-Towson (7-14)... L 70-59 at James Madison, L 103-98 vs. UNC Wilmington
-Georgia Tech (9-10)... L 80-76 vs. Boston College, L 73-59 at Clemson
-Temple (11-7)... W 65-40 vs. Saint Louis, W 80-53 vs. Charlotte
-Army (5-13)... W 76-71 vs. Navy
-Mount St. Mary's (11-9)... W 64-62 vs. Central Connecticut St., W 70-52 vs. Monmouth
-Lafayette (6-13)... L 71-61 at Bucknell, L 60-57 vs. Lehigh
-Sacred Heart (8-11)... W 70-66 at Quinnipiac, W 68-64 at Wagner

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 6-1 (16-3)
2. Illinois 5-2 (17-3)
3. Purdue 4-2 (15-4)
4. Minnesota 5-3 (17-3)
4. Penn State 5-3 (16-5)
6. Michigan 4-4 (14-6)
7. Ohio State 3-4 (13-5)
7. Wisconsin 3-4 (12-7)
9. Iowa 2-5 (12-8)
9. Northwestern 2-5 (10-7)
11. Indiana 0-6 (5-13)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record: 94-152
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 131-59
Total Opponents' Record: 225-211

Well, the good news for Penn State is that NJIT got a win! Yes, that's right, the NJIT Highlanders ended their 51-game losing streak with a win over mighty Bryant. Other than that, well, the non-conference opponents failed to grab any big wins and ended up 9-18 for the week. I added the record of each of those teams and put those in, revealing that the Lions played just three non-conference teams with winning records -- Rhode Island, Temple and Mount St. Mary's. Only the Mount St. Mary's game resulted in a victory. It's not hard to figure out why PSU's RPI is less than desirable for a team that's tie for fourth in a tough conference. There are just way too many bottom-feeders on that non-conference schedule.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten continues to prove that just about anyone can beat anyone on any given night. Even Indiana almost notched a conference win against Minnesota Sunday afternoon. They key word being "almost." Who would have thought Indiana would ever be the Detroit Lions of Big Ten basketball? I apologize to all Indiana fans for that. I assume that within just a few years Tom Crean will have the Hoosiers back at the top.

But the biggest story of the week was definitely the Michigan State-Northwestern thriller that took part on an all-around great night of college basketball on Wednesday. The Wildcats walked out of the Breslin Center as victors thanks in part to a brilliant showing by Kevin Coble (31 points). If Northwestern was at home, the game wouldn't be nearly as surprising. The Wildcats don't exactly boast a great home-court advantage, but any road game in the Big Ten is an upset waiting to happen. But I don't think anyone could have seen Northwestern winning in East Lansing.

Other games in the conference to highlight include Iowa's overtime win over Wisconsin after the Badgers drilled a 3 at the end of regulation to extend the game. Thursday, Purdue picked up a huge win by beating Minnesota at Williams Arena. It's so rare for a team to shoot so poorly (27.6%) from the field on its home floor, but Minnesota did just that at The Barn.

Games to watch this week:
-Michigan at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
-Rhode Island at Temple, 7 p.m. Wednesday
-Illinois at Minnesota, 9 p.m. Thursday
-Wake Forest at Georgia Tech, Noon Saturday

-Brown

Final Stats:

FGs: Iowa 45.5%, PSU 44.7%
3s: Iowa 23.5%, PSU 32%
FTs: Iowa 15-16, PSU 13-20
Rebounds: Iowa 28, PSU 27
Turnovers: Iowa 13, PSU 10

Leading Scorers:
Iowa
Jake Kelly, 19
Aaron Fuller, 16

Penn State
Jamelle Cornley, 24
Talor Battle, 20
Stanley Pringle, 11

That'll do it from here again, once again the final score is Penn State 63, Iowa 59 in a thrilling comeback at the BJC. Thanks for following along.

***
The front end of the 1-and-1 is no good, giving Iowa a chance to tie. Peterson misses a 2-point attempt but the ball went out off of Penn State. 15.1 seconds left, Iowa ball.

Penn State got confused on the in-bounds pass and Palmer was just wide open for 3 but tossed up a brick. Battle goes to the line for a 1-and-1, and he needs to hit at least one.

But he misses.

But Stanley Pringle comes up with a monster defensive play and rips the ball away from a steal. Peterson fouls, and Pringle gets 2 shots now with 4.1 seconds left. Make one and this game is over.

Nothing but net. 63-59 Penn State.

The second is no good but that'll do it. Iowa's last second prayer misses and that's a wrap.

FINAL SCORE
PENN STATE 63, IOWA 59

***
Battle misses a 3, PSU gets the offensive board and Battle nails his second-chance. Penn State has taken its first lead with under 2 minutes now to play. Wow is all I can say.

Battle steals it and takes it to draw a foul on Matt Gatens -- that's his fourth. Timeout Todd Lickliter and the BJC is absolutely rocking.

Battle's first free throw is good, and the second is nothing but net. Talor Battle has found a way to get to 20 points after nothing went right earlier in the game. 62-59 Lions.

Gatens misses a 3 and PSU has the ball as the clock winds under a minute.

PSU can now be patient with the lead. Morrissey just misses on 3, but Cornley with a fantastic rebound/save. Peterson fouls and Battle will go to the line for a 1-and-1.

30.2 seconds second half
PSU 62, Iowa 59

***
David Palmer at the line for a 1-and-1 for Iowa, and he hits. Iowa has yet to miss a free throw at 13-13. Make that 14-14.

Cornley battles hard and scores again, he now has 22 points to lead all scorers.

Battle picks up his third foul on another questionable call. I'll go ahead and say the officials have been less than stellar this game.

The Hawkeyes actually miss a free throw as Peterson misses the first. The second is good, 59-55 Iowa.

Who else for Penn State? Cornley scores again. He has completely taken over for the Lions, and the full court press forces a turnover. Somehow Penn State can now tie or take the lead this possession, and Ed DeChellis uses a timeout.

2:40 second half
Iowa 59, PSU 57

***
At the line, Cornley finishes of a 3-point play to cut the lead to 54-50.

Nice offensive play by Iowa as Jeff Peterson had a nice dish to Aaron Fuller for 2.

But now Jamelle Cornley just wants to take this team on his back. 3 pointer for Cornley, lead down to 3.

Battle is called for a foul and Iowa will head to the line for a 1-and-1 after a timeout.

3:41 second half
Iowa 56, PSU 53

***
It's definitely safe to say the momentum has shifted well into Penn State's favor. The team looked like it was lacking in effort earlier in the game, but the Lions appear re-energized now. This could be an interesting finish.

***
A nice job by Cornley to fight for the ball down low and we have an alternate possession to Penn State. But Morrissey misses a very long 2 and the ball goes back to Iowa.

Jeff Peterson just put up an air ball, and while the ball was deflected out by Penn State, the shot clock expired. Kelly fouls Battle on a 3, and that's Kelly's third foul. Battle makes all 3 at the line, 54-44 Iowa.

Battle draws another Kelly foul, which is huge. Kelly leads all scorers with 19 and had one foul just a few moments ago it seemed. Now, he has 4. Battle buries a 3 and all of a sudden we have a game on our hands again.

Cornley with a 2 and he's fouled, causing the BJC to erupt... without a doubt the loudest moment of the game as Zombie Nation is blasted from the speakers and Iowa calls a timeout.

4:45 second half
Iowa 54, PSU 49

***
If Penn State wants to win this game, it absolutely has to start climbing back right now. But every time the Lions start to get it together, there is some kind of answer. It looked like we had a game but the momentum was completley killed by the technical and subsequent Iowa points.

***
Battle finally hits a 3 after Morrissey passed one up and swung the ball to Battle at the top of the key.

Jake Kelly answers right away for Iowa with a 3 of his own. Just another huge answer for the Hawkeyes and Penn State is in real trouble with 8 minutes left, down 13.

Cornley misses and the ball gets stuck between the rim and backboard.

7:34 second half
Iowa 54, PSU 41

***
Battle misses another 3 after a timeout. He's now 0-6 from 3 and his only field goal is a dunk.

Of course, right after that Battle picks up a steal, passes to Morrissey who finds Pringle for 3. Then Pringle steals it and Cornley slams one in with authority. And Penn State has some life, as do the fans.

Peterson's 3 just barely rims out and Morrissey misses on the other the end. The refs say the ball went out on Cornley, but honestly, that clearly looked like Iowa hit it out. Cornley just picked up a technical now after he kept talking to the official after the ball went off of him on a kick.

Gatens is at the line after the technical and he hits both free throws. Iowa keeps possession and the officials have certainly not made any friends here at the BJC. Don't expect a Christmas card form Jamelle Cornley.

Pringle swipes the ball but is called for a foul and the crowd chants some not-so-flattering things. Iowa is in the bonus now and Jake Kelly hits both shots. Just when PSU had the momentum, all of it got taken away when Cornley was hit with the technical.

8:56 second half
Iowa 51, PSU 38

***
Out of the timeout, Pringle launches a 3 and Jones can't get to the ball in time as it slips out of bounds. Peterson beats Battle and Iowa has extended its lead to 14 -- the largest lead of the game.

Pringle hits a nice floater and Cornley wanted full court pressure after the made basket but nobody else joined.

Pringle just got badly beaten by Kelly on a shot fake, and Kelly ducked under him and connected for 2.

11:16 second half
Iowa 47, PSU 33

***
Gatens steals the ball from Jackson and takes it all the way in for 2, and DeChellis wisely uses a timeout.

The offensive effort for Penn State has just been all-around poor so far with bad shooting, a lack of player movement and sloppy ball-handling. With just over 13 minutes left, the Lions really need to get focused and start to make a move. This looks nothing like the team that took the floor against Michigan on Tuesday.

13:14 second half
Iowa 43, PSU 31

***
Jeff Peterson draws a foul on a drive and the fouls are the opposite of the first half, as Penn State has four and Iowa has none. Peterson hits both to build the lead back to 10.

Battle with a nice pass to Jones, who knocks a shot down and draws a foul. That would be the first shot of the game by Jones... and he misses the free throw.

And now Ed DeChellis shows some emotion as Cornley is called for a questionable walk. Looked like he got pushed there.

The Lions are really struggling from deep as Battle misses a 3. PSU got the rebound but Cornley tried to do way too much with the ball and ended up falling and having it stolen. Now Brooks picks up his fourth foul to send Matt Gatens to the line. Gatens makes the first and D.J. Jackson replaces Brooks. Gatens' second shot is also good.

13:36 second half
Iowa 41, PSU 31

***
And the teams are taking the floor as we get to set to start the second half with Iowa getting the ball. The Hawkeyes miss and there's a tie-up on the loose ball, giving PSU possession.

Battle misses a 3 and he has still yet to hit a field goal. Jake Kelly responds with 2 to give the Hawkeyes a 9-point lead.

Aaron Fuller with a great move to the basket as he ducked past Cornley and scored. The lead is back to double digits but Cornley answered right back with a leaner off the glass.

Kelly scores again on a drive for Iowa. I don't remember the last time Jeff Brooks hit a 3, but he drained one from the corner. Talor Battle follows that up with a steal and a breakaway two-handed slam to get the crowd energized again. But Fuller again scores from Iowa on a tough bank shot. 37-29.

Now the officials are feeling the wrath of the crowd after calling Jeff Brooks for an offensive foul, then discussing it, then upholding the call against Brooks.

15:46 second half
Iowa 37, PSU 29

***
The Penn State football players who signed autographs prior to the game are now being introduced on the floor as Stefen Wisniewski holds the Big Ten championship trophy high.

Halftime stats:
FGs: Iowa 47.8%, PSU 35.0%
3s: Iowa 30.0%, PSU 18.2%
FTs: Iowa 4-4, PSU 6-9
Rebounds: Iowa 15, PSU 13
Turnovers: Iowa 5, PSU 6

Leading scorers:
Iowa
Aaron Fuller, 10
Jake Kelly, 8

Penn State
Jamelle Cornley, 10
Stanley Pringle, 5

We have about 6 minutes left until we get back underway as Iowa returns to the floor.

And a quick note, they have changed the buzzer-beating Iowa basket to a 2 from a 3, so the score is 29-22 Iowa.

HALFTIME
Iowa 29, PSU 22
***
And it's a very rough end to the first half for the Lions as Jake Kelly hit an off-balance 3 as time expried to give the Hawkeyes a 30-22 lead.

HALFTIME
Iowa 30, PSU 22

***
Stanley Pringle rushes a 3 point attempt and misses. The offense hasn't been clicking, but rushed shot attempts aren't the answer.

And Talor Battle is back in the game, replacing Danny Morrissey. I would guess he won't leave the floor again.

Fantastic effort on a diving save by D.J. Jackson on the sideline to give Penn State the ball. Iowa knocks away and PSU pass into the backcourt but Jermain Davis picks up a loose ball foul and Pringle heads to the line in the double bonus. He makes both and the Iowa lead is down to 23-20.

Jake Kelly answers for the Hawkeyes and we have under a minute to play in the half. Pringle turns the ball over and Iowa has it with a 10 second difference between the shot clock and the game clock. A couple questionable foul calls on Chris Babb send Jake Kelly to the line for a 1-and-1. And he hits both.

Battle patiently waits for the shot clock to wind down and he feeds Cornley for a long jumper for 2. Iowa takes a timeout with 4.8 seconds left in the half.

4.8 seconds first half
Iowa 27, PSU 22

***
Talor Battle gets a rare breather as Chris Babb replaces him after an Iowa offensive foul. Jeff Brooks picks up an offensive foul of his own and we head to a timeout.

This has to be the largest crowd of the year at the BJC with yet another impressive student turnout and what looks like the best alumni/other fan turnout of the year.

3:53 first half
Iowa 23, PSU 18

***
Iowa ball out of the timeout, and well, PSU could use a defensive stop. The Lions don't get it as Jeff Peterson knocks down a long 2 over Talor Battle.

The Hawkeyes defense is just completely shutting down whatever Penn State is trying to do. Battle misses a 3, but now Cornley just slammed one home after an offensive rebound, a turnover, and a Pringle steal and assist.

Now Talor Battle is at the line as Iowa picked up its ninth team foul. Battle's only points so far are at the line, so we'll see if he can add to that total. He hits both and Penn State shows some full-court pressure.

But Aaron Fuller drills a 3 and kills any momentum PSU may have had. 23-12.

Pringle with a huge answer as he hit a deep 3 from the far wing. Iowa misses and Battle gives a little behind-the-back feed to Morrissey, who also buries a deep 3. 23-18 and the momentum is back on PSU's side. The crowd is back into the game and and Pringle grabs a board for Penn State. But Jeff Brooks misses a 3.

4:07 first half
Iowa 23, PSU 18

***
Cornley just drew two fouls in about three seconds, but Cornley missed the front end of a 1-and-1. The good news for PSU is that it is extremely early to already be in the bonus.

Fuller buries a 3 and it's 16-8. PSU desperately needs a bucket here.

Instead Morrissey draws a foul and heads to the line for a 1-and-1. And he misses the front end. Wow. With how poorly they've shot from the field, the Lions cannot afford to give away points at the line.

Jake Kelly scores and I'm surprised DeChellis isn't using a timeout as the lead is 10.

Battle steps on the end line and we head to the under-8 timeout.

7:53 first half
Iowa 18, PSU 8

***
Out of the timeout David Palmer connects for 2 and the Iowa lead is 5.

PSU just can't hit a 3 as Morrissey misses another, but Jackson grabbed the board and the Lions have a second chance. I don't know what the deal is with the offense as their is little player movement and Battle jacked up a 3 and missed.

9:43 first half
Iowa 13, PSU 8

***
Danny Morrissey replaces Pringle and comes up short on a pretty open 3. Fuller scores again for the Hawkeyes and it's a 7 point lead.The Lions are now a Michigan-like 1/7 from the field.

A Jake Kelly foul sends Talor Battle to the line, and he got quite the shooter's roll on the first one as it falls in after hitting everything except the shot clock. The second is also good and it's 9-4 Iowa.

Iowa walks and D.J. Jackson replaces Jeff Brooks. Jackson was no longer sporting the corn rows at practice Thursday but has changed back today.

Cornley hits a nice fade-away jumper and draws a Jarryd Cole foul. Cornley misses the shot but there's a foul on Iowa on the rebound and PSU keeps possession. What a move by Cornley as he hit a terrific turn-around jumper to cut the lead to 1.

Jeff Peterson gets a great roll on his jumper and it falls for the Hawkeyes. Fan favorite Andrew Ott enters the game for Andrew Jones to a nice applause.

Cornley misses another 3 attempt for PSU and Iowa draws a Danny Morrissey foul on the other end.

11:50 first half
Iowa 11, PSU 8

***
There were long lines in the concourse before the game as several members of the Penn State football team were on hand to sign autographs, including Daryll Clark, Evan Royster, Jared Odrick and others. Now, the football contingent and recruiting coordinator Mike McQueary have moved behind the basket to our right with a recruit or two.

***
We're about ready to tip-off here as Jamelle Cornley as usual is greeting the students and gave a point to those in the upper deck.

Jones wins the tip and we are underway. Iowa comes out in a man-to-man defense and Cornley had an open look for 3 but missed. Iowa's Aaron Fuller does the same.

Stanley Pringle had to launch a 3 from 7 or 8 feet beyond the arc with the shot clock winding down, and that hit hard and missed.

The teams have now exchanged I believe three consecutive turnovers, and Iowa finally gets points on the board with a Matt Gatens 3. Rare that it takes three minutes for either team to score in a game. Cornley answers with a short jumper for the Nittany Lions.

Pringle picks up a foul to send Fuller to the line, and he knocks down both at the stripe.

A brick by Pringle and PSU really hasn't found any sort of offensive rhythm yet. Palmer slams it home and it's 7-2 Hawkeyes.

15:09 first half
Iowa 7, PSU 2

***
What's up basketball fans, Matt Brown here to take you through today's conference showdown between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Iowa Hawkeyes here at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State enters the game tied with Minnesota for fourth in the Big Ten, while Iowa is tied for ninth. The Hawkeyes will likely be without leading rebounder Cyrus Tate, who suffered an injury Jan. 8 versus Minnesota and hasn't seen the floor since. Three Penn State players -- Jamelle Cornley, Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle -- have higher scoring averages than Iowa's leading scorer, freshman guard Matt Gatens (10.9 ppg).

We've got a decent crowd on hand with plenty of people in the upper deck on the two sides, and the student turnout is strong despite it being a THON canning weekend. The courtside student section received t-shirts with each section rotating between white and blue.

Starting Lineups:
Iowa
G- 5 Matt Gatens
G- 30 Jeff Peterson
G- 32 Jake Kelly
F- 2 David Palmer
F- 24 Aaron Fuller

Penn State
G- 12 Talor Battle
G- 11 Stanley Pringle
F- 25 Jeff Brooks
F- 2 Jamelle Cornley
C- 22 Andrew Jones

Jeff Jordan (yes, son of this Jordan) was awarded a scholarship by Illinois, Coach Bruce Weber said yesterday.

Jordan walked on last year but has emerged this year as a key defender for the No. 24 Illini.

***
When Iowa enters the BJC tomorrow against Penn State, the Hawkeyes will be without a pair of key contributors.

Freshman guard Anthony Tucker was ruled academically ineligible for the remainder of the season.

Tucker started in eight games and averaged 10.4 ppg.

Perhaps more significant, at least for the Lions, will be the likely absence of senior forward Cyrus Tate.

Tate had averaged 7.4 ppg and 6.3 rpg before suffering a high ankle sprain in a Jan. 8 loss at Minnesota. He hasn't played since.

***
No. 20 Minnesota has suspended backup point guard Kevin Payton for academic reasons.

This is probably not too big of a loss for the Gophers, considering the redshirt junior has yet to score a single point in eight appearances this season.

***
I swearrr I wrote my column before reading this interview, but apparently Gus Johnson thinks Penn State is capable of making the NCAA tournament if it takes care of its road troubles, as well.

BigTenNetwork.com: It seems like Penn State is the first Big Ten on the outside looking in when it comes to the NCAA tourney. Do you think they are a tourney team?

Gus Johnson: Oh, yeah, no doubt. They have to win on the road, which is always difficult. I just think they are growing into a really good team. I really like what I saw from them. They're improving a lot, and they're definitely on the rise.

For the rest of the interview, click here.

-Fortuna

No. 1 Wake Forest saw its undefeated season come to an end tonight after suffering a 78-71 home loss to Virginia Tech. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say barring a loss later this week (hell, even if it does lose) Duke will be voted No. 1 in both polls this coming Monday.

But the basketball gods decided to have a little fun, seeing as watching one team losing its first game just simply isn't enough. So, to top it off, NJIT (yes, these guys) snapped its 51-game losing streak by topping visiting Bryant, 61-51, in Newark for its first win since February 19, 2007.

In the Big Ten, No. 7 Michigan State fell to Northwestern, 70-63, to end its 28-game winning streak at the Breslin Center. Kevin Coble led the way for the Wildcats with 31 points and four steals.

If that doesn't show the parity of the conference this season, maybe this will: Penn State's Saturday opponent, Iowa, survived a miraculous Wisconsin three from Jordan Taylor that forced overtime and beat the Badgers, 73-69, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Just two games separate teams 2-10 in the conference as it nears its half-way point in the coming week.

And what fun would a crazy night be without an incredible finish...or two.

The first one comes from Columbia, S.C., where the Gamecocks completed a seven-point comeback in the final two minutes in improbable fashion, stunning Florida with a length of court pass and lay-in in under four seconds to give South Carolina the 70-69 win over the No. 24 Gators.

The other came in Huntingdon, W.V., where Marshall shocked SMU with a 75-foot bank shot from Markel Humphrey at the horn to win it, 53-50.

Let's hope plays like this don't happen when I'm on deadline. My colleagues and I would be in loads of trouble.

-Fortuna

For those of you still awake, there is one negative thing DeChellis can pull from this game. His team is shooting 6-for-16 from the free throw line. In a game like this, that really doesn't play into the outcome. And foul shooting hasn't really lost a game for the Lions this season. But it's still an issue that can hurt them down the stretch in some closer games.

Apparently John Beilein hates all things Collegian, calling a timeout after a three to stop the clock down 20. We do have a deadline, John.

Billy Oliver is getting a couple shot outs for some PT. Don't waste that redshirt, DeChellis. Will Leiner, the boy from Coplay, get some burn, though.

Final
PSU 73, Mich 58

***
Four players in double figures for the Lions, and Ott is two away from making that five guys.

Battle is done taking this game seriously. He keeps running down the shot clock near half court, taking his defender one-on-one.

I think Beilein, Harris and Michigan just want to get out of here.

3:05 left 2nd half
PSU 72, Mich 48

***
Wow. Michigan cannot buy a bucket. Another shot went halfway down and out, and that turned into Battle leading a break and finding Ott for a lay-in which he got fouled on. Ott checks out to a big ovation.

DeShawn Sims has a quiet 21 points. He seems to be the only guy in yellow who can score. Battle, meanwhile, hits another three to up his point total to 12, tripling Harris' total, who still has four.

5:00 left 2nd half
PSU 70, Mich 46

***
Battle just made an interesting mistake. He got called for backcourt after his bounce pass to Morrissey went behind the half court line. That's the first time I ever saw that in 14 years of watching organized basketball.

Harris is back in now for the Wolverines. This kid hasn't impressed me, but he's still got a boat load of talent. He played just 12 minutes in the first half and has just 4 points after 30 minutes. He only has one foul, too, so it's not like the kid is playing sloppy on the defensive end.

Penn State's lead is still hovering around 20. This is probably the most complete 40 minutes this team has played all season. I mean, Andrew Ott is dunking the ball for crying out loud.

7:53 left 2nd half
PSU 62, Mich 43

***
Some bitter Michigan fan is getting into it with the student section. Just my take, but he's probably fighting a losing battle. Morrissey gives the students more ammo with that killer three. Boys and girls, this one is probably over.

12:06 left 2nd half
PSU 53, Mich 30

Brooks tips in a Morrissey miss for his first bucket, a rare miss for Morrissey. He's 3-for-4, all 3's.

11:11 (make a wish) left 2nd half
PSU 55, Mich 32

***
Hershey's Kiss Cam time. It's pretty PG right now with all taps on the lips. Now a Michigan fan and a Penn State fan lock lips, and it earns moans and groans from the whole arena.

Pringle drills a three from the corner to push this lead up to 17. If things keep going like this, maybe Beilein will erupt in the post-game press conference.

Morrissey hits a three from the same spot Pringle and Battle did before. Well, if Penn State ever goes into scoring drought, they know where to shoot it from.

12:55 left 2nd half
PSU 50, Mich 30

***
As you can count, an 8-2 scoring run to open the second half really lets Penn State dictate the tempo. Michigan leads the Big Ten in 3-point makes, so this is far from over if Harris or anyone gets hot from the outside. Turning the ball over is not what you want out of a timeout, though. Beilein flirting with a technical after the turnover.

The Wolverines have no answer for Cornley. His 17 points is miles ahead of the next leading scorer for any team, and the only thing stopping him is the charity stripe. He's 1-for-4 at the line, and 8-for-9 from the field.

Battle doubles his scoring output with a 3-pointer from the far corner. He now has six. Penn State is keeping this lead at about a dozen, and coach Beilein is livid with his team's effort on the glass.

14:41 left 1st half
PSU 42, Mich 28

***
Michigan shows a half-court trap to open up the second half. Cornley kicks off the scoring with a two underneath.

The entire band and some of the students have Talor Battle face masks. Everyone was waving them as Harris shot his free throws. Maybe when the Lions head to Ann Arbor, the Maize faithful sport Harris faces. Beilein wants time after a fast-break, uncontested Cornley slam.

17:36 left 2nd half
PSU 37, Mich 24

***
Well, so far this game has lived up to its billing, except for that whole preview seen in today's Daily Collegian.

Battle and Harris have combined for just five points in the first half. Battle will be the first to tell you it doesn't matter if he scores 0 or 50, all he cares about is getting that dub-ya. (Although 50 goes a long way toward a win).

***
What a surpise, Michigan closes the half with a missed three. On the previous possession, if you can even call it that, Pringle races down the court and pulls up for a short jumper before any of his teammates are down there. While the shot went in, it's risky taking a jumper with no rebounding options except yourself.

Halftime
PSU 29, Mich 22

***
Michigan is doing a great job collapsing on Battle once he breaks the first line of defense. Two, three guys just all crowd the paint and force Battle to pass or go up over multiple defender. He has just three points. The other hot shot on Mink's Star Watch, Harris, two points.

Both have a ways to go to reach their totals from last year's duel in the BJC when both went for almost 30.

Battle sits with 3:30 to go, probably to avoid picking up his third foul. Jeff Brooks bricks a three, but Cornley hauls in the rebounds and finishes with a 3-point play to extend the lead to seven with a little more than 2 minutes remaining in the half. Cornley gets deep in the paint again and did his signature baby hook. The Wolverines, though, are hanging tough, keeping this thing well in reach as we near the first half buzzer.

***
Cornley is just so wide and big-bodies, he makes sealing off the defender look so easy. All you have to do is just pass the ball away from the defender, and he'll catch it, turn and pivot, and nobody stop him from muscling his way up.

3:49 left 1st half
PSU 22, Mich 16

***
As promised, here's a D.J. Jackson scoring comparison. First, tonight marked the first game Jackson attempted a shot since the Minnesota game. And, his two points are his highest since his three point effort in Madison on Jan 3. Maybe his New Year's resolution was to contribute in other areas than scoring?

Manny Harris just went through Cammeron Woodyard for a basket. Woodyard turns the ball over on the next possession, promptly sending Morrissey to check-in for the freshman.

***
OK. Novak sinks a pair at the line to get Michigan's scoring column to change again. It's a pretty low scoring game halfway through the first half, but I don't think it's from the defense.

BREAKING NEWS: D.J. Jackson scored. We're looking into when Jackson last made a field goal.

Jackson's offense may have been the spark the Lions' offense needed. Battle hit a three. And Ott may have just made his one great of the night. He posted Novak on the low block, somehow was quick enough to get around him, then finished with a reverse lay-up. Touche, Ott.

8:09 left 1st half
PSU 20, Mich 12

***
The Lionettes just put on a kick-ass performance, where one girl stood on her hands and waved her legs in the air for a couple seconds. Definitely the best performance of the year from the Lionettes.

***
Andrew Ott fresh in the game takes all the steps he's allowed and converts a lay-in to extend the lead to four. Ott usually gives ya one real good play a game. Let's hope the transfer from Villanova breaks that streak.

Michigan is 1-for-10 from 3-point land.

11:55 left 1st half
PSU 11, Mich 7

***
About five minutes in and the Big Ten's top two scorers (Harris and Battle) have goose eggs next to their names. It's still early, so they'll remain on Mink's Star Watch for this evening.

Danny Morrissey enters the game for Jeff Brooks. Brooks contributed nothing once again. Cornley gets a tough lay-in plus the foul.

Jeez, I think the staff at the BJC tightened these rims a bit too much. Nothing is staying down for either team. Snipe Morrissey nails a three from the left wing to give the Lions their first lead. This reporter is getting an inkling that number 33 could be in the starting five come Saturday.

13:09 left 1st half
PSU 9, Mich 7

***
DeShawn Sims gets the scoring going with a tough lay-in where he goes right through Andrew Jones to corral the offensive rebound and quick two. Aside from that, two or three Michigan shots have gone half-way down, then out. Meanwhile, Penn State has two turnovers already. I'm sorry, make that three, as I write that. Here's the kicker, Michigan forced zero of them.

Grady drilled a three. In about three minutes, Michigan shot seven 3's and made one. Kelvin is the younger brother of Wolverine running back Kevin Grady. I'm guessing there's a third Grady named Kevion.

15:28 left 1st half
Mich 7, PSU 4

***
Mink here taking you through the full 40 minutes tonight. There's a lot at stake for both teams here: Conference standings, conference scoring lead. None though more important than trying to string together some wins in the Big Ten.

I don't want to get too far ahead here, seeing as we're only a third of the way through conference play, but this is one of those games that can dictate the direction a team will go the rest of the way.

A win, start thinking top half of the conferece. A loss, well, it's not like they've never been at the bottom of the league before.

We're ready to go.

***
Welcome to another installment of Nittany Lion hoops. Today's special guest, the Wolverines from Michigan. They come into the Bryce Jordan Center with a 13-5 record, 3-3 Big Ten, right on par with Penn State.

Starting lineups figure to be as follows:
Michigan
G Manny Harris So.
G Laval Lucas-Perry So.
F DeShawn Sims Jr.
G Kelvin Grady So.
G Zack Novak Fr.

Penn State
G Talor Battle So.
G Stanley Pringle Sr.
F Jeff Brooks So.
F Jamelle Cornley Sr.
C Andrew Jones So.

Marquette escaped the Dunkin' Donuts Center with a 91-82 victory over the Friars on Saturday, but the story of the day happened early in the second half.

Providence's Jeff Xavier drew contact on a drive down low and went hard to the ground in pain, covering his face. The refs didn't blow the whistle until Geoff McDermott drew contact on the same possession.

While McDermott was at the free throw line and Jeff was leaving the court, Jeff's brother, Jonathan, took it upon himself to let the refs know how he felt about the earlier no-call.

I haven't had the chance to meet or interview any of the siblings of Nittany Lion players, but I certainly hope they'd be a little less forgiving should I write not something not so flattering about the players.

-Fortuna

John Wall, the nation's top-rated point guard prospect according to the ESPNU 100, may have gotten Kansas coach Bill Self in some hot water.

The incident happened during an evaluation period last week when coaches are not allowed to have contact with prospect other than to exchange greetings.

According to the report, Self and Wall had a brief encounter following Wall's game Jan. 15.

"Basically, it's accurate," Self said after a recent win. "I don't know if the exact quote is accurate. After the game was over, like I always do, like every coach always does, I had to catch a plane. So I went back to tell the coaches, 'Congratulations, good win.' I was approached and shook a hand and said, 'I can't talk to you, but you played really well.' "

The only way Self and Kansas violated a rule would be if the NCAA considered the exchange as contact.

-Mink

Sorry for missing you guys last week. We had a little problem with our server. This week, however, it's fixed. Just in time for a new No. 1 team, Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons take over the top spot after defeating previously unbeaten Clemson on Saturday. Pittsburgh also lost, falling to No. 4, one spot behind Big East rival Connecticut, which is at No. 3

Duke received the other four of the 72 total first-place votes and comes in at No. 2. Don't get me wrong, the Blue Devils have played tremendous thus far, but who in their right minds wouldn't vote Wake at the top after being the only unbeaten team and coming off a tough road win? The Duke bias continues...

On the Big Ten side of things, Michigan dropped out from its previous No. 25 ranking after losing to Illinois and Ohio State. The win for the Illini moved them into the Wolverines' place at No. 25.

Michigan State remained at No. 7 despite tough wins over Penn State and Illinois. Purdue moved up one spot to No. 18 while Minnesota fell three spots to No. 21 after an upset loss at Northwestern yesterday. Ohio State and Michigan received votes.

It would have been interesting to see what a comeback win against the Spartans would have done for the Nittany Lions within the polls.

Rank-School-Record-Pts-Pvs
1. Wake Forest (68) 16-0 1,793 2
2. Duke (4) 16-1 1,721 3
3. Connecticut 16-1 1,590 4
4. Pittsburgh 16-1 1,569 1
5. North Carolina 16-2 1,510 5
6. Oklahoma 17-1 1,498 6
7. Michigan St. 15-2 1,394 7
8. Syracuse 17-2 1,146 8
9. Louisville 13-3 1,090 20
10. Clemson 16-1 1,043 10
11. Marquette 16-2 1,003 14
12. Georgetown 12-4 979 13
13. UCLA 14-3 897 9
14. Texas 13-4 858 11
15. Xavier 15-2 848 15
16. Butler 16-1 726 17
17. Arizona St. 15-3 671 16
18. Purdue 14-4 553 19
19. Notre Dame 12-5 469 12
20. Villanova 14-3 353 23
21. Minnesota 16-2 298 18
22. Memphis 14-3 208 --
23. Gonzaga 12-4 201 --
24. Florida 16-2 175 --
25. Illinois 15-3 159 --
Others receiving votes: Baylor 148, Saint Mary's, Calif. 137, Kentucky 105, California 82, Florida St. 34, Kansas 23, Ohio St. 20, Davidson 14, Missouri 14, Tennessee 14, Utah St. 12, Washington 12, Miami 8, West Virginia 8, Arkansas 6, Michigan 5, Dayton 4, George Mason 1, LSU 1.

-Fortuna

It proved to be an interesting week for Penn State, as the Nittany Lions made a great comeback effort against Michigan State at the Bryce Jordan Center on Wednesday before falling in a close one. That ended a three game winning streak against ranked teams at home. Saturday, the Lions picked up the first win in program history at Indiana's Assembly Hall. While it wasn't the prettiest of wins and Indiana is certainly nowhere near the team it usually is, any win on the road in the Big Ten is big.

I have been using RealTimeRPI to track Penn State's RPI, but that site has decided to make its up to the minute rankings subscription-only. The daily update is still free though, and Penn State has fallen to 87th according to that, through Saturday's games at least.

Anyway, again here are the week's (Jan. 12-18) results from what is proving to be a less than stellar batch of opponents for Penn State

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... L 61-57 vs. George Mason, L 71-62 at Delaware
-NJIT... L 70-62 at Loyola (MD), L 59-40 vs. Pennsylvania
-Hartford... W 76-71 vs. Maine, L 69-60 at MD-Baltimore County
-New Hampshire... W 65-47 vs. MD-Baltimore County, W 68-59 at Dartmouth
-Penn... L 78-53 vs. Temple, W 59-40 at NJIT
-Rhode Island... L 67-65 vs. Xavier, W 98-67 vs. Fordham
-Towson... L 78-71 vs. Virginia Commonwealth, L 68-46 at Georgia State
-Georgia Tech... L 70-56 vs. Duke, L 76-71 at N.C. State
-Temple... W 78-53 at Penn, L 79-75 at Massachusetts
-Army... L 47-36 vs. Holy Cross, L 77-57 at Lehigh
-Mount St. Mary's... W 80-54 vs. Long Island, W 78-67 vs. Sacred Heart
-Lafayette... W 69-62 vs. Colgate, W 84-69 vs. Navy
-Sacred Heart... W 73-64 at Bryant, L 78-67 at Mount St. Mary's

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 5-0 (15-2)
2. Minnesota 4-2 (16-2)
3. Illinois 3-2 (15-3)
3. Ohio State 3-2 (13-3)
3. Purdue 3-2 (14-4)
3. Wisconsin 3-2 (12-5)
7. Penn State 3-3 (14-5)
7. Michigan 3-3 (13-5)
9. Iowa 1-4 (11-7)
9. Northwestern 1-4 (9-6)
11. Indiana 0-5 (5-12)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record: 83-135
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 123-49
Total Opponents' Record: 206-184

Another week, another below-.500 record for the non-conference opponents. Georgia Tech gave Duke a run and trailed by just three at halftime, but the Blue Devils pulled out a 14-point win despite shooting 39 percent from the field.

Rhode Island also came close to a big win but fellow short against Atlantic 10 favorite Xavier. The Muskeeters certainly didn't help themselves by committing 22 turnovers in that contest.

And I have to emphasize that the mighty NJIT Highlanders fell twice once again (although one was to another Penn State opponent -- Penn), making it a remarkable 51 consecutive losses. Attendance at that game? 419. NJIT remains the only winless team in Division I college basketball.

In the Big Ten, perhaps the biggest news came Sunday afternoon, when Northwestern took down Minnesota in Evanston for the Wildcats' first conference win. Welsh-Ryan Arena is not the most intimidating venue, but it really is hard to win on the road in the Big Ten, especially with how deep the league is this year.

Michigan State got a scare at home from Illinois on Saturday but managed to pick up its 11th win in a row after beating Penn State earlier in the week. The Spartans fell behind by seven at the half but ended up winning by six. Michigan State's guards shot a miserable 10-for-33 from the field but somehow the Spartans pulled out the victory.

Games to watch this week:
-Ohio State at Illinois, 7 p.m. Tuesday
-Purdue at Minnesota, 7 p.m. Thursday
-Michigan State at Ohio State, 3:45 p.m. Sunday
-Georgia Tech at Clemson, 7:45 p.m. Sunday

-Brown

Lucas hits one at the line, making it a two possession game. And that's all she wrote. Lions come up empty, foul. but just 2.5 seconds left. Lions comeback bid falls just short.

Final
MSU 78, PSU 73

***
Pringle drove, got fouled and his lay-in just rolled off the rim. He hits one of two at the line to cut the lead to three. Only chance here would be to foul and hope the Spartans come up empty.

9.4 seconds left 2nd half
MSU 76, PSU 73

***

Battle gets caught in traffic on the perimeter and loses the ball. The quickly fouls. He is out of the game with five fouls.

Jones and Pringle also have four fouls. Lucas hit a pair at the line.

14.6 seconds left 2nd half
MSU 76, PSU 72

***

Lucas hits both free throws. Spartans up three.

Battle responds with two free throws. Not exactly how these two stud PGs were supposed to do battle.

In fact, Lucas has been matched up with Pringle all night. So, a Pringle foul means Lucas heads back to the line.

Under 30 seconds to play, Lucas hits one to extend the lead back up to two.
***
Final minute now. Battle gets called for a foul. Each foul at this point is a huge mistake. Two foul shots coming up.

52.4 seconds left 2nd half
MSU 71, PSU 70

***
Battle huge three to cut the lead to one. Timeout Michigan State.

1:11 left 2nd half
MSU 71, PSU 70

***
Big key to these last five minutes might be free throw shooting.

Clock starts up again, and here we go. Battle drives, draws the defense and finds Cornley. He has a game-high 26.

Lucas at the line, now.

1:56 left 2nd half
MSU 71, PSU 67

***
Pringle five straight points to cut the lead to seven. Could be the Lions last chance to keep this deficit low.

Jones fouled in the act of shooting after a defensive stop, gets one to go. Another defensive stop, and Battle goes coast to coast to bring the Lions within four.

3:33 left 2nd half
MSU 69, PSU 65

***
Brief scare moments ago, a questionable transition pass from Pringle to Cornley had the forward jump to catch it and landed awkwardly, going to the floor and grabbing his right ankle.

Cornley though, in to shoot his foul shots. Both teams in the double bonus. Lions down nine.

Cornley drills a three to get the deficit down to eight. Crowd louder than usual, hoping for a run.

Suton quiets the students with a baseline jumper.

5:15 to play 2nd half
MSU 69, PSU 57

***
The Lions are starting to inch back via the charity stripe. Problem with that is, it's increments of one.

7:50 left 2nd half
MSU 63, PSU 53

***
Just less than 12 minutes to go in the second half. Possible turning point here. Lions down 58-47 but have come on strong the last couple possessions. Any 3-4 point burst here makes things real interesting.

Both teams are one foul away from putting the other team in the double bonus. Folks, we still have more than 10 minutes to play in the second half.

9:41 left 2nd half
MSU 63, PSU 49

***
Babb gettin' more burn here in the second half. Battle, Morrissey and Babb on the floor together make it pretty obvious DeChellis needs jump shooters on the court. Plus, Pringle hasn't brought his "A" game tonight.

13:22 left in the second half, and Michigan is already past the foul limit. One more whistle on the Lions, and they put the Spartans in the 1-and-1, too.

Babb hits his second 3-pointer of the game. Last two games now he's starting to find his stroke from the perimeter, and it could be a dangerous scoring option off the bench down the road in the Big Ten.

12:19 left 2nd half
MSU 58, PSU 47

***
My favorite part of the Penn State basketball phenomenon, the Hershey's Kiss Cam. Time for incredibly awkward moments, especially when the crowd boo's. I love when they come back to a couple to help a poor guy out.

OK, back to the action, which lately hasn't lasted too long with all the fouls being called. Nine combined less than five minutes in.

A thunderous Brooks dunk can't spark a rally if Michigan State answers on the next possession.

14:20 left 2nd half
MSU 55, PSU 38

***
When Goran Suton drives baseline and finishes with a reverse lay-up, you know your help defense is bad.

Michigan State up 13 about 17 minutes left.

Suton is making it real difficult for Cornley to get any rebounds. He had just two at halftime. Andrew Ott in now, all 6-foot-10 of him.

15:50 left 2nd half
MSU 51, PSU 36

***
I guess Ed DeChellis wants his guys to crash the boards, as Brooks comes flying in for a dunk without the ball trying for a huge put-back

Cornley leads all scorers with 13 with the half's first basket. Jones follows that up with a 3-point play opportunity. A quick start to the second half is the only way Penn State has chance to make the Spartans play timid, and they've held up their end of the bargain.

Pesky Kalin Lucas answers with a jumper at the other end.

18:40 left 2nd half
MSU 44, PSU 34

***
Hey boys and girls, Mink here. Right now there's a small child shooting a basketball at halftime, and every time he misses I fear for the lad's life as the ball could probably crush his skull.

He did make one shot though, and only two Lions made more in the first half. That equates to a double-digit deficit, which is what we have through the first 20.

***

Halftime stats
FGs: MSU 56.7%, PSU 40.7%
3s: MSU 50%, PSU 30.8%
FTs: MSU 4-4, PSU 3-5
Rebounds: MSU 20, PSU 7
Turnovers: MSU 7, PSU 5

Leading scorers:
Michigan State:
Raymar Morgan, 10
Kalin Lucas, 7
Chris Allen, 7

Penn State:
Jamelle Cornley, 11
Talor Battle, 8

Obviously the two things that stick out most are the shooting percentages and the rebounds. Michigan State and Penn State are 1-2 in the Big Ten in rebounding, but the Spartans are simply dominating on the glass. 17-for-30 shooting certainly helps as well, and Penn State is just 4-for-13 from beyond the arc.

That'll do it for me... Nate Mink will be taking over the blog in the second half, which is about eight minutes away.

***
MSU misses but Battle turned it over. It looked like D.J. Jackson got away with a foul on a block of Lucas with a few ticks left. The refs whistled Jackson for a foul as time expired, but replay apparently says it was after the buzzer.

HALFTIME
Michigan State 42, Penn State 29

***
Cornley hits a 3 out of a PSU timeout, and now Michigan State uses a timeout with 25.4 seconds left on the game clock and 14 seconds on the shot clock.

0:25 first half
MSU 42, PSU 29

***
Michigan State ball with a 10-point lead and PSU certainly needs to close this gap a bit before heading into halftime. One field goal in about nine minutes isn't going to cut it.

Lucas at the line for a 1-and-1... he knocks down both.

Pringle misses again with a jumper. PSU just can't seem to create anything offensively.

The Lions get a fast-break opportunity but Pringle picked up his dribble and dished to Jackson, who walked.

Lucas drills a 3 and all of a sudden it's 42-27. Penn State's offense has completely collapsed since that run in the middle of the half.

1:18 first half
MSU 42, PSU 27

***
Ibok is whistled for an offensive foul away from the ball and Penn State will take over down 4.

Cornley at the line now for PSU, who is already in the bonus. And Cornley misses the front end of a 1-and-1, which has been a problem all year for the Lions. Another foul on Ibok as he went over-the-back on a Suton miss.

D.J. Jackson enters the game for the first time, replacing Jones. Cornley hits the first of a 1-and-1 and connects on the second as well. 27-25 Spartans.

Goran Suton attempts his second 3 of the game and this time he buried it to get the lead to 5. Not bad for a 6-10 guy.

Chris Allen nails a 3, and all of a sudden it's an 8 point game. Pringle ends about a seven minute PSU drought without a field goal, but Morgan answered right away.

Babb misses a 3 and MSU can extend its lead to double digits here with under four to play in the half. Morgan does just that with a leaner in the paint. 37-27.

Pringle misses and then gets called for a loose-ball foul. We've reached what is a much-needed timeout for Penn State.

2:50 first half
MSU 37, PSU 27

***
PSU has been great on the offensive glass this season, but it's MSU (the Big Ten rebounding leader) who has taken control tonight. The Spartans have out-rebounded the Lions 14-5 so far, and six of their nine missed field goals have resulted in offensive boards. Cornley and co. need to take back some control down low.

***
Cornley hits 1-of-2 for the line and Summers answers with a 2-point bucket to cut the lead to 23-20.

Some sloppy rebounding efforts by Penn State lead to a Walton basket and the lead is down to 1.

Idong Ibok grabs an offensive board for MSU and follows to give the lead back to the Spartans, 24-23. Pringle unwisely pulls up for 3 and misses, and Summers responded by burying a 3 of his own.

Babb just missed on a 3 and Cornley couldn't connect on the follow. MSU ball with the under-8 media timeout.

6:41 first half
MSU 27, PSU 23

***
Penn State is now on a 14-2 run, and the energy level in the building is certainly better than any other game so far this season. Another upset today would go a long way toward getting people to keep coming back.

Chris Allen at the line for 2 out of the timeout. He hits both to cut the lead down to 3 and then is promptly replaced in the lineup for Travis Walton. Tom Izzo calls for full court pressure after the made free throw, but PSU had little trouble getting the ball up the court.

Chris Babb nails a big 3 for PSU in an effort to keep increasing his playing time. MSU steps on the sideline and turns it over.

After a Cornley miss, Goran Suton scores on a really nice feed by Durrell Summers to the post.

10:08 first half
PSU 22, MSU 18

***
Andrew Ott enters the game replacing Jones, and Cornley hits for 2 for PSU. Ott gets a steal but Pringle couldn't handle the pass and MSU got it back.

MSU turns the ball over anyway, and while Battle missed a tough lay-up attempt, Ott came up with a terrific follow and put it back in.

11:34 first half
PSU 19, 14

***
Danny Morrissey just spent about 10 seconds fumbling around with the ball before gaining control and launching a nothing-but-net 3. I just don't no where to even begin describing that one. I'm sure that's just how DeChellis drew it up though.

Cornley with a 2-pointer and the lead is down to 12-10, and PSU has the ball back again. Morrissey misses a 3, but PSU rebounds and Battle knocks another one down. Wow. 13-12 PSU. That's an 8-0 run for the Lions, causing maybe the loudest moment of the Jordan Center this year.

Raymar Morgan quickly quiets everyone but ending the run with a 2, but Cornley answered right back with a long fade-away 2.

12:48 first half
PSU 15, MSU 14

***
With a good student turnout, the Stanley's Pringles fan group has made what I think is its first appearance of the season. Maybe the new "This is Sports Center" like PSU basketball commercial convinced them to return.

***
Andrew Jones won the tip but Michigan State controlled it and will start with the ball. Kalin Lucas gets things started by drilling a long 2-pointer from the corner.

The Spartans are in a man-to-man defense. Battle pulled up for way behind the line and missed, and Raymar Morgan hits for two on the other end.

Again the Lions struggled to find a good look as Pringle was forced to shoot a 3 with the shot clock winding down. He missed and Travis Walton scored for MSU. 6-0.

Definitely a sloppy start for PSU offensively as the Spartans come away with a steal. Penn State thought it had a steal but Cornley got whistled for a foul. The fans are getting a bit restless and Brooks just got called for the third PSU foul of the possession.

Travis Walton connects on a deep 2 and it's 8-0. Battle gives PSU its first points as he beats Morgan to the bucket for 2. Morgan answers right away though.

After a MSU foul, Battle drilled a deep 3 from the corner, but again MSU had a quick answer with a deep 2.

15:34 first half
MSU 12, PSU 5

***
Jeff Brooks is in the starting lineup for the fifth consecutive game now. The three position is certainly the position to watch as Penn State has been unable to find consistency between Brooks, D.J. Jackson and increased playing time for freshman Chris Babb.

A scoreboard pump-up video just tried to get the crowd pumped up, but it wasn't exactly effective. Of course, they started playing the wrong video (a Lady Lions one) before getting it corrected.

We're about to tip-off.

***
What's up everyone, Matt Brown here to take you through the first half of tonight's showdown beaten the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Michigan State Spartans here at the BJC.

Of course, in MSU's last visit to Happy Valley, PSU came out with its biggest win of the season and the night ended in a storming of the court. Looks like we could have a decent crowd on hand tonight... one of the curtains on the end has actually been lifted to make room for an overflow of students.

The Lions have won seven straight Big Ten home games and three straight homes games versus ranked opponents, while the Spartans enter tonight riding a nine-game winning streak. Something's gotta give.

Starting Lineups:
Penn State
G- 12 Talor Battle
G- 11 Stanley Pringle
F- 25 Jeff Brooks
F- 2 Jamelle Cornley
C- 22 Andrew Jones

Michigan State
G- 1 Kalin Lucas
G- 5 Travis Walton
F- 2 Raymar Morgan
F- 10 Delvon Roe
C- 14 Goran Suton

Despite a rather lopsided loss at Minnesota, Penn State once again has seen its RPI rise this week. Last week, RealTimeRPI had the Nittany Lions at No. 98. This week, thanks to an important win over Purdue, they have moved to No. 81 with a strength of schedule of 178 (as of the time of this writing). Penn State is still second-to-last in the Big Ten according to the RPI, but having the conference's only triple-digit strength of schedule certainly plays a large role in that. Meanwhile, in the conference rankings, the Big Ten has slipped back to third, which seems about right considering the strength of the Big East and ACC.

Anyway, here again is the weekly look at how Penn State opponents fared in the past week (Jan. 5-11):

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... L 62-50 vs. Old Dominion, W 73-59 at UNC Wilmington, L 74-65 vs. James Madison
-NJIT...L 80-51 vs. Yale, L 73-50 at Columbia
-Hartford... L 55-47 at New Hampshire, L 71-63 at Yale
-New Hampshire... W 55-47 vs. Hartford, L 68-37 at Boston U.
-Penn... W 84-70 vs. Lafayette
-Rhode Island... W 86-77 at Toledo, L 92-86 at St. Joe's
-Towson... W 62-61 at Delaware, L 71-59 vs. George Mason, L 68-53 at Northeastern
-Georgia Tech... W 67-62 vs. Georgia, L 68-61 at Maryland
-Temple... W 73-58 vs. Kent State, W 67-45 at Eastern Michgian, W 75-68 at La Salle
-Army... L 59-54 vs. Fairfield, L 64-42 vs. Colgate
-Mount St. Mary's... L 77-70 vs. Robert Morris, W 81-62 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson, W 74-62 at St. Francis (NY)
-Lafayette... L 84-70 at Penn, L 81-71 at Holy Cross
-Sacred Heart... L 74-67 at Long Island, W 76-60 vs. St. Francis (PA), L 72-70 vs. Robert Morris

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 3-0 (13-2)
2. Minnesota 3-1 (15-1)
3. Michigan 3-1 (13-3)
4. Wisconsin 3-1 (12-4)
5. Illinois 2-1 (14-2)
6. Penn State 2-2 (13-4)
7. Ohio State 1-2 (11-3)
8. Purdue 1-2 (12-4)
9. Iowa 1-3 (11-6)
10. Northwestern 0-3 (8-5)
11. Indiana 0-3 (5-10)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record:72-120
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 114-40
Total Opponents' Record:186-160

After a week at the .500 mark, the non-conference opponents slipped back into their losing ways, combining to go 12-18 during the week. The only big-name win on the resume there is Georgia Tech's victory over in-state rival Georgia, but the Bulldogs don't appear to be one of the SEC's stronger teams this year.

Rhode Island returned to the Palestra to play St. Joe's, and I was lucky enough to turn the game on just as it entered its second overtime. The teams traded 3-pointers in the final seconds of the second overtime, sending the game into a third extra period in which the Hawks outlasted the Rams 12-6.

In the Big Ten, the biggest news was made in one of the conference's few non-conference games of the rest of the season, as Michigan State took care of Kansas on Saturday at the Breslin Center. Kansas held an 11-10 first-half edge in that one before the Spartans decided to go off on a 27-8 tear to finish the half. The stats that jump out of the box score are certainly the teams' combined 55 fouls and 63 free-throw attempts.But it's not surprising to see a Big Ten team come out on top in a physical game like that.

In conference play, Indiana nearly pulled off its first victory but blew a 39-22 halftime advantage and lost to Michigan 72-66 at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers promptly went out and got blown away by Illinois in their next outing, 76-45, at the other Assembly Hall.

Big Ten scores of note from the week
-Penn State 67, Purdue 64
-Michigan State 67, Ohio State 58
-Michigan 72, Indiana 66 (OT)
-Michigan State 75, Kansas 62
-Purdue 65, Wisconsin 52

Games to watch this week:
-Michigan State at Penn State, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
-Duke at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m. Wednesday
-Xavier at Rhode Island, 8 p.m. Thursday
-Minnesota at Wisconsin, 9 p.m. Thursday
-Illinois at Michigan State, 4 p.m. Saturday
-Ohio State at Michigan, 8 p.m. Saturday

-Brown

With an ice storm keeping many fans inside their warm, cozy homes, Tuesday's game against the Boilermakers seemed like it was played on a neutral court. Coach Ed DeChellis challenged his players to create their own energy by starting strong and attacking Purdue the moment the ball went in the air. The Nittany Lions actually pressed, and forced a turnover on the Boilermaker's first possession.

Penn State scored the first 14 points of the games, holding Purdue scoreless for the first five minutes.

"Coach had talked about throwing the first punch," sophomore guard Talor Battle said. "Sometimes that's not always the best thing. We exerted a lot of energy early, and they were able to come back."

Matt Painter wasn't too ticked with the opening five minutes, saying his team showed a lot of character withstanding the Lions' early flurry to fight back when two of its better players were out with injuries. Sophomore forward Robbie Hummel, the preseason Big Ten player of the year, has a sore back, and junior guard Chris Kramer, last year's conference defensive player of the year has a "heavy" foot, where it's still uncomfortable to change direction quick.

Painter said Kramer's defensive edge is when he gets into players and knocks them out of system. The Boilermaker's coach said he could have played Kramer had there been an appropriate spot to throw him in.

One last game note to wrap things up. Lion's senior guard Danny Morrissey had two 3-pointers to move him past current assistant coach Dan Earl on the school's all-time 3-point list. Morrissey now has 195 career treys. Earl finished his career with 194. As he crept closer to Earl's name throughout the year, Morrissey didn't really care too much that he was going to pass the former Lion guard. And, it wasn't because Earl had about seven years to reach his total.

Whether Morrissey cares about it or not, he will have an easy time remembering the 3-ball that moved him ahead of Earl. Morrissey's shot hit the front of the rim, bounced up and off the top of the backboard before going through the hoop.

"Maybe luckiest," Morrissey said of the shot. "I didn't think it went in. I turned to T, and he was screaming in my face."

- Mink

For the first time in school history, Pitt is No. 1 in the AP poll. The Panthers moved ahead of North Carolina and UConn --- who both suffered home losses -- after escaping the RAC with a win over Rutgers on New Year's Eve and then heading down to D.C. to take care of Georgetown, who moved into the Top 10 at No. 9 because of its win earlier in the week at UConn.

West Virginia cracked the poll at No. 25, giving the Big East NINE! teams in the Top 25.

Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest give the ACC a nice 1-2-3 punch at Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively.

On the Big Ten side of things, Michigan AND Ohio State dropped out of the poll, leaving the Big Ten with just a trio of ranked teams --- No. 8 Michigan State, No. 14 Purdue and No. 22 Minnesota. Those are Penn State's next three opponents, although not in that order.

Wisconsin won back some votes after a pair of Big Ten wins over the Wolverines and Nittany Lions.

Also, be sure to check out Club Trillion, a hilarious blog written by Ohio State back-up guard Mark Titus. My life as a Penn State basketball reporter would be much more entertaining if the Lions had a player like that for me to interview.

AP Top 25
Rank -School-Record-Pts-Pvs
1. Pittsburgh(70) 14-0 1,798 3
2. Duke 12-1 1,660 5
3. North Carolina(2) 13-1 1,651 1
4. Wake Forest 13-0 1,553 6
5. Connecticut 12-1 1,474 2
6. Oklahoma 13-1 1,358 4
7. Texas 11-2 1,348 8
8. Michigan St. 11-2 1,269 10
9. Georgetown 10-2 1,208 11
10. UCLA 12-2 1,162 12
11. Syracuse 14-1 1,113 13
12. Clemson 14-0 968 20
13. Notre Dame 10-3 802 7
14. Purdue 11-3 774 9
15. Tennessee 9-3 533 14
16. Xavier 11-2 483 22
17. Boston College 13-2 453 --
18. Marquette 13-2 436 --
18. Villanova 12-2 436 15
20. Arizona St. 12-2 374 17
21. Butler 12-1 341 25
22. Minnesota 13-1 290 21
23. Baylor 12-2 289 19
23. Louisville 9-3 289 18
25. West Virginia 11-2 230 --
Others receiving votes: Michigan 153, California 122, Arkansas 109, Illinois 108, Gonzaga 86, Wisconsin 86, Memphis 67, Davidson 56, Saint Mary's, Calif. 50, UNLV 43, Illinois St. 39, Kansas 37, Ohio St. 28, Texas A&M 27, Maryland 25, Dayton 22, Florida 13, Florida St. 13, BYU 12, Miami 8, Missouri 4.

-Fortuna

After five nights in Marina del Rey, Calif. -- where my family and I shared a hotel with the Philadelphia 76ers, who were in town for a Wednesday-night tilt with the Clippers, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, who played the Kings on Monday -- I am back in my much colder hometown of Perkasie, Pa.

The Nittany Lions opened Big Ten play by fighting off some illnesses in a comeback win against Northwestern on New Year's Eve before falling in a close contest at Wisconsin on Saturday. I was actually able to catch most of the Northwestern game over breakfast (it was a 9 a.m. tipoff Pacific time) in a restaurant in the rather interesting Venice Beach.

Anyway, at the moment, RealTimeRPI.com has Penn State back in the top 100, coming in at 98th with a strength of schedule of 260th.

With my return, it's once again time to look at how Penn State's opponents fared in the past week (Dec. 29 through Jan. 4):

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... W 67-54 vs. Harvard, L 60-44 at Northeastern
-NJIT... L 66-38 vs. Lehigh, L 73-47 at Vermont
-Hartford... L 69-55 at Stanford, W 64-54 vs. Albany
-New Hampshire... W 58-54 vs. Santa Clara
-Penn... L 81-64 at UCF, W 78-67 at Campbell
-Rhode Island... W 95-80 at Farleigh Dickinson, W 79-50 vs. Akron
-Towson... L 88-68 at N.C. State, W 58-57 vs. James Madison
-Georgia Tech... W 63-58 vs. Tennessee State, L 88-77 at Alabama
-Temple... L 62-45 at Villanova
-Army... L 70-61 at Florida Gulf Coast, W 61-54 at Dartmouth
-Mount St. Mary's... W 68-44 vs. Bryant, W 67-62 at Lafayette
-Lafayette... W 54-53 vs. Princeton, L 67-62 vs. Mount St. Mary's
-Sacred Heart... W 84-79 at Columbia, L 89-76 at Boston College, L 70-56 at Monmouth

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 2-0 (11-2)
2. Wisconsin 2-0 (11-3)
3. Minnesota 1-1 (13-1)
4. Illinois 1-1 (13-2)
5. Ohio State 1-1 (10-2)
6. Penn State 1-1 (12-3)
7. Michigan 1-1 (11-3)
8. Iowa 1-1 (11-4)
9. Purdue 0-1 (11-3)
10. Indiana 0-1 (5-8)
11. Northwestern 0-2 (8-4)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record: 60-102
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 104-32
Total Opponents' Record: 164-134

Considering Big Ten teams will only be playing Big Ten teams now (for the most part), we'll switch to a look at the Big Ten standings each week.

For the non-conference opponents, it was a successful week -- at least by the standards of these teams. They went .500 this week, although there were no signature wins. Temple was steamrolled by Villanova in the second half of a Big 5 matchup, while Georgia Tech fell at Alabama and NJIT's futility continued (that would be 47 straight losses now for the mighty Highlanders).

But it was a successful week for Penn State, as it made a huge jump of 52 spots in the RPI. I'd like to know what a win over Wisconsin would have done. The Badgers are No. 12 in the RPI right now.

Big Ten scores of note from the past week:
-Illinois 71, Purdue 67
-Michigan State 70, Minnesota 58
-Wisconsin 73, Michigan 61
-Minnesota 68, Ohio State 59

Games to watch this week:
-Ohio State at Michigan State, 7 p.m. Tuesday
-Kansas at Michigan State, 1 p.m. Saturday
-Wisconsin at Purdue, 1:30 p.m. Sunday

-Brown