A look at the final stats of PSU's squeaker...

IND PSU
Field goals 21-46 45.7% 24-48 50.0%
3-point FGs 7-17 41.2% 6-20 30.0%
Free throws 9-12 75.0% 7-17 41.2%
Reb (O-D) 27 (10-17) 24 (8-16)
Turnovers 11 8

A tough, tough loss for Indiana. Verdell Jones III was very emotional afterwards, waving his arms all over the place in frustration before Crean grabbed him and helped him regather himself.

Meanwhile, Nick Williams collapsed to the court Craig Ehlo-style and sat crouched there for a few moments before Crean grabbed and hugged him, as well.

What an effort by the Hoosiers and from their end, this one has to hurt more than any other this year.

Penn State gets the win, which is really all that matters. But I suppose the players can now go celebrate the rest of State Patty's Day, because they played like they were drunk through much of the evening.

They'll have a few days to nurse their hangovers, with Illinois coming in for a 9 p.m. tip on ESPN Thursday night. We'll be here for their home finale, where the Nits look to sweep the Hoosiers.

Until next time, this is Matt Fortuna signing off from the BJC. Enjoy the night responsibly, folks.

***
As IU prepares to inbound, PSU calls a timeout, its second to last.

Roth forces a 3, it's off the rim and headed out of bounds before Battle tries to save it ahead to Morrissey. Battle is whistled for being on the line.

PSU chooses not to foul for whatever reason, and Roth is forced to jack up another wild 3 that hits only the front end of the rim as PSU escapes with the victory.

Cornley will now address the crowd...

The senior thanks all the fans, tenured and new, for their support and reminds them that there is still "One more game" left in the BJC.

***
DJ with nice defense on Pritchard as he knocks the ball out of bounds. Crean doesn't like what he sees out of the inbounds and uses his last timeout with 16.2 left in the game and 12 on the 35, down three.
***
Battle dribbles around seemingly aimlessly for 30 seconds or so, then makes a beautiful spin move in the paint and finds Cornley, who double-clutches and jams it home before letting out a huge yell underneath the basket as this crowd is rockin'.

Who would have thought Iowa and Indiana would be the two most exciting home games of the season for PSU?

Battle fouls Jones on the other end, but he misses the front end of a 1-and-1. The loose ball rolls out, is ruled off Indy but then overturned as the Hoosiers get the ball back.

Crean calls a timeout with 39.6 to go and his team down three.
***
Battle hits just one of two out of the break, as Indy hangs on to a two-point lead.

Dumes is long on a 3 on the next possession, but a Prtichard offensive rebound keeps the Hoosiers going.

Pringle then intercepts a Verdell Jones pass and hits Battle on the 2-on-1 fastbreak to tie the game at 57, and this crowd is on its feet.

That same crowd now can't believe Cornley was called for a blocking foul on Verdell Jones, who now goes to the line with just over two minutes to play in a tight game.

Jones bricks the first, but get a friendly roll on the second to give IU the one-point lead.

"Stand Up!" now being shouted from Nittany Nation, and this time it actually works, as even the alumni are out of their seats.

They are all rewarded, as Cornley hits a baby-hook in the paint to give the Lions a one-point lead.

Battle then comes up with a steal, and Ed calss a quick timeout as "Woo-Hoo!" blasts over the loudspeakers.

1:23 to go,
PSU 59, IU 58

***
Indy does everything right defensively out of the timeout, working the PSU shotclock all the way down to one before a tough foul call on Williams as DJ takes a fadeaway jumper.

DJ knocks down one, and Battle is fouled on PSU's next trip down. Six for the Hoosiers.

Williams picks up a foul, and PSU will be shooting after the break.

3:44 to go,
IU 57, PSU 54
***
These Hoosiers are a resilient bunch, as Verdell Jones III drops in a pair of buckets to cut the lead to one. Pritchard appears to be holding on the next possession, but for whatever reason can't believe he is called for his fourth foul, bringing us to the under-8 timeout.

During the break, the PA announcer asks everyone to remain in their seats following the game to listen to a special address from a senior. Hmmm....wonder who that could be?

Out of the stoppage, Cornley's baseline fadeaway doesn't fall, and DJ fouls Dumes, PSU's seventh foul.

Dumes hits both to put IU up one, but DJ responds with a lay-in as PSU re-takes the lead.

Did I say PSU was winning? Dumes has other ideas, knocking down a three to put IU up two. WOW!

Cornley is alllll over Williams in the paint, but the IU frosh hits the tough shot to put his team up four and prompt DeChellis to call a timeout.

Penn State's NCAA hopes hanging in the balance here.

5:17 to go,
IU 57, PSU 53
***
Pringle is whistled for a foul, and no, you're not going crazy. He sandwiches the break with a pair of fouls and is now replaced by Morrissey, who was replaced by Babb during the break, since the Virginia Beach native has four fouls.

Dumes, who after a hot start was forced to sit because of foul trouble, gets back into the scoring column with a trey and just like that it's a one-point game again.

Andrew Jones fouls Pritchard, who made a nice turnaround. It looked like there was contact from up here, but Jones cannot believe the call as he jumps and down, much like the IU bench, though for far different reasons.

The Hoosiers now find themselves in front by a point after Pritchard nails the pair of FTs.

Battle only helps IU on the next possession as he jacks up a long 3 with a hand in his face.

And the captain makes me eat my own words, as he then hits a quick, open 3 on the next possession to put PSU out in front.

A few seconds later and Andrew Jones comes up with a big block. Battle pushes, overthrows Morrissey near the PSU bench but the senior saves it to Babb, who hits the open 3 as the crowd gets on its feet. Crean calls a timeout and "Sandstorm" blasts through the crowd, followed by "We Are..." chants.

8:39 left,
PSU 51, IU 46
***
A Tijan Jobe lay-in can't drown out the Let's Go P-S-U chants, and Cornley puts in an overthrown Talor Battle pass before hitting the deck.

Pringle is whistled for another reach, as he puts his hands over his head in frustration at the call.

11:35 to go,
PSU 45, IU 41

***
The Lions can't get this crowd into it, but free pizza surely can, along with the Kiss Cam and "Call on Me" blaring in the background.

One lucky couple went 2-for-2, as the camera caught them eating their free pizza before they noticed they were on the screen and proceeded to lock lips.

The scoreboard then shows a kid sullenly get rejected by a girl clad in Penn State green on this State Patty's day. Guess she didn't celebrate hard enough, as she put a towel over her head when shown.

The back-and-forth between each team's Jones ends with a Cornley lay-up to put PSU up two. Danny Morrissey then picks up a loose ball and hits Battle for the lay-in on a 3-on-1 fastbreak, prompting a Tom Crean timeout and the first playing of Zombie Nation on the night, led, of course, by the grey and green-clad PSU QB.

13:18 to go,
PSU 43, IU 39
***
Well, at least this will be more entertaining than the NJIT game...

Andrew Jones and Taber exchange baskets to open up the second half before Battle knocks down a 3 to give PSU some breathing room.

But Indy answers quickly, with Pritchard putting in a pretty backdoor feed from Verdell Jones III for the two.

Jones II then fouls Morrissey on a 3 on the other end, but the senior can only manage to hit the last of his 3 FT attempts.

Pritchard and Andrew Jones exchange buckets, but again it's the other Jones, Verdell, making a nice play on the Hoosier side to silence any Lion rally. PSU up a point.

Pringle gets called for a handcheck, and this arena is silent at the under-16 timeout.

15:25 left,
PSU 37, IU 36

***
Here's a quick look at some first half stats.

IND PSU
Field goals 10-25 40.0% 11-26 42.3%
3-point FGs 4-9 44.4% 3-11 27.3%
Free throws 4-5 80.0% 4-10 40.0%
Reb (O-D) 14 (4-10) 17 (6-11)
Turnovers 5 6

Right now, Penn State is just playing like its trying to get to Thursday's rematch with Illinois in one piece, and it's showing.

I can't say I really blame the team (I still say five of us on press row can give this group of Hoosiers a fairly competitive contest), but if the Nits were to somehow drop this contest, you can kiss all NCAA hopes alive unless they win the Big Ten tournament. Senior night or not, a loss to Indiana is inexcusable. Plain and simple.

Meanwhile, Daryll Clark, sporting a very flashy gold cross medallion, takes a seat right behind Nittany Nation and receives a warm welcome from some giddy fans.

Back with the second half in a bit
***
Pringle hits both free throws out of the break, but Matt Roth drains a 3 in front of the Nits' bench to cut the deficit to just one.

Will Leiner is waiting at the scorer's table to come in, but Battle is doing everythin to make DeChellis second-guess that decision, as the sophomore finishes a nice baseline drive with a reverse lay-in to put PSU up three.

Roth drains a 3 in front of the Nits' bench again, this one tying the game at 24. Jones takes a seat next to Leiner near the table.

Cornley can't connect on a turnaround baby-hook, but Brooks tips it twice, with the second one going in to put PSU up two.

Williams takes a solid three or four steps to the basket and lays it in for the Hoosiers to tie the game, drawing a raucous response from the crowd that thought (and correctly, I might add) that he should have been whistled for a travel.

Morrissey his one of two free throws on the other end as Leiner and Jones replace Battle and Cornley.

Malik Story gets whistled for a loose ball foul underneath his basket, as Pringle steps to the line with 26.2 ticks left to try to extend the one-point lead.

But he misses a pair, as the Lions are now just 4-for-10 from the stripe on the night.

I know we always said this could come back to haunt them one game, I just don't thin anyone imagined it would be against this crop of Hoosiers.

Indy holds for one, and Leiner fouls Verdel Jones right before he goes by him, and the Indy guard hits a pair to put IU up one.

But Pringle more than makes up for the missed pair of FTs by driving and hitting a pretty lay-up right before the horn, giving PSU the one-point lead at the break.

Halftime at the Jordan Center,
PSU 29, IU 28
***
Jeff Brooks in for Cornley out of the break. Who said DeChellis doesn't use his bench enough? That's now 11 different players to see action in the first 12:18 of tonight's contest.

D.J. runs into traffic on the baseline and gets called for the charge. He is immediately replaced by Cornley, whose break lasted the length of the timeout plus 11 seconds.

It's obviously been a rough year for Tom Crean and the Hoosiers, but you've gotta admire his intensity here in one of his team's final games of a tumultuous season. The Nits have been making sure everyone gets their respect here on Senior Night and have yet to get comfortable on the court yet, so I don't expect Indy to keep it close this much longer. Yet it says a lot that this Hoosier team hasn't played dead in the closing weeks.

Woodyard misses a 3 in front of the Indy bench, and he and Babb are replaced by Pringle and Morrissey. "We Want Will!" chants come from Nittany Nation, and he shows them his thanks from the bench.

Battle spins right around Moore to the paint, and the Hoosier guard is left with no choice but to immediately grab the PSU captain to stop him from an easy two.

Battle recovers from his previous trip to the charity stripe and hits the first, but is unable to connect on the second. No worries, as Brooks grabs the offensive rebound and hits the cutting point guard for the easy lay-in to put PSU back on top.

Pritchard turns the ball over and then gets called for a foul, his third already. The multi-faceted Cornley can't connect from the 3-point line on the ensuing possession, and Jones answers with a breakaway lay-in to put Indy up a point.

And just when the nerves started to build up inside the BJC, Pringle calms the home fans' anxiety with a 3 to put the Nits up 2. He grabs a rebound on the ensuing Indy miss and is fouled near the midcourt line. With that, it's the under-4 timeout.

3:50, first half,
PSU 20, Indy 18
***
Chris Babb and D.J. Jackson replace Ott and Morrissey out of the break, and Battle opens things up by missing a pair of free throws. He comes up with a quick steal however, but D.J. is unable to hit the 3.

Babb's long 3 with a hand in his face is all the way ... and all the way out. D.J. picks up a foul on the loose ball, and Cammeron Woodyard comes in for Pringle.

Verdell Jones with the tip-in. Did I say Jones? I was fooled by the PA announcer. D.J. actually hit the ball into the wrong basket while going up for the rebound, and Indy now finds itself up two.

Daniel Moore picks up the foul for Indy, and we head to the under-8 timeout.

7:42, first half,
IU 16, PSU 14
***
Morrissey's nice up and under won't fall, and Ott is unable to corral the rebound. Dumes answers with a 3 for his eighth points of the game and we have a tie ballgame.

Jones misses a 3 for IU, and the loose ball gets tapped all the way to the backcourt, where Battle does his best to impress the NFL combine scouts, running what looked like a 40-yard dash all the way to the other end of the court and trying to knock it off a Hoosier player. The whistle goes Indy's way, however.

Under-12 timeout at the 11:18 mark,

PSU 12, IU 12

***
PSU wins the tip and Leiner comes out running the offense on the first possession, which ends with a Pringle miss from the FT line.

Dumes drops a 3 for the first points of the game, but Pringle answers on the next possession with a trey of his own. Leiner had the ball first and looked ready to shoot, getting the crowd anxious, but he made the smart extra pass and found the open Pringle.

Cornley hits a tough baseline fadeaway on the next possession to put the Nits up a deuce.

Leiner follows on the next possession with a nice move as he gets to the rim for the lay-in, prompting the home PA announcer to scream his name for the first time this season. The crowd and the PSU bench get to their feet, and during a whistle on the following Indy possession he acknowledges Nittany Nation's support.

Morrissey hits a wide-open, deep three to put PSU in double digits, and Leiner finds Jones on the next possession and he knocks down the J from the elbow. Two points, two assists now for the Coplay, Pa., native.

Ott and Battle get ready to check in as we reach the under-16 timeout.

14:15, first half,
PSU 12, IU 9

***
For the first time this season, the scoreboard showed the "There is No Name on My Jersey" pump-up video shown before every home football game right before the starting lineups. This one, of course, featured basketball highlights.

Really classy move by Ed DeChellis to start Will Leiner on Senior Night. I know that's tradition, but I was skeptical as to whether DeChellis would follow it with the former walk-on.

As for the full lineups:

Indiana
Verdell Jones III
Nick Williams
Tom Pritchard
Devan Dumes
Kyle Taber

Penn State
Jamelle Cornley
Stanley Pringle
Will Leiner
Andrew Jones
Danny Morrissey

***
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna coming to you LIVE from the BJC on State Patty's Day, where the Nits host the hapless Hoosiers on Senior Night.

The ceremonies are just underway, with all of the senior managers walking out with their families and greeting Ed DeChellis.

Not fair. I managed my high school team my senior year and since my little brother was a junior on the team, our coach didn't give me a bouquet of flowers to hand my mother before hand. Ouch.

Anyway...

Will Leiner was the first of the players to be introduced, receiving a video tribute and a nice ovation from the crowd appreciative of the hard work of a three-and-a-half year walk-on.

Stanley Pringle and Danny Morrissey followed, right before the beautiful finale, which featured a very emotional Jamelle Cornley, who was walked out by his parents and two other family members.

Cornley was crying like a baby, as he hugged his mother for an extended period of time while the green-clad crowd rose to its feet and gave thanks to the heart and soul of the Penn State basketball program.

In the aisles leading to the locker room are boxes containing props much like the Talor Battle ones that were waved around during the Michigan game featuring the heads of all the senior players.

All, except Will Leiner.

After nearly 11 hours on the road and only three hours or so of sleep afterward, your three men's basketball writers are back in town to continue following Penn State's run to the NCAA tournament.

Apparently, we weren't the only ones feeling the lingering effects from a late night in Columbus. With his team off from practice today, Chris Babb was set to come in for the day's final massage. Unfortunately for him (and myself, who was scheduled to interview him) the freshman's car ran out of gas and he was about 45 minutes late. He was still nice enough to give me some time, however, and you can read about how he's dealing with his increased role in the coming days.

As for Ohio...

The trip wasn't the most entertaining ride of my life, but it had its high points.

One was actually when we passed by Clearfield and stopped for lunch at a KFC. Nearby were your typical neighborhood conveniences --- McDonald's, gas stations --- and a giant adult video store. The highlight, however, was the giant billboard planted in front of it with a sketch of a nervous looking young girl that read: "Pornography Pollutes."

Anyway...

We arrived in Columbus around 5 p.m. and had a little bit of time to kill, so we walked around and checked out the Horseshoe and Ohio State's other athletic venues. The place is completely different from State College, which is basically a college with a town. Columbus, meanwhile, is a huge town that gathers around its Buckeyes, which are almost like a pro sports franchise out there. You almost forget that the place was an actual college campus where students, cough, learn. There were just so many different athletic facilities and it was all spread out. I know it's a big city and we didn't have the time to see it all, but there wasn't a classroom or dorm in sight.

Inside Value City Arena, the fans were great, but I'd say a strong majority were locals and their kids, not students. (Although the students filled out each section behind the baskets.) As one member of the PSU basketball program who shall remain unnamed said to me, "It was a wine-and-cheese crowd." The stadium also had a very annoying DJ come out during commercial breaks, but I believe Brown touched on that more than enough last night.

Biggggg thanks to the family and friends of Jamelle Cornley, all of whom were nothing but helpful as I pestered them throughout the night about the senior's last game home. His parents, Hank and Dorcella, were especially accommodating. I ran into Jamelle's mother in the parking lot before the game and she couldn't have been nicer and more welcoming.

I sat behind them for about the first 10 minutes of the game, but when the seats began to fill up I found myself moving all over the place, from the aisles to the tunnels and even almost getting run over by the Ohio State marching band in the process.

After interviewing Jamelle's aunt, Pamela, I almost slipped off a step in the corner aisle of the section and nearly bumped into someone. As I turned around to apologize, I realized I had been back-to-back with Erin Andrews for God-knows how long.

Cornley's section and the nearby Bucks' student section had a nice back-and-forth going all game. I can't exactly print what the students were saying, but Jamelle's family and friends took it all in good fun and weren't afraid to dish some of it back.

One thing both sides could agree on was the once-again awful officiating by Ed Hightower. I had heard rumors that he wasn't very fond of the elder Cornley back in his playing days at Illinois State, and Hank was quick to mention to me that he was T'd up a number of times by Hightower back in the day.

But Thad Matta's reaction to Hightower was the best, as the Bucks' coach was asked in the postgame press conference about the video review surrounding B.J. Mullens being fouled with just under six minutes to go in the game.

Matta simply threw his arms up, wondering out loud himself and saying the reporter had to ask someone else if he wanted a clarification on that situation.

The ride home was uneventful, except for reaching the highest point of I-80 east of the Mississippi --- at 4:01 a.m., as Mink properly noted. If that wasn't enough, approximately two minutes later, Ashley Simpson's "Pieces of Me" came on the radio, providing a confession session from the three of us that the song was, well, not that bad.

We arrived back to the Collegian office around 5 a.m. to drop off the car, and even got to read our stories that we wrote only hours earlier since the publishers were dropping off today's paper as we left.

All in all, the trip was good and well worth it, although my body may disagree with that statement today. It won't be the last journey, that's for sure. We'll be in Indianapolis over Spring Break to cover the Big Ten tournament, and, should the Lions reach their first NCAA tournament in eight years, we'll hope to be on the run again to keep you covered.

-Fortuna

PSU now shows a full court press, but OSU has little trouble advancing the ball. A foul on Cornley sends Turner to the line for a 1-and-1. Turner sinks both and the lead is 11.

Both Pringle and Morrissey miss 3-pointers and things aren't looking good for the Lions. Pringle picks up his third foul, and Mullens now has a 1-and-1 opportunity. He makes the first and misses the second, but OSU grabs the offensive board. That's just a huge play.

3 points for Diebler. Good night.

Pringle banks in a runner but this one appears out of reach. The clocks rolls under a minute Madsen delivers the dagger from deep. 72-57 Buckeyes.

Jones scores and Battle fouls Hill with 39 seconds left. Hill makes 1-of-2 and Pringle air balls a 3 at the other end. That'll do it folks.

FINAL SCORE
OHIO STATE 73, PENN STATE 59

***
Let's set things up here:
Ohio State 59, Penn State 52
3:53 to play
Penn State has 7 fouls, Ohio State 6
Penn State has 2 timeouts left, Ohio State 4
Possession arrow favors the Buckeyes

Evan Turner is at the line for a 1-and-1. The first bounces around and falls in, and the second is also good. 60-52 Bucks.

Penn State saves time now as Morrissey rolls the ball up the floor to Battle. Evan Turner picks up his fourth foul, which also sends Battle to the line for 1-and-1. He misses the front end but OSU deflects the rebound out of bounds. The amount of missed 1-and-1 opportunities this year is staggering.

Simmons drains a 3 for Ohio State, and Lions are in trouble now down 12. Battle with a nice skip pass to Pringle, and Pringle hits the open 3.

3:06 second half
Ohio State 64, Penn State 55

***
Danny Morrissey finally stops the bleeding as he drills a fade-away 3 from the corner to end about a 5-minute scoreless streak.

Media timeout

3:53 second half
Ohio State 59, Penn State 52

***
Mullens misses a turnaround hook shot out of the timeout and the ball is deflected out off of the Buckeyes. Morrissey squares up and gets a good look from beyond the arc but comes up empty. Penn State's last points came at the 9:04 mark when Morrissey hit a 3.

And the great Ed Hightower strikes again and calls a shooting foul on Battle. Battle is not pleased to say the least. Now the referees are discussing it, and probably cluing in Hightower as to what actually happened. Now apparently they're reviewing this.

This is just awful. It's still apparently a shooting foul, as for the 900th time Hightower holds up 2 fingers.

Mullens steps to the line and hits both. The Buckeyes can sound Mr. Hightower a thank you basket later.

Battle launches a 3 and misses everything. He really needs to regain his composure after that foul. 2 more for Mullens and the lead is up to 10. 11-0 OSU run.

4:26 second half
Ohio State 59, Penn State 59

***
The sounds of "Hang On Sloopy" fill the arena now as Ohio State is on a 7-0 run. Penn State really needs to collect itself on offense again and get a bucket here out of the timeout.

Instead Battle turns it over after some solid ball movement and Ohio State patiently brings it up the court. Cornley is called for a push and we have a media timeout now.

6:31 second half
Ohio State 55, Penn State 49

***
Mullens with a terrific follow for 2 as the more-than-a-foot-shorter Talor Battle didn't stanad much of a chance.

Jeramie Simmons hits a wide open 3 from the corner and Ohio State re-takes hte lead at 48-46. The arena is rocking once again.

But Morrissey quiets the crowd as he replaces Pringle and hits a 3 of his own from the corner. The lead goes back to the Lions.

And Simmons answers right back for 3. 51-49 Buckeyes as we go back and forth.

Cornley drives and falls hard as he draws a foul on Madsen. 2 shots for Jamelle, and he misses the first with "air ball" chants still filling the arena. The second is short. PSU simply can't afford to leave points at the line.... or not box-out on defense as Turner picks up an easy offensive board and scores.

Penn State really needs to settle down now as Battle misses a floater, Babb misses a 3 and Mullens gets a fast break lay-up. We have probably the loudest moment of the game here in Columbus, and Ed DeChellis calls a timeout.

7:07 second half
Ohio State 55, Penn State 49

***
I think a fan just won a free haircut in a trivia question. But the rather annoying guy on the mic had to cheat for him to win.

Cornley misses a shot out of the timeout and PJ Hill sets things up for Ohio State. Turner misses and Morrissey grabs a board. And Battle misses, but this time PSU grabs the offensive rebound. Battle does a great job of splitting the defense and kicking to Pringle, who hit a 3 to give PSU a 44-39 lead.

What a drive by PJ Hill as he takes it to the rim for 2 for the Buckeyes.

The Penn State offense is just completely different than the opening stages of the game. More good ball movement ends with a Jones basket.

Foul on Morrissey and Kyle Madsen heads to the line for 2 shots. Madsen sinks both. 46-43 Penn State leads.

Back-to-back-to-back-to-back missed shots between the two teams. Cornley misses and Jones follows, but he gets called for basket interference.

10:53 second half
Penn State 46, Ohio State 43

***
And we're back here at Value City Arena as we are about to get going in the second half of a 32-30 ballgame with the Buckeyes leading the Nittany Lions.

Ohio State begins the first half playing Zombie Nation, drawing chants of "We Are Penn State" from the Jamelle Cornley section behind the Penn State bench. I give the sound guy a failing grade.

Battle starts of the first half with a backdoor cut and lay-up to tie the game, but Hill answers with a 3-pointer. Pringle forces a 3 from the wing off a Battle skip pass and it's no good.

The officials apparently stopped watching as Andrew Jones was ripped away from a potential rebound, and Hill ended up scoring to give the Bucks a 37-32 lead.

Great ball movement by Penn State as Battle makes another cuts and scores on a floater. Penn State continues its man-to-man defense and Lauderdale beats Jones for an easy two-handed slam.

Another nice pass by Penn State as Pringle finds Cornley, and Melle takes it to the hoop for 2.

Lauderdale basically tackles Jones, and Drew heads to the line for 2 shots. Jones knocks down both and the OSU lead is 39-38.

Andrew Jones does a terrific job of selling a play that probably wasn't a foul, but Lauderdale bumped him and got called for one. Morrissey misses on the other end.

Shades of Super Bowl Sunday in East Lansing, Mich., as Talor Battle decides to pull up from near Cleveland and bury a 3. Penn State is back in front and we head to a timeout.

14:58 first half
Penn State 41, Ohio State 39

***
As the Ohio State pep band performs the Script Ohio drill on the court, here are some halftime stats:

Field goals: PSU 44.4%, OSU 50%
3-pointers: PSU 45.5%, OSU 38.5%
Free throws: PSU 1-2, OSU 1-2
Rebounds: PSU 14, OSU 13
Turnovers: PSU 4, OSU 4

Leading scorers:
Penn State
Chris Babb, 9
Jamelle Cornley, 9

Ohio State
William Buford, 11
Jon Diebler, 6

Down just 32-30, the first half has to be considered a huge win for the Nittany Lions. Again, the Buckeyes started the game on a 21-4 run. Then Penn State answered with a 19-3 run of its own. Quite a first half, and it should be a great second half as Penn State looks to pick up another huge road win.

About 9 minutes until we get back underway.
Ohio State 32, Penn State 30

***
Jeff Brooks makes his first appearance of the game.

And Ed Hightower just drew the ire of the entire arena, calling Evan Turner out of bounds. Couldn't really tell what happened from our vantage point.

Pringle gets on the scoreboard for the first time to put PSU back up by 2.

Cornley backs down Turner, and it appeared that Turner stripped the ball away cleanly, but an official not named Hightower called a foul. 2 shots for Melle.

The first is good and Babb replaces Battle. Evan Turner takes a seat with 2 fouls. Cornley's second is no good, and the score is 30-27 Lions.

What a play by Ohio State as Simmons feeds Mullens with an alley-oop off an in-bounds pass from under the basket. Brooks misses a jumper and Ohio State re-takes the lead with a Simmons 3 from the top of the key. And the crowd is back into this one as the clock rolls under a minute.

A Morrissey 3 is no good, as is a Buford 3 for Ohio State. The ball got deflected out of bounds apparently off of the Buckeyes. Seven second differential between the shot and game clocks as Battle patiently dribbles near midcourt.

And Penn State gets 3 chances but comes up empty. Battle misses a 3, Babb misses the put back and Brooks misses another. That'll do it for the first half.

HALFTIME
Ohio State 32, Penn State 30

***
Babb air balls a long 2. Maybe he should stick to shooting 3's. That's 4 air balls for the Lions now, and Battle re-enters the game for Babb.

Pringle turns it over and Buford gives Ohio State the lead on a jumper. He has 11 now to lead all scorers. Andrew Jones' extra practice continues to pay off as he ducks around Mullens and sinks a hook shot. We are tied once again.

Quite a difference between the last game (38-33 at Illinois) and this one, as the Lions have 27 points. It took about 35 minutes to hit that mark last week.

3:39 first half
Penn State 27, Ohio State 27

***
All right, so Ohio State began the game on a 19-2 run. Now Penn State is on a 19-3 run. This is shaping up to be the most unusual game of the season.

Ed Hightower strikes a pose as he calls Pringle for a foul. Give him an Oscar.

Smmons misses a 3 and Cornley scores to give Penn State its first lead of the game at 23-22. Just unbelievable what has happened here.

Ed Hightower just stared down Andrew Jones and walked halfway across the floor while motioning the foul.

At the line, Lauderdale bricks the first. That may be the worst free-throw motion I have ever seen. Seriously. He makes the second one, but hack-Lauderdale might be a good strategy late in the game.

Two more points for Cornley to put Penn State up 25-23.

The entire Penn State defense steps out of the way and lets Simmons coast to the basket. Poor communication maybe? Tie ballgame.

With the shot clock winding down, Babb launches a 3 but misses. Offensive foul on Ohio State, and Morrissey replaces Battle.

5:22 first half
Penn State 25, Ohio State 25

***
And Chris Babb drills another 3. The freshman is coming up big off the bench and somehow we have a 19-15 game. 13-0 Penn State run. Just unbelievable, and PJ Hill turns it over.

Can this be Chris Babb's coming out party? Another 3 gives him 9 points and cuts the lead to one.

Buford drills a 3 for Ohio State to finally end the 16-0 Penn State run.

3 points Talor Battle. 22-21 Ohio State. I don't even know how to describe what has happened in this first 12+ minutes.

Media timeout.

7:34 first half
Ohio State 22, Penn State 21

***
And Penn State gets a bit of offense as Danny Morrissey hits a 3 from the corner in front of us. Not coincidentally, the Lions had good player and ball movement on that one.

Cornley blocks a shot and PSU gets a 3 from Chris Babb. Just like that Penn State has gone on an 8-0 runs. Make that a 10-run as Andrew Jones scores in transition. 19-12 Ohio State.

I'm not sure what Ed DeChellis said last timeout, but it appears to be working.

Hill misses a wide open 3 for the Bucks and PSU can cut the lead even more.

Battle gets trapped on the sidelines and uses a timeout.

9:28 first half
Ohio State 19, Penn State 12

***
I honestly have no idea what Penn State is trying to do offensively. Cornley just got blocked by Mullens again, and Mullens scores on the other end.

Cornley finally ducks around Mullens and scores to end a 16-0 Ohio State run. 19-4 Buckeyes.

11:23 first half
Ohio State 19, Penn State 4

***
Battle misses a shot and promptly picks up a foul in transition. This is about as bad as a team can start.

OK, this is as bad as a team can start -- 3 points Evan Turner, timeout Ed DeChellis.

Wow.

13:00 first half
Ohio State 17, Penn State 2

***
Props to Ohio State for their live stats monitors on each press table. Not only do we get live stats for every player, but also a small box with ESPN's TV feed. Not bad.

Talor Battle air balls a 3 and Buford gets the ball ahead of the pack and scores. The Penn State offense has looked terrible so far, hence the 10-point deficit.

Jamelle Cornley just air balled a jumper. That makes 3 for the Nittany Lions vs. one made shot. To state the obvious, that's not how you win basketball games.

Mullens blocks Cornley and Ohio State can exend the lead even more.They do just that as Buford scores. 14-2.

13:35 first half
Ohio State 14, Penn State 2

***
Brutus the Buckeye just imitated LeBron James by throwing the chalk into the air. It doesn't quite have the same effect as LeBron I must say.

Opening tip goes to Ohio State and Penn State sets up in a man-to-man defense. Jon Diebler starts things off on a high note for the Buckeys and buries a 3 from the wing.

On Penn State's first possession, OSU gets called for goaltending on a Cornley shot. 3-2

P.J. Hill -- not the Wisconsin running back -- knocks down another 3 for the Buckeyes. Ohio State is showing a pretty aggressive matchup zone, and it gave the Lions all kinds of trouble on that possession. Jackson launched a desperation 3 at the shot clock buzzer but missed everything. Hill misses a 3 for the Bucks.

Penn State turns it over and we hear our first "OH-IO" chant. I didn't realize Penn State was playing Ohio U. tonight.

It looks like Evan Turner got hit in the eye on the last play and we had a brief stoppage in play. He appears fine though.

Diebler misses a 3 but again Penn State throws it away for a turnover.

A long two for Buford falls and Ohio State takes an 8-2 lead. With "air ball" chants from the student section, DJ Jackson gets called for a charge and is pulled for Danny Morrissey.

PJ Hill drives to the bucket through traffic and scores. 10-2. Evan Turner picks up a foul and we head to the first media timeout.

15:45 first half
Ohio State 10, Penn State 2

***
Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressell just walked by through the tunnel and took a nice courtside seat.

In other news, the famous Ed Hightower will be officiating tonight's game. What a nice homecoming present for Columbus-native Jamelle Cornley.

Just a few more minutes until tip-off, stay tuned.

***
In honor of Brent Musberger, who is calling tonight's game:

YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE at Hardwood Hits' live blog from Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Matt Brown here to take you through tonight's showdown between Penn State (19-8, 8-6 Big Ten) and Ohio State (17-8, 7-7).

Nate, Matt and I successfully made it from State College to Columbus in about 5 1/2 hours, with the only hang up being some slow traffic near the Goodyear factory in Akron. Other than that, it was standard boring driving through Ohio's flat terrain. Should make for a fun ride late night ride back to Happy Valley.

We have a nice seat in the first row of the corner press area, right between the Penn State tunnel and the Ohio State student section. With ESPN in town, Musberger, Steve Lavin and everyone's favorite, Erin Andrews, are here to call the action.

This game has huge NCAA tournament implications, as another road win over a quality opponent would put Penn State in very good position for an at-large bid. A loss certainly wouldn't kill the Nittany Lions' tournament chances, but with a national audience tuning in, this is big for the program.

Tonight's lineups:
Penn State
G- 12 Talor Battle
G- 11 Stanley Pringle
F- 15 D.J. Jackson
F- 2 Jamelle Cornley
C- 22 Andrew Jones

Ohio State
G- 4 P.J. Hill
G- 44 William Buford
G- 33 Jon Diebler
F- 21 Evan Turner
F- 52 Dallas Lauderdale

Pitt is the nation's new No. 1 team, receiving all but three of the top votes in the AP poll.

Michigan State, 1-1 on the week after a loss to Purdue and comeback home win over Wisconsin, fell three spots to No. 9.

Purdue moved up three spots to No. 6, while Illinois dropped two to No. 20.

Penn State and Minnesota were the only other Big Ten schools receiving votes, picking up eight and three, respectively.

The Nits also notched 10 votes in the ESPN/USA Today poll after their win at Illinois Wednesday.

AP Top 25
Rank School Record Pts Pvs
1. Pittsburgh (69) 25-2 1,797 4
2. Connecticut (1) 25-2 1,692 1
3. Oklahoma (2) 25-2 1,643 2
4. North Carolina 24-3 1,556 3
5. Memphis 24-3 1,543 5
6. Louisville 21-5 1,403 7
7. Duke 22-5 1,228 9
8. Marquette 23-4 1,169 10
9. Michigan St. 21-5 1,136 6
10. Villanova 22-5 1,125 12
11. Missouri 23-4 1,094 11
12. Clemson 22-4 1,050 13
13. Wake Forest 20-5 992 8
14. Arizona St. 21-5 869 14
15. Kansas 22-5 812 15
16. Purdue 21-6 765 19
17. Gonzaga 21-5 661 17
18. LSU 23-4 541 23
19. Xavier 22-5 413 16
20. Illinois 22-6 364 18
21. Washington 20-7 291 22
22. UCLA 20-7 268 20
23. Florida St. 21-6 217 --
24. Butler 23-4 192 21
25. Texas 18-8 162 --
Others receiving votes: Utah 108, West Virginia 96, Syracuse 53, Arizona 33, Creighton 21, Dayton 21, Utah St. 16, Florida 14, California 11, Siena 9, Penn St. 8, South Carolina 8, Saint Mary's, Calif. 5, Davidson 3, Kansas St. 3, Minnesota 3, BYU 2, American U. 1, Kentucky 1, Maryland 1.

-Fortuna

Tuesday's game at Ohio State will be broadcasted on ESPN, and every one knows the certain blond-haired sideline reporter who comes with the territory.

Erin Andrews has caught the attention of several Nittany Lion basketball players, who are anxious to get out to Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center to show Andrews and the rest of the country this team belongs smack-dab in the middle of the NCAA tournament chase.

Even freshman Billy Oliver, who just last year was enjoying all the perks of being named Chatham High School's homecoming king, has few tactics of grabbing Andrew's attention.

"I might use it as a pick-up line," Oliver said. "Wear my crown."

Talor Battle and Evan Turner go head-to-head for the upperhand in the Big Ten scoring race. Entering Tuesday's game, Battle averages 17.3 ppg, with Turner netting 17.2 per contest.

Battle won't showboat in front of Andrews, saying it's all business for the Lions in Columbus.

"She does a great job. She's an attractive lady. She's just there doing her job. Obviously we're there for the same reason. We just wanna come play well and come outta there with a win."

About the kind of the answer one would expect from a floor general. But forward Jeff Brooks took, by far, the best approach to getting Andrews to take notice -- pray.

"I'll pray for a fastbreak or something so i can get a little good time after the game or something," Brooks said. "We'll see what happens though. She is a beautiful lady. She's very attractive. I hope she don't catch my eye too much."

On another note, last week we brought ya'll a video of 2009 Lion commit Tim Frazier dunking over an opponent in a recent high school game.

Naturally, that Youtube clip made the rounds among Frazier's future teammates. Oliver and Battle said Frazier put on a little jam fest with some of the guys when he came up for his official visit.

"It was sweet," Battle said of the video. "It was a real nice dunk. He caught the pass and jumped over the dude. He's real athletic, but we already knew that."

Brooks said he never got posterized like that in his life and vowed to never let it happen to avoid nation-wide embarrassment.

"I laughed a couple times," Brooks said. "It was a spectacular play. For him to get a tech after it was pretty funny cause when you chill with him he's a pretty quiet kid until you get to know him. For him to have a play like that, it was crazy."

- Mink

Ken Mink, not to be confused with your fellow basketball reporter Nate, has been ruled academically ineligible following an issue with a Spanish class that he took. His Roane State squad now has to forfeit its last game.

Why should you care about a six-foot tall community college player from Tennessee? Because he is 73-years-old, that's why!

***
Jim Calhoun should have been all smiles Saturday after his UConn team rebounded from a home loss to Pitt and defeated South Florida, 64-50.

Instead, the Huskies' coach was all riled up after a self-proclaimed "freelance journalist" began pestering Calhoun about his salary in the midst of the state's deficit.

Calhoun, one win away from career victory No. 800, didn't take too kindly to the questions fired by Ken Krayeske, who, not surprisingly, has been arrested for disturbing the peace before.

Remind me not to ask Ed DeChellis about his paycheck at today's press conference.

***
Maryland's 88-85 overtime win over North Carolina Saturday could only hurt Penn State's tournament chances, as another major conference squad threw itself onto the bubble seemingly out of nowhere.

But the win is huge for a Terrapin program that has been free-falling since its 2002 NCAA title run.

A week before the UNC upset, the Washington Post (not to be confused with another Collegian staple) ran a three-part story on the decline of Maryland basketball.

I urge any basketball junkie to take a read, despite each's length.

The situation seems to contrast perfectly with the New York Times' piece yesterday on Binghamton's basketball program, which has been rising on the court despite the shortcomings of several players off it.

-Fortuna

It ended up being an odd week for Penn State in more ways than one. Not only did the Nittany Lions have a weekend off, but they won a game 38-33 at Illinois.

No matter how ugly the score was though, it gave them a boost in the RPI. Last week, they sat at No. 70. As of Sunday morning, RealTimeRPI had bumped the Lions up to No. 61. That may be at the tail end of NCAA tournament bubble range, but quality wins at Michigan State, at Illinois and at home vs. Purdue give Penn State a legitimate shot at dancing in March. Tuesday's contest at Ohio State will be huge, and the three of us will be in Columbus to bring you coverage.

With two more weeks left in the regular season, here's one of the final looks at Penn State's opponents (Feb. 16-22):

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... W 76-54 at Towson, L 53-39 vs. Manhattan
-NJIT... L 70-46 at Bryant, L 70-51 at Houston Baptist
-Hartford... L 62-44 vs. Binghamton, L 57-35 at Marist
-New Hampshire... W 63-54 vs. Maine, L 70-69 at Binghamton
-Penn... W 62-55 at Princeton, L 69-59 vs. Dartmouth, L 66-60 vs. Harvard
-Rhode Island... W 71-59 vs. Massachusetts, W 77-58 at Fordham
-Towson... L 76-54 vs. William & Mary, L 80-64 vs. Morgan State
-Georgia Tech... L 87-69 at Wake Forest, L 81-73 vs. Clemson
-Temple... W 72-45 vs. Fordham, W 70-56 vs. St. Bonaventure
-Army... L 58-36 vs. American, L 59-54 at Navy
-Mount St. Mary's...L 70-65 at Wagner, W 93-63 vs. St. Francis (Pa.)
-Lafayette... W 71-68 vs. Bucknell, W 68-66 at Lehigh
-Sacred Heart... W 101-67 at Central Conn. State, W 83-61 vs. Monmouth

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 11-3 (21-5)
2. Purdue 10-4 (21-6)
3. Illinois 10-5 (22-6)
4. Penn State 8-6 (19-8)
5. Minnesota 8-7 (20-7)
5. Wisconsin 8-7 (17-10)
7. Ohio State 7-7 (17-8)
8. Michigan 7-8 (17-11)
9. Northwestern 5-9 (14-11)
10. Iowa 4-10 (14-13)
11. Indiana 1-13 (6-20)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record:139-212
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 169-97
Total Opponents' Record: 308-309

Not much to report this week, outside of Georgia Tech's total collapse against Clemson on Sunday. The Yellow Jackets led by as many as 15, but the Tigers ended up knocking down 12 3-pointers to really and win. Georgia Tech also suffered an ugly defeat at the hands of Wake Forest on Wednesday. The Jackets had beaten the Demon Deacons earlier in the year, but this time Wake put up 50 in the first half on its way to a victory. The first win over Wake remains Georgia Tech's lone ACC victory.

Penn State's two non-conferences losses continue to look OK at least, as Rhode Island and Temple both went 2-0 and find themselves right in the mix in the Atlantic 10. Temple is one game back of Xavier in the win column, while Rhode Island is one game back in both columns.

Meanwhile, NJIT had another matchup with Bryant -- the one team it beat this seasons. But the Bulldogs got their revenge for ending up on SportsCenter as the team that lost to NJIT and cruised to a 70-46 win. NJIT scored just 19 first-half points, which means they might be cut out for the Big Ten in the future.

Speaking of the Big Ten, Michigan State held Wisconsin to 19 second-half points Sunday and finished the game on a 32-9 run at the Breslin Center to win 61-50 and keep a hold on first place in the conference.

Also, Illinois recovered from its 33-point performance versus Penn State to more than double that at Ohio State. The Fighting Illini got 22 points on 11-for-14 shooting from Mike Davis and dealt the Buckeyes their third consecutive loss before they welcome Penn State to town Tuesday. I don't know if that's good or bad for the Lions.

Games to watch this week:
-Dayton at Rhode Island, 7 p.m. Wednesday
-Minnesota at Illinois, 7 p.m. Thursday
-Purdue at Michigan, 9 p.m. Thursday
-Georgia Tech at North Carolina, noon Saturday
-Ohio State at Purdue, 4 p.m. Saturday
-Temple at Dayton, 4 p.m. Saturday
-Michigan State at Illinois, 4 p.m. Sunday

-Brown

No matter how ugly the win was on Wednesday at No. 18 Illinois, Penn State got itself yet another quality win against a top 25 opponent. That makes for three wins over top 25 teams in the RPI (Purdue, at Michigan State, at Illinois), as well as two more wins over top 50 teams (Minnesota, Michigan).

The Nittany Lions appeared to be almost assuredly headed to the NIT after the three-game Michigan-Wisconsin-Purdue losing streak, but back-to-back wins over Minnesota and Illinois have them back in various NCAA tournament projections.

Here's a rundown of where a few outlets have the Lions after the Illinois game:

-In Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology, Penn State is an 11-seed playing against 6-seed West Virginia in Minneapolis. Amazingly, eight Big Ten teams get the nod in this one.

-Jerry Palm's CollegeRPI.com puts Penn State as a 12-seed against 5-seed Syracuse in Portland.

-The Bracket Project has Penn State as the third team in the "First Four Out", meaning the Lions are the third bubble team not in the tournament.

-CollegeHoops.net puts Penn State in the tournament as a 12-seed. No specific matchups are listed, but the opponent would be either UCLA, Arizona State, Gonzaga or Xavier.

The Lions have the weekend off and can sit back and watch Illinois visit Ohio State at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Buckeyes have a very quick turnaround to the ESPN Super Tuesday contest with Penn State -- which Matt, Nate and I will be making the trip for and bringing you coverage from Columbus.

Right now, Penn State holds a 19-8 (8-6 Big Ten) record with games at Ohio State, vs. Indiana, vs. Illinois and at Iowa left before the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. It should be an exciting few weeks for Penn State basketball as the Lions try to make their first Big Dance since 2001's Sweet 16 run.

-Brown

Penn State's lone NBA player has found yet another team to play (if you could call it that) for.

Calvin Booth was involved in a four-player trade today, going from Minnesota to Sacramento along with Rashad McCants in exchange for Bobby Brown and Shelden Williams.

For those of you keeping track at home, that's now the eighth different team for the journeyman center.

The former Nit has appeared in one game this season, pulling down a single rebound. I may be a journalism major, but I believe that projects to 48 rebounds over a full NBA game.

Fantasy owners beware.

-Fortuna

Thanks to our colleague Andrew Wible for passing this link along.

Penn State recruit Tim Frazier defined "posterize" when he took a pass from his teammate and jumped over Spring Woods' Keewyn Reece to slam it home.

Unfortunately there's no sound, but it would be really nice if Kevin Harlan could record a voice over:

Frazier and Strake Jesuit finished the regular season 32-0, and with his quickness, the 6-foot-2 guard will likely be in the mix with Chris Babb and Cammeron Woodyard to start at the two position next year to replace Stanley Pringle.

-Brown

Another week down, and Penn State split its two contests. After a dismal offensive showing at Purdue last Wednesday, Talor Battle and the offense woke up Saturday at the BJC in a huge win over Minnesota. According to CollegeRPI.com, the Nittany Lions' RPI rose from No. 84 last week to No. 70 through Sunday's games. And amazingly, the strength of schedule has finally broken into double digits, checking in at No. 91.

Only a couple more weeks to go in the regular season, and he's a look at how Penn State's opponents fared last week (Feb. 9-15):

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... W 69-40 vs. UNC Wilmington, L 76-67 at James Madison
-NJIT...L 61-40 vs. Utah Valley State, L 84-68 vs. Chicago State
-Hartford... L 71-63 at Vermont, L 68-63 at Maine, L 80-63 vs. MD-Baltimore County
-New Hampshire... L 81-76 at MD-Baltimore county, W 78-59 at Albany
-Penn... W 73-52 at Brown, W 68-63 at Yale
-Rhode Island... W 87-80 vs. St. Bonaventure, W 69-61 vs. St. Louis
-Towson...W 82-72 vs. Georgia State, L 78-65 at Drexel
-Georgia Tech... L 76-71 at Virginia Tech, L 86-65 vs. NC State
-Temple... W 61-59 at St. Joe's, W 78-73 at Duquesne
-Army... L 62-59 at Holy Cross, W 82-75 vs. Lehigh
-Mount St. Mary's... W 68-57 vs. St. Francis (NY), W 72-62 at Monmouth
-Lafayette... L 71-54 at Colgate, L 90-67 at Navy
-Sacred Heart... L 85-79 at Robert Morris, W 72-57 at St. Francis (PA)

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 10-2 (20-4)
2. Illinois 9-4 (21-5)
3. Purdue 8-4 (19-6)
4. Ohio State 7-5 (17-6)
5. Minnesota 7-6 (19-6)
5. Penn State 7-6 (18-8)
5. Wisconsin 7-6 (16-9)
8. Michigan 6-7 (16-10)
9. Northwestern 4-8 (13-10)
10. Iowa 3-10 (13-13)
11. Indiana 1-11 (6-18)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record: 127-196
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 160-87
Total Opponents' Record: 287-283 (.5035)

By Penn State's non-conference opponents' standards, it was a solid week at 13-14. Hartford certainly didn't help the cause, as the Hawks dropped three games in a span of seven days. 0-3 in a week? I might expect that from NJIT, but Hartford? Oh, Hartford is 6-21 overall, 2-11 in the America East and has lost 10 in a row. So I guess you can expect that from them too.

But the strangest thing about the Hartford losses is they scored exactly 63 points in each of those games.That's six times now that the Hawks have scored 63 points -- all losses. In case you were wondering, the Hawks scored 64 at Penn State on Nov. 20.

Speaking of NJIT, the Highlanders lost twice (pause for you to regain your composure after that shock...)

...

...

At least the 396 fans in attendance Thursday in Newark were graced by the presence of Bob Barker as a referee. No word on whether or not they played the following after the loss:

Georgia Tech also continued a very lackluster season, dropping another two conference games to Virginia Tech and NC State. Paul Hewitt's Yellow Jackets have lost four straight since the upset of Wake Forest.

On the winning side of things, the two non-conference schools who beat Penn State -- Temple and Rhode Island of the Atlantic 10 -- combined to go 4-0 during the week. Both remain in the thick of things in the league, although Xavier or Dayton will likely emerge victorious.

In the Big Ten, there were not a lot of big matchups. Demetri McCamey's game-winning jumper with 2.9 seconds left against Northwestern on Thursday served as the highlight of the week in the conference.

Elsewhere, everything went just about as expected, with a plethora of low-scoring affairs.

Games to watch this week:
-Michigan State at Purdue, 7 p.m. Tuesday
-Georgia Tech at Wake Forest, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
-Illinois at Ohio State, 1 p.m. Sunday
-Wisconsin at Michigan State, 3 p.m. Sunday

-Brown

UConn remained No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll for the third straight week. That distinction will meet possibly its toughest test of the season tonight when the Huskies host No. 4 Pitt at 7.

The top four of the poll remained unchanged, with Oklahoma and UNC staying put at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively.

A rough week for Duke, Wake Forest and Louisville allowed Michigan State to jump three spots to No. 6. That should help Penn State's tourney prospects come Selection Sunday.

The Nits' next opponent, Illinois, rose four spots to No. 18, one ahead of No. 19 Purdue.

Ohio State fell back out after one week, as the Buckeyes technically stand at No. 28 after receiving 45 votes.

Minnesota and Wisconsin received six and two votes, respectively.

And for what it's worth, PSU picked up a vote in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

Rank-Team-Record-Votes-Previous
1 Connecticut (66) 24-1 1794 1
2 Oklahoma (4) 25-1 1709 2
3 North Carolina (2) 23-2 1676 3
4 Pittsburgh 23-2 1589 4
5 Memphis 22-3 1465 8
6 Michigan State 20-4 1443 9
7 Louisville 19-5 1280 5
8 Wake Forest 19-4 1217 7
9 Duke 20-5 1048 6
10 Marquette 21-4 1045 10
11 Missouri 22-4 1041 17
12 Villanova 20-5 983 13
13 Clemson 20-4 939 12
14 Arizona State 20-5 830 18
15 Kansas 20-5 651 16
16 Xavier 21-4 646 14
17 Gonzaga 19-5 599 19
18 Illinois 21-5 589 22
19 Purdue 19-6 582 20
20 UCLA 19-6 473 11
21 Butler 22-3 373 15
22 Washington 19-6 334 27
23 LSU 21-4 294 26
24 Syracuse 19-7 207 23
25 Dayton 23-3 194 31
Others Receiving Votes: Texas 83, Utah State 72, Ohio State 45, Arizona 38, California 34, Utah 34, West Virginia 26, Florida State 18, Davidson 15, South Carolina 10, Minnesota 6, Boston College 5, Kentucky 5, Miami (FL) 2, Tennessee 2, Wisconsin 2, Brigham Young 1, Robert Morris 1

-Fortuna

Thank you, Donnee Gray, Dan Chrisman and Steve Skiles. We've grown so tired of watching Penn State coach Ed DeChellis show no emotion on the sideline with his 'hand-on-cheek while in a catcher's stance' position that we have decided to take the time to show our love for getting the head coach a lil riled up Saturday afternoon.

Even if the players didn't like the touchy-feely calls on V-day (Stanley Pringle said after the game a lot of the fouls called were B.S) I actually got goosebumps watching DeChellis hound the official after Jamelle Cornley or Andrew Jones got whistled for traveling.

Y'all even got Orlando "Tubby" Smith to stomp his feet after an apparent no call on Talor Battle.

"It seemed like the walk was the call of the night in the first half," DeChellis said after the game. "I thought they were giving out free ice cream at the Creamery or something."

***
On the more serious side of things, senior guard Danny Morrissey re-aggravated his knee at Purdue last week. DeChellis gave Morrissey the option to practice on Friday, but if he couldn't go, DeChellis needed to know in order to get freshmen Chris Babb and Cammeron Woodyard ready to play Saturday.

The two combined for 15 points in the 68-63 win against the Golden Gophers.

Morrissey's status is day-to-day. With the team off on Sunday, that gives Morrissey essentially three days off. DeChellis hopes to get him practicing Monday or Tuesday.

Being alone for Single's Awareness Day isn't so S.A.D. after all.

Tonight, as most of you basketball junkies know, is the one annual event that even non-hoops fans can look forward to: the Slam Dunk Contest.

So instead of going out and spending wayyy too much money on someone else, I'll be happily sitting at home, taking in all of the action as "Superman" looks for a way to top last year's performance. (Sorry, Nate Robinson. You don't have a chance if Howard gets the rims raised as once proposed.)

For now, I'll leave you all with State College's superhero, Talor Battle, who's doing his best Superman impersonation along with younger brother and highly-touted prep prospect Taran Buie.

If the rumors are true, we could be seeing more of these two together, as supposedly their mother, Denise, is contemplating a family move to State College. Could be good news for the Nits.

-Fortuna

Minnesota comes away empty on its next possession, and Cornley heads to the line for two free throws.

OK, one last look at our keys to the game.
Battle and Pringle score more than 30 points. Battle led all Penn State scorers with 21. Pringle had all 13 in the second half.
Westbrook was held to just 4 points. But Joseph was a big surprise scoring 23. He came in averaging 4.6 ppg.
Penn State shot 43 percent from the field.

Eh, two outta three ain't bad.

Minnesota substitutions: 26

Cornley sinks a free throw to put the Lions up five with one second left. That should seal the deal. Penn State snaps its three-game losing streak.

Final
PSU 68, Minn. 63

***

Iverson fouls Jackson going up for a lay-in after a nice feed from Battle. Jackson converts on both.

Minnesota substitutions: 25

Battle picks Joseph's pocket and takes it coast-to-coast and a chance for a 3-point play after Joseph fouls Battle.

Jones grabbed the rebound after Battle's miss, and Johnson has to foul Battle to put him on the line for two more.

37.5 seconds left
PSU 62, Minn. 56

***

Minnesota Substitutions: 23

Battle drills a deeeep three from the far wing, tying the score at 56, moments after Nittany Nation encourages the rest of the crowd to "Stand-Up."

1:58 left 2nd half
PSU 56, Minn. 56

Maybe we'll get to see some OT. Penn State has yet to play an extra five minutes all season.

***

Joseph hits a three to give the Gophers the lead back. Pringle checks in with 6:16 left. He can't afford to pick up a foul, or else he's done.

Tubby stomping his feet so loud at an apparent no-call, I could hear his steps up on press row. If I can, Battle definitely could've, and two seconds later, drilled a 3 at the top of the key. Joseph just buried another 3-point shot. He's doing it all for the Gophers at this point. He's got a game-high 17 points.

Pringle heads back to the line after a Busch foul.

3:43 left 2nd half
Minn. 56, PSU 53

Minnesota substitutions: 21

***

Extended stoppage of play after the officials got together after a hard foul by Cornley. After the discussion, they just hit him with his second personal foul.

Iverson gets a put back to give Minnesota the lead. Babb at the line shooting a pair. Penn State hasn't struggled at the line at all this afternoon, and being in the double bonus could be the difference when it's all said and done.

7:30 left 2nd half
Minn. 50, PSU 50

***

Nolen and Joseph drill back-to-back 3's. Penn State's offense couldn't get any decent shot. Babb heads to the line after a Joseph foul. He misses the 1-and-1, and the Gophers get another 3 from Joseph.

8:16 left 2nd half
PSU 48, Minn. 48

***

Babb picks up where Pringle left off, hitting a 3 from the top of the key.

10:02 left 2nd half
PSU 48, Minn. 39

Minnesota substitutions: 19

***

Pringle sinks both free throws to extend the lead to nine. Joseph picks off a Battle pass, then hits a 3. Pringle just picked up his fourth foul on Carter. Babb checks in for Pringle. This could spell trouble for the Lions. Pringle almost single handedly gave the Lions its lead.

Minnesota substitutions: 16

***

Jones is working his butt off trying to keep Sampson III from getting good position down low but gets whistled for the foul.

Minnesota substitutions: 15

12:17 left 2nd half
PSU 41, Minn. 34

Jones pulled down the rebounds and appeared to get bear hugged, but no whistle blew until Nolen picked up a foul on Pringle. Minnesota is already at the foul limit with 11:53 left.

***

Blake Hoffarber hits a 3 for the Gophers in response to Battle's triple. Hoffarber is best known for this

Pringle hits a 3 on the other side of the media timeout to put the Lions back up seven. That was Pringle's firs bucket of the game. Let's see if he and Battle can get in rhythm. As I type that, Pringle dials it from long range again. Suddenly, my 30-point minimum for the Lions' backcourt seems within reach.

Three in a row from downtown for Pringle. Battle drove, kicked it out to Pringle, who pump-faked, side-stepped, then drilled it for his 9th point.

13:31 left 2nd half
PSU 41, Minn. 32

Minnesota substitutions: 14

***

Westbrook gets the scoring going for the Gophers with a mid range jumper that gets a shooter's roll.

Minnesota going into a 2-3 zone here in the second half.

Minnesota substitutions: 13

Minnesota goes back to man and Jackson drives and finished with a tough lay-in. Battle hits a 3 from the top of the key. Next possession, Battle drives, gets hit, and finishes for a chance at a 3-point play. Penn State has the largest of the game for any team

16:48 left 2nd half
PSU 32, Minn. 25
***

I hate to play devil's advocate, because this is a much needed win, but Penn State is playing awful. It's not getting any rhythm on the offense. Its 11 turnovers are right around its average for a single game.

Battle is still in a funk. He's 1-for-6 from the field and has just one rebound and one assist on his line as well.

My guess is Minnesota will not shoot below 30 percent for the game, meaning Penn State has got to figure out a way to score. Just a few observations on my end: When the Lions set a screen, they don't seem to screen a man. Instead they screen a spot, and the Minnesota defender can avoid the screen too easily. This may seem minor, and the Lion player coming off the screen is at fault for not running his man into the screen, but this type of thing can screw up an offensive set and take away an open look.

***

Babb got a steal at about mid court with 3 seconds left. Instead of jacking up a half court bomb, Babb finds Battle wide open on the near wing. Battle swishes the 3 as time expires.

Just got word on Morrissey from SID Brian Siegrist. Morrissey's knee flared up at Purdue. He's listed as day-to-day and be back for Wednesday's game at Illinois.

Halftime
PSU 24, Minn. 23

Let's review our keys to the game.

Penn State is shooting just 36 percent from the field. In a normal game, this probably spells a double digit deficit. But the Gophers are shooting 28 percent. In fairness, they did shoot better than 60 percent the last game against Penn State.

Westbrook has just two points on 1-for-4 shooting.

Battle and Pringle have combined for just five points. Pringle has a goose egg next to his name. And remember, Battle hit a buzzer-beater.

On the other hand, Babb and Woodyard combined for 10 points of Penn State 13 bench points. Minnesota, who had 47 bench points in the last game against the Lions on Jan. 11, have just six.

***

Westbrook gets called for the third cradling violation of the game. Minnesota keeps doubling Cornley on the interior and it forcing Cornley into some tough passes

Minnesota substitutions: 12

1:06 left 1st half
Minn. 23, PSU 21

***

Minnesota has just three field goals. They are 10-for-10 from the foul line.

Danny Morrissey is in street clothes sitting halfway down the bench.

Woodyard has seven points, tied for the game lead. Westbrook drives the middle of the lane and gets his first basket of the game.

Babb drills a three from the wing. The scoring is starting to pick up a bit, Travis Busch hits a lay-in at the other end.

2:57 left 1st half
PSU 21, Minn. 21

***

Ed DeChellis is probably down to his last straw before getting hit with a technical. He's in the ear of the official after every call. On the other hand, at least he's showing a little bit of emotion out there.

Devoe Joseph gets whistled for cradling. This is just an ugly half of basketball. My bet is Penn State doesn't crack 30 points in a half for the sixth straight time.

Woodyard's shot again gets a friendly roll. Penn State leads it 16-15, but Pringle's second foul puts Nolen at the line for two.

Minnesota substitution: 10

***

Johnson hits a pair at the line to push a team into double digits. The Gophers showing some pressure in the backcourt, and it's making Penn State a little uncomfortable.

The walking fest continues. Woodyard hits a three that rattles around the rim, shoots up, then drops in.

The crowd giving an earful to the officials after a Pringle foul.

7:33 left 1st half
PSU 12, Minn. 11

***

Penn State is probably playing its best defense of the year. But it's also playing its worst offense of the year. Brooks swishes a 3 from the top of the key after good ball movement. Nolen answers next possession with a 3 of his own.

I think Minnesota only scored after Penn State did. That's taking setting the tempo to a whole new level.

9:00 left 1st half
PSU 9, Minn. 9

***

Battle gave a nice pass to Jackson down on the low block but Johnson came from behind to snuff Jackson.

Minnesota substitutions: 8

***

It's hard to say if this is good defense or awful offense. Sampson III answers a Cornley deuce to keep the squads deadlocked at six.

11:21 left 1st half
PSU 6, Minn. 6

There are as many turnovers as points scored in this game. If you're in your dorm contemplating hitting the snooze button or rushing over to the BJC, I'd say come here. This game will put you to sleep anyway. At least you get to see the Lionettes.

***

Paul Carter drives center and draws a foul on Cornley. Jones corrals a Pringle misfire from 3 and ties the score at four.

Pringle drives past the defense but Jones can't handle the pass as it goes right through his hands and out of bounds.

Minnesota substitutions: 7

***

Nine combined turnovers for both teams. Paul Carter gets a tip-in to knot the score at two.

Minnesota substitution: 3

15:14 left 1st half
PSU 2, Minn. 2

***

Jones gets a quick rebound and outlets to Battle who races down court and draws a foul . It took Battle just 28 seconds to get in the box score today. He was scoreless last game against Purdue.

Battle matched up on Nolen, Pringle is guarding Westbrook. Nolen is one of the better defenders in the league. Both teams just getting a feel for each other in the early stages. Cornley's had a couple travels. Iverson got whistled for an offensive foul for an elbow. Now Nolen gets called for cradling the basketball.

Gopher coach Tubby Smith sends two reserves in, now.

Minnesota substitutions: 2

Minnesota doubling Cornley down low on his touches. Cornley gets an offensive rebound and gets called for his third traveling violation is less than four minutes.

***

This afternoon's lineups.

Minnesota
F 50 Ralph Sampson III
F 34 Damian Johnson
C 45 Colton Iverson
G 20 Lawrence Westbrook
G 0 Al Nolen

Penn State
F 2 Jamelle Cornley
F 15 D.J. Jackson
C 22 Andrew Jones
G 11 Stanley Pringle
G 12 Talor Battle

Yes, Sampson III is related to former Virginia big man Ralph Sampson. No, Iverson is not related to Detroit Piston guard Allen Iverson. I don't think the Answer is from Yankton, South Dakota.

***

This is Nate Mink taking y'all through the Nittany Lions' game with the Golden Gophers. Last time these two got together, Minnesota made all nine 3-point attempts and handed the Lions their worst loss of the season, 79-59. The Gophers shot 62 percent from the field, while the Lions shot 37 percent.

That said, I'm gonna put my soothe-saying skills to the test.

In order for the Nittany Lions to win ...

1. Penn State must shoot 45 percent.

2. Hold Gopher guard Lawrence Westbrook below 15 points. Westbrooks averages 12.7 ppg.

3. Battle and Pringle must combine for a minimum of 30 points. Minnesota goes about 13 deep, giving it plenty of fresh legs to constantly rotate in to wear down the Lions' dynamic backcourt.

I didn't think an Illinois/Northwestern game would hold me up on a Thursday night, but it almost did.

The No. 22 Illini entered Evanston, Ill., looking to move into second place of the Big Ten while the Wildcats were just trying to get to .500 in the conference.

The fact that it was almost a neutral-site game because of the traveling Illinois fans didn't exactly work out in Northwestern's favor, either.

But you could imagine how shocked I was as Northwestern persisted, steadily building its lead throughout the contest as I debated whether or not to go out.

Once the lead reached 14 with under six minutes left, I could no longer ignore my friends.

After all, a 14-point Northwestern lead is like the equivalent of a 30-point lead because of the Wildcats' style of play.

So when I got home late and read the BottomLine on ESPN, I figured I had one too many Nattys in me. Turns out, that wasn't the case, as Illinois somehow stormed back by ending the game on a 17-2 run to come out with the last-second win.

Oh, how this Big Ten season never ceases to amaze.

-Fortuna

Penn State fans tapped out of money and hoping to catch the Nits' first tournament game in eight years may be out of luck.

Mike Slive, chairman of the NCAA tournament selection committee, said while the NCAA will do its best to keep teams close to home, it won't do so at the expense of fair and balanced matchups, despite these rough economic times.

You folks better hope that doesn't stop the Lions from playing in Philly or Dayton should they make the tournament.

....you could be stuck in Boise or Portland instead.

-Fortuna

Talor Battle, arguably this season's Big Ten player of the year, was left off the list of 17 (!) finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard.

It makes no sense to me that they can have four players below the Division I level on the list while snubbing the Big Ten's leading scorer and one of its top playmakers.

Maybe it's just a thing against the conference, as Michigan State's Kalin Lucas was left off the list as well.

Patrick Mills of Saint Mary's, who may not even play again this season, made the list though, so take it for what it's worth.

***
Devan Dumes acted classless in Indiana's loss at Michigan State Saturday, and IU coach Tom Crean is doing right by suspending his (only) star player for an indefinite period and holding him accountable for his actions.

This column by Bob Kravitz, however, at least does a good job of putting everything into perspective for Dumes and other college athletes forced to shoulder so much at such a young age.

-Fortuna

Sorry for being a day late on this, but no big changes as UConn remained No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll released yesterday.

Michigan State moved back into the Top 10, coming in at No. 9, while Purdue dropped eight spots to No. 20 after suffering a pair of losses last week.

Illinois is up a spot to No. 22, while Ohio State snuck back in at No. 24.

Minnesota dropped out of this week's poll after dropping a pair of games last week as the No. 19 team in the country.

For what it's worth, Penn State received a pair of votes in the ESPN/USA Today poll. I'm betting they were from a pair of coaches whose teams already lost to the Nits.

AP Top 25 Poll
Rank-School-Record-Pts-Pvs
1. Connecticut (67) 22-1 1,795 1
2. Oklahoma (3) 23-1 1,710 2
3. North Carolina (2) 21-2 1,672 3
4. Pittsburgh 21-2 1,583 6
5. Louisville 18-4 1,423 5
6. Duke 20-3 1,350 4
7. Wake Forest 18-3 1,242 7
8. Memphis 20-3 1,237 14
9. Michigan St. 19-4 1,214 13
10. Marquette 20-3 1,137 8
11. UCLA 19-4 1,131 15
12. Clemson 19-3 1,097 10
13. Villanova 19-4 989 17
14. Xavier 20-3 893 9
15. Butler 21-2 762 11
16. Kansas 19-4 751 21
17. Missouri 20-4 395 --
18. Arizona St. 18-5 389 24
19. Gonzaga 17-5 361 18
20. Purdue 17-6 353 12
21. Utah St. 23-1 317 25
22. Illinois 19-5 303 23
23. Syracuse 18-6 280 20
24. Ohio St. 17-5 216 --
25. Florida St. 18-5 182 --
Others receiving votes: LSU 167, Washington 135, Texas 106, Florida 66, Minnesota 43, Dayton 31, California 16, Kansas St. 8, West Virginia 8, Davidson 7, Miami 7, South Carolina 7, Arizona 4, Utah 4, Northeastern 2, San Diego St. 2, Siena 2, Boston College 1, Robert Morris 1, Wis.-Green Bay 1.

-Fortuna

Well, um, that wasn't quite a strong week for Penn State basketball. Last week, I wrote about the Nittany Lions jumping up to No. 66 in the RPI after the big upset in East Lansing. This week, after rough losses to Michigan and Wisconsin that saw the offense completely disappear, PSU is back down to No. 84 according to CollegeRPI.com. So much for all the progress. The strength of schedule also still sits in the triple digits at 111, despite the addition of several solid Big Ten opponents over the last few weeks.

With the regular season inching toward the home stretch, let's once again take a look at why exactly that strength of schedule is at the bottom of the Big Ten. (Game results from week of Feb. 2-8)

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary...W 68-63 vs. Northeastern, L 74-56 at VCU
-NJIT... L 65-49 vs. Houston Baptist
-Hartford...L 62-55 vs. New Hampshire
-New Hampshire...W 62-55 at Hartford, L 67-49 vs. Boston U.
-Penn... L 74-63 vs. Columbia, L 88-73 vs. Cornell
-Rhode Island... W 71-64 at Charlotte, L 68-62 at Temple
-Towson... L 71-62 at Old Dominion, L 71-68 at Hofstra
-Georgia Tech... L 62-58 at Florida State, L 57-56 vs. Maryland
-Temple... L 83-74 at Xavier, W 68-62 vs. Rhode Island
-Army... L 58-34 at American, L 55-53 at Colgate
-Mount St. Mary's... L 76-70 at Long Island, W 75-68 at Fairleigh Dickinson
-Lafayette... L 71-68 at Fairleigh Dickinson, L 64-50 vs. Holy Cross
-Sacred Heart... L 66-64 vs. Quinnipiac, W 101-72 vs. Long Island

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 9-2 (19-4)
2. Illinois 7-4 (19-5)
2. Ohio State 7-4 (17-5)
4. Purdue 6-4 (17-6)
5. Minnesota 6-5 (18-5)
5. Penn State 6-5 (17-7)
7. Michigan 5-6 (15-9)
7. Wisconsin 5-6 (14-9)
9. Northwestern 4-6 (13-8)
10. Iowa 3-8 (13-11)
11. Indiana 1-9 (6-16)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record:114-182
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 151-78
Total Opponents' Record: 265-260

And the overall opponents' record creeps closer and closer to .500... which was expected considering Big Ten teams knock each other off every week. But it doesn't help when the non-conference juggernauts go 6-18 for the week.

The most noteworthy game has to be William & Mary's shocking defeat of Northeastern. The CAA cellar-dwelling Tribe notched just its second conference victory by beating the conference-leading Huskies.

Other than that, well, not a lot of news to report.

Perhaps the most intriguing game was an Atlantic 10 rematch of Temple and Rhode Island. The Rams one the first meeting a few weeks ago, but Lavoy Allen's 23 points led Temple to a win at the Liacouras Center on Sunday.

After pulling off a colossal upset of Wake Forest, Georgia Tech is back to its basement-dwelling days after losing a pair of close ones to Florida State and Maryland.

And in a huge matchup of independents, the 3-21 Houston Baptist Huskies walked into Newark and dismantled the mighty 1-22 NJIT Highlanders, 65-49. Only 207 people were at the game though, so I'm not entirely convinced the game even happened.

In the Big Ten, Penn State was not the only squad to take a tumble. In fact, the Lions' next opponent -- Purdue -- has dropped out of second place with back-to-back road losses at Ohio State and Illinois. I'm sure the Boilermakers will be glad to return to Mackey Arena.

In other news that Fortuna already covered, Indiana finally got its first conference win by knocking off Iowa at home, and Michigan State took out some frustration on Tubby Smith's Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Games to watch this week (it's looking like a rather lousy week of matchups in the Big Ten):
-Michigan State at Michigan, 7 p.m. Tuesday
-Temple at St. Joe's, 7 p.m. Thursday
-Ohio State at Wisconsin, 9 p.m. Saturday

-Brown

Cornley picks up his first foul of the game to send Krabbenhoft to the line for a 1-and-1. The first is good, as is the second. 51-42, things are not looking good at all for the Lions.

Pringle now at the line for a 1-and-1, and he misses the front end. With that, many people start filing toward the exits.

Krabbenhoft sinks a pair of free throws and the lead is up to 11 for Wisconsin. Two points for Battle as the clock rolls to 1:01.

Bohannon misses the front end of a 1-and-1 and Pringle throws up a brick from 3. There are 43 seconds left, and the Lions have still not made a 3. That would be 0-for-13 now.

In the double bonus, Landry hits 1 free throw, and Chris Babb promptly misses a 3.

That'll do it as Penn State throws in the towel.

FINAL SCORE
Wisconsin 54, Penn State 44

***
Penn State's full court pressure fails on this possession and opens the door for an easy basket for Landry. Pringle answers and DeChellis calls another timeout. The Lions have just one remaining now.

1:39 second half
Wisconsin 49, Penn State 42

***
The "stand up" cheers are now appearing to work as much of the crowd at the BJC is on its feet during the timeout.

D.J. Jackson stands at the line out of the break. Penn State is now in the bonus, so it's a 1-and-1... something that PSU has had all kinds of problems with this year. But Jackson knocks down both and the BJC is alive. 43-38 Wisconsin, full court pressure from the Lions.

Trevon Hughes gets an open look with the shot clock nearly expiring, and it just bounces in. Talor Battle is back in the game, he drives and gets called for a charge. That's PSU's sixth team foul.

Battle got a deflection on the in-bounds pass and nearly kicked a dance team member in the face as he chased the ball. That would've hurt.

Landry gets called for a walk and Battle is clearly limping out there. Morrissey replaces Jackson as a clock discrepancy is cleared up.

Morrissey throws an ill-advised pass toward the middle. It gets stolen and Krabbenhoft gets a fastbreak lay-up. Battle answers for 2 and DeChellis uses a 30-second timeout.

1:58 second half
Wisconsin 47, Penn State 40

***
Nittany Nation members are now urging the rest of the crowd to stand up, but it doesn't seem to be working. Two points for Andrew Jones cuts the lead to 7.

Penn State is still in a 2-3 zone. Hughes misses and Babb picks up the rebound. Battle is once again out of the game as his leg appears to be bothering him.

3:36 second half
Wisconsin 43, Penn State 36

***
A nice turnaround jumper by Krabbenhoft over Cornley puts the lead at 40-34. Penn State still does not have one made 3-pointer.

Battle spins multiple times on his way to the basket but missed with the shot clock winding down. The refs ruled that the ball never hit the rim, so right now the shot clock stands at :01 with Penn State having the ball out of bounds under the basket. Now the refs are reviewing the play, and apparently they got it right. Pringle gets it into Battle but Battle missed everything on a 3 attempt.

Penn State's last field goal? 13:43 left in the half. We're under 6 now. Ouch.

Another Wisconsin desperation attempt at the end of the shot clock, but they pulled down the offensive rebound. The refs miss an obvious walk and Bohannon sinks a 3-pointer.

Another Battle missed 3.

Ed DeChellis wisely uses a timeout after a miss by Hughes and a Krabbenhoft foul. The offensive funk that Penn State is in is just incredible.

4:45 second half
Wisconsin 43, Penn State 34

***
In case you were wondering, the over/under for today's game was 127. With 7:36 left, the total is 72. Welcome to the Big Ten.

***
Another missed free throw by Landry... and another. That's four in a row for the Wisconsin star and the lead stays at 36-32.

There was just a collective gasp from the BJC crowd as Ott thought about firing a 3, but he decided against it. Instead, Battle came up empty from deep again. Battle is now 2/9 from the field and 0/5 from 3-point range.

I never thought this could be a 4-point game with Battle and Cornley combining for just 8 points so far.

Another miss by Battle but it looked like a foul should've been called. Jarmusz misses a 3, then Pringle misses a 3 from the corner. Battle grabs the rebound and draws a foul. He'll shoot 2. Battle calmly sinks both and we have a 2-point game on our hands.

Penn State is now showing a 2-3 zone as the crowd gets loud and Wisconsin misses a 3 at the shot clock buzzer. Battle drives but misses and shows some frustration. Landry scores for Wisconsin to extend the lead to 38-34.

Now Battle just limped off the court and Chris Babb replaces him. I'm not sure exactly what happened to Battle... it doesn't look serious, but he's on the end of the bench getting checked out by a trainer. Keep in mind that he injured his groin a few weeks back.

Morrissey misses a mid-range jumper but Cornley grabs another offensive rebound. Pringle feeds Cornley and he draws contact on the way up.

Talor Battle appears to be fine as he heads to the scorers' table. Cornley misses the first and Battle checks back in for Babb. Cornley's second also misses. There's the Penn State free throw shooting we all know.

Pringle picks up a foul off a missed shot and we have reached the under-8 timeout.

7:36 second half
Wisconsin 38, Penn State 34

***
I sound like a broken record, but again Wisconsin decided to use the entire shot clock. This time, it resulted in a long missed 3 by Hughes.

Cornley misses a jumper but picked up Penn State's first offensive rebound of the game. Pringle misses a 3 and the Lions still haven't hit from deep.

Leuer with a dunk down low and it's 34-28 Badgers.

For a second, I thought Penn State had its first 3. Jackson buried a long shot but he was just inside the arc.

A fantastic feed by Battle with a bounce pass down the lane to Jones. Leuer blocked Jones but got called for a foul. Jones walks to the line and sinks both. Miraculously, Penn State is 6-for-7 from the free-throw line. 34-32 Badgers and Brooks and Ott enter the game.

Ott promptly gets beaten to the hoop on a nice move by Krabbenhoft, who finished for 2.

A great feed to Ott, but he nearly walked and threw an ugly shot up and missed. He grabs a rebound on the other end and PSU takes control again... and turns it back over.

Now Ott gets matched up with Landry, who went hard to the basket and drew contact for a foul.

11:20 second half
Wisconsin 36, Penn State 32

***
All right we're about to get back underway here from the BJC. Let's see if the Penn State offense can wake up and get the crowd re-energized. The most noise has come after big defensive stands so far. Maybe the Lions can hit a 3 this half.

Surprisingly, D.J. Jackson is starting the second half over Jeff Brooks. The rest of the starting lineup is out there and Stanley Pringle cuts the lead to 5 with a quick 2.

Leuer slams it home for Wisconsin but PSU follows it up with another Pringle bucket, and a foul. He steps up to the line and drains the shot... 30-26 Wisconsin.

Again Wisconsin ran the shot clock down, but this time they missed. Talor Battle picks up a loose ball but badly misses a 3. He just hasn't been able to find any kind of offensive rhythm.

Another easy Wisconsin bucket as Landry ended up wide open next to the basket. Penn State has still not hit a 3 with Cornley missing this time. The ball gets deflected out off of Penn State, although the crowd didn't exactly agree. For the record, Ed Hightower is NOT officiating this one.

Drew Jones is the only Lion in foul trouble as he picks up No. 3 and sends Landry to the line. Landry must have been studying too much film of Penn State's win at Michigan State, as he missed both attempts.

Marcus Landry just took a hard tumble as he and Cornley made contact. No foul was called but Landry hit the ground pretty hard and was slow getting up. It looks like he'll probably return shortly.

Jon Leuer forgot that he is not in the NBA yet and gets called for a walk. Only the 7th turnover of the game between the two teams. Two points for Drew Jones cuts the lead to 32-28.

Pringle gets hit for a loose ball foul off a Wisconsin miss and we head to the under-16 timeout.

15:34 second half
Wisconsin 32, Penn State 28

***
And that'll do it for the first half as Leuer connects from a few feet away to give Wisconsin a 28-21 lead heading into the locker room.

Just a dismal offensive performance by Penn State in the first half, picking up right where it left off Thursday night in Ann Arbor. The Lions are letting Wisconsin dictate the pace of the game, leading to long possessions and both teams using up the entire shot clock almost every trip down the floor. The slow pace certainly doesn't favor Penn State, who needs to start getting Battle and Pringle running the floor.

Halftime Stats:
WISCONSIN 28, PENN STATE 21
FGs: UW 40.7%, PSU 39.1%
3s: UW 2/7, PSU 0/6
FTs: UW 4/4, PSU 3/4
Rebounds: UW 17 (4 offensive), PSU 12 (0 offensive)
Turnovers: UW 3, PSU 2

Leading scorers:
Wisconsin
Jon Leuer, 8
Tim Jarmusz, 7
Marcus Landry, 6

Penn State
Jamelle Cornley, Jeff Brooks, Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle all have 4

We have about 11 minutes left until the second half gets underway, so stay tuned.

***
Out of the break, Landry sinks a pair at the line to give Wisconsin the lead. Cornley re-enters the game for Jackson.

Wisconsin with a bit of full-court pressure but backed off after PSU got the ball into Drew Jones. Pringle makes a great move to the basket but couldn't connect on the shot.

Jarmusz scores in the lane and the lead is 23-20 now. That is just an odd name to type.

Jones is at the line for PSU, let's see if the short-lived charity stripe success can continue.

Of course not.

He misses the first but the second rattles around the rim and falls. 23-21 Badgers

With under a minute to play and the shot clock winding down, Battle drove hard and drew a foul on Hughes. PSU gets a fresh 35 with 54 seconds left in the half. Batte misses a 3 though and the Lions are still without a make from beyond the arc.

In transition, Bohannon hits a 3 for Wisconsin to give the Badgers the largest lead of the game. Pringle misses and Jones gets called for going over the back. 23 seconds left and we have a 30-second timeout.

0:23 first half
Wisconsin 26, PSU 21

***
BREAKING NEWS at the BJC... Penn State just hit back-to-back free throws.

Well done, Stanley Pringle.

On defense, Jarmusz was left wide open and hit the first 3 of the game for either team. 20-19 PSU

Penn State turns the ball over and the Badgers have a chance to take the lead back.

Battle continues to struggle offensively as he tosses up a runner in traffic and misses everything. He has just 4 points.

Jackson picks up a foul and Wisconsin will be at the line after a timeout.

3:19 first half
Penn State 20, Wisconsin 19

***
The starting lineup is back on the floor for PSU as Pringle, Jones and Brooks replace Jackson, Morrissey and Ott.

The Lions show some full court pressure out of the timeout but Wisconsin gets it up the floor fairly easily. Once again the shot clock was winding down but the Badgers scored as Battle somehow got matched up with the 6-10 Jon Leuer, who shot and scored over his 11-inch shorter counterpart.

Brooks scores for Penn State and we're tied again at 16. And Penn State is back in front as Battle blocked a desperation 3 attempt by Bohannon, Pringle caught the deflection and tossed ahead to Battle, who hit a lay-up.

Penn State usually doesn't block many shots, but that's 3 now as Cornley blocks Krabbenhoft.

Wisconsin turns it over as Pringle comes up with a steal. Jordan Taylor gets called for a foul and sends Pringle to the line for 2 shots.

4:54 first half
Penn State 18, Wisconsin 16

***
Morrissey appeared to have a step on his defender but could not make a move off the dribble. He ends up missing a 3 but Magic Johnson, I mean Andrew Ott, drew a big ovation as he blocked a shot.

After a missed 3 by Cornley, Bohannon scores for Wisconsin to tie the game at 12.

Another offensive foul on Wisconsin as Landry was a bit too physical trying to get open. Only 5 combined fouls between the two teams in the opening 11 minutes.

Talor Battle finally gets on the scoreboard as he takes a feed from Cornley and scores. 14-12 PSU

Ott thought he had good position defensively but Leuer ducked around him and scored. Penn State has played a lot of good defense but it keeps breaking down as the shot clock winds down.

On the other end, Wisconsin puts together a nice defensive stand as Battle missed badly on a desperation attempt and Cornley caught the ball out of bounds with a couple ticks on the shot clock.

7:39 first half
Penn State 14, Wisconsin 14

***
D.J. Jackson just knocked down a jumper to give Penn State its first lead. The Lions could certainly use more of that out of the struggling forward.

With the shot clock winding down Tim Jarmusz threw a nice fake at Cornley, ducked around him and buried a jumper. Again Cornley responds with a long 2 to retake the lead.

Morrissey plants his feet and draws a charge on Hughes and we head to the under-12 timeout.

10:47 first half
Penn State 12, Wisconsin 10

***
There are still a handful of empty seats in the end upper deck to our left, but students have gradually started to fill-in the empty areas. I'd guess we'll see an attendance somewhere in the 14,000's.

Out of the timeout, Trevon Hughes hits a pair of free throws and Wisconsin's lead is 4.

A terrific feed by Pringle to a cutting Andrew Jones. Jones showed some aggressiveness and took it to the rim for 2.

Krabbenhoft tossed up an awful 3 attempt that was wide open and Cornley responded with a very long 2 to tie the game at 8.

Ed DeChellis makes his first substitution as D.J. Jackson replaces Brooks. Let's see if the Penn State bench can provide any scoring today. It's been quite some time.

12:56 first half
Penn State 8, Wisconsin 8

***
And we're underway at the BJC with Marcus Landry winning the tip over Andrew Jones. Penn State opens in a man-to-man defense and Landry scores on a turnaround jumper over Jones in the paint.

Wisconsin is also playing man, and Cornley takes a longer jumper and is blocked by Krabbenhoft. Landry misses for Wisconsin and PSU takes it the other way. Battle must have thought he was still in East Lansing as he jacked up a 3 from way out and nearly missed everything.

PSU has gotten off to a terrible start shooting as Brooks nearly misses everything as well. Hughes air-balls a 3 attempt but Landry collects it and scores. 4-0 Badgers

The Lions finally get on the board at the 16:45 mark as Brooks knocked down a short jumper. And defensive miscommunication leads to an easy lay-up for Jon Leuer for Wisconsin.

We had a nice little game of volleyball for a few seconds with the ball ending up in Pringle's hands. With the shot clock winding down he took it to the hoop and scored. 6-4 Badgers.

Andrew Jones gets called for the first foul of the game and Wisconsin will be at the line after a timeout.

15:05 first half
Wisconsin 6, Penn State 4

***
It is official: the curtains have been raised at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Matt Brown here to take you through today's important Big Ten showdown between a pair of NCAA tournament bubble teams. Penn State (17-6, 6-4 Big Ten) had its four-game win streak snapped Thursday night at Michigan, while Wisconsin (13-9, 4-6) ended a six-game slide by knocking off Illinois, 63-50, at the Kohl Center.

For Penn State to make it to the Big Dance, it'll probably have to win the rest of its home games and at least one on the road. In the first meeting between the Badgers and the Nittany Lions, Wisconsin pulled out a close one 65-61 on Jan. 3. The last time the Badgers visited State College, the Lions suffered an enormous loss when star forward Geary Claxton was lost for the year to a torn ACL.

The BJC is starting to fill up right now, with people in the upper deck to our right for the first time all season instead of a curtain. Many people are still in the concourse waiting in line to get their picture taken with the Phillies' World Series trophy. It's supposed to be a white out today, but some PSU fans wore Phillies red. Normally that wouldn't be a big problem, but it's not a good idea when the opposing team is red.

Anyway, today's starting lineups:
Wisconsin
G- 3 Trevon Hughes
G- 12 Jason Bohannon
F- 1 Marcus Landry
F- 45 Joe Krabbenhoft
F- 30 Jon Leuer

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

Never did I think an Indiana win over Iowa would generate so much buzz, but that's what the times have called for following the Kelvin Sampson saga in Bloomington.

Still, it was nice to see the Hoosiers gain their first win in Big Ten play, a 68-60 win over Iowa last night.

But Indy fans shouldn't be too psyched about the prospects of a winning streak. Their team's next game? A trip to East Lansing on Saturday, the sight of Michigan State's annihilation of Minnesota last night.

You had to figure the Spartans would come out of the gate flying after dropping two straight home games. Sure enough, they did, opening the game on a 13-1 run before winning by a final of 76-47.

The Minnesota loss puts Penn State into a three-way tie for second place in the conference. The Lions are joined by Purdue and Illinois, and will have three games left against those opponents in the second half of Big Ten play.

But first and foremost on the Nits' agenda is Michigan, starting at 7 tonight on the Big Ten Network.

-Fortuna

Penn State's 72-68 win against Michigan State Sunday officially marked the end of the first half of the Big Ten season. Currently, the Nittany Lions are 6-3 and in a four-way tie for second in the conference along with Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue. The latter half of the 18-game conference slate starts Feb. 5 at Michigan. But before the Lions hop on a plane and head for Ann Arbor, we present to you a first half evaluation of the team.

Starting backcourt - A-
No backcourt is better in the conference. Led by Big Ten player of the year candidate Talor Battle, the Lions provide major matchup problems for opposing teams. When Battle isn't driving, dishing or shooting, Stanley Pringle is. Simply put, the Lions haven't lost when Battle and Pringle have both turned in strong performances.

Starting frontcourt - B-
If we handed out individual grades, Jamelle Cornley would get an A. But Jeff Brooks and Andrew Jones hardly give anything on the offensive end of the floor. Defensively, they hit the glass hard, but neither is a viable shot blocker underneath the basket. Brooks has settled in as the starter at the three spot, but only after D.J. Jackson and Danny Morrissey couldn't find consistency.

Bench - D
Absolutely dreadful. Six bench points in the last two games is putrid, and there's no indication that number will increase in the next nine games. Morrissey has been the only sparkplug coach Ed DeChellis can bring in the game, but streaky shooting won't earn him minutes. Morrissey always gives it his all, and the senior has played a lot of basketball to be a key member of this team. But even this team cannot be successful much longer if only six guys score.

Coaching - B+
DeChellis wants no credit, but we're gonna give him some anyway. Keeping a young team level-headed as the season's gone on takes the right kind of coach, and it appears DeChellis fits the bill. DeChellis said no matter how big a win may seem, the approach, film study and practice heading into the next game remains the same. Newcomer Lewis Preston gets kudos here as well. Preston mainly works with the big men, which have been a big reason the Lions have the second largest rebounding margin in the conference. Come March, Preston's experience could play an even bigger role because he was on Billy Donovan's bench when Florida won the NCAA title in 2007.

First half offensive MVP - Talor Battle
He's in the conference top 10 in points, assists, steals, 3-pointers, assist-to-turnover ratio, defensive rebounding and minutes. His career-high 29 points Feb. 1 at Michigan State was like an exclamation point on the first half of the Big Ten season. Barring any type of injury or major slump, Battle not only gets our MVP, he gets the Big Tens', too.

First half defensive MVP - Stanley Pringle
Pringle is DeChellis' best on-ball defender, and he's responsible for guarding the Big Ten's best guards. Against Michigan on Jan. 20, he held Manny Harris, the Big Ten's second-leading scorer, to just four points. Too bad we'll never know how he does against the league's top scorer outside the practice gym.

For the fourth straight week, there's a new No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll. UConn gained 64 of the 72 first-place votes to move up to the top spot.

More relevant, however, is the Nittany Lions receiving 37 votes, technically making them ranked No. 29.

Penn State also received 13 votes in the ESPN/USA Today poll, good for No. 32.

Michigan State fell four spots to No. 13, one behind the Big Ten's highest-ranked team, No. 12 Purdue, which moved up four spots.

Minnesota got back in at No. 19 after its shellacking of Illinois, which is now down to No. 23.

Ohio State received three votes.

AP Top 25
Rank-School-Record-Pts-Pvs
1. Connecticut (64) 20-1 1,792 2
2. Oklahoma (5) 21-1 1,691 4
3. North Carolina (3) 19-2 1,639 5
4. Duke 19-2 1,563 1
5. Louisville 17-3 1,464 7
6. Pittsburgh 19-2 1,427 3
7. Wake Forest 17-2 1,409 6
8. Marquette 19-2 1,358 8
9. Xavier 19-2 1,176 10
10. Clemson 18-2 1,077 12
11. Butler 19-1 1,051 13
12. Purdue 17-4 961 16
13. Michigan St. 17-4 876 9
14. Memphis 18-3 798 18
15. UCLA 17-4 787 17
16. Texas 15-5 724 11
17. Villanova 17-4 698 21
18. Gonzaga 16-4 632 20
19. Minnesota 18-3 426 --
20. Syracuse 17-5 415 15
21. Kansas 17-4 316 --
22. Washington 16-5 216 23
23. Illinois 18-4 198 19
24. Arizona St. 16-5 146 14
25. Utah St. 21-1 99 --
Others receiving votes: Dayton 95, Davidson 85, Missouri 39, Penn St. 37, LSU 36, South Carolina 33, West Virginia 33, UNLV 29, Florida 24, Providence 14, Southern Cal 8, Notre Dame 7, Kansas St. 4, Siena 4, Northeastern 3, Ohio St. 3, Arizona 2, Kentucky 2, Florida St. 1, N. Iowa 1, VMI 1.

-Fortuna

I'm about 12 hours later on this than normal, but that's what happens when you're glued to the TV the entire day. Between waking up at 3:30 in the morning to watch another classic Nadal/Federer duel, the Penn State-Michigan State game in the afternoon and the Super Bowl at night, it was quite a sports day.

And with an enormous win in East Lansing on Sunday, the Nittany Lions' NCAA tournament resume is looking much better. As of Sunday evening, CollegeRPI.com had Penn State up to No. 66 in the RPI, up another nine spots from last week. So once again, here is a rundown of Penn State's opponents' results from the past week (Jan. 26 - Feb. 1).

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... L 69-56 vs. Towson, L 58-51 vs. Georgia State
-NJIT...L 73-67 vs. MD-Eastern Shore, L 85-69 at Chicago State
-Hartford... L 59-50 at Albany, L 72-47 vs. Boston U.
-New Hampshire... W 71-60 at Stony Brook, L 83-39 vs. Vermont
-Penn...W 66-60 at Harvard, L 63-60 at Dartmouth
-Rhode Island... W 67-59 vs. Temple, W 98-88 vs. La Salle
-Towson... W 69-56 at William & Mary, L 60-53 vs. Drexel
-Georgia Tech... W 76-74 vs. Wake Forest
-Temple... L 67-59 at Rhode Island, W 74-65 vs. Richmond
-Army... W 57-56 vs. Lafayette, W 76-65 vs. Bucknell
-Mount St. Mary's... W 60-42 at Quinnipiac, W 65-51 vs. Wagner
-Lafayette... L 57-56 at Army, L 78-65 at American
-Sacred Heart... W 71-51 vs. St. Francis (NY), W 77-69 vs. Cent. Conn. State

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 7-2 (17-4)
2. Purdue 6-2 (17-4)
3. Minnesota 6-3 (18-3)
3. Illinois 6-3 (18-4)
3. Penn State 6-3 (17-5)
6. Ohio State 5-4 (15-5)
7. Northwestern 4-5 (12-7)
8. Michigan 4-6 (14-8)
9. Wisconsin 3-6 (12-9)
10. Iowa 2-7 (12-10)
11. Indiana 0-8 (5-15)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record:108-164
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 140-69
Total Opponents' Record: 248-233

Amazingly, last week turned out to be a strong week for Penn State's non-conference opponents, who collectively went 14-12. The big news of course was down in Atlanta, where Georgia Tech shocked the college basketball world with an upset of Wake Forest -- who had just beaten Duke earlier in the week. Like Penn State, the Ramblin' Wreck had the week off before pulling off a weekend upset. While it won't have a big effect on Penn State's RPI, Iman Shumpert's last-second jumper to win makes Georgia Tech look a bit more respectable at least. After all, it entered the game without a win in the ACC.

Elsewhere, Rhode Island emerged victorious in the Atlantic 10 clash of teams that beat Penn State. The Rams beat Temple by eight Wednesday night despite Dionte Christmas scoring 27 points. Both teams sit toward the front-end of the middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10, which is being controlled by Xavier.

And finally, NJIT got back to its losing ways -- although the Highlanders did keep it close against 6-12 Maryland-Eastern Shore.

In the Big Ten, the big news of the week was obviously Penn State's win at the Breslin Center Sunday, as it marked the Spartans' second consecutive home loss (the last being Northwestern).

The oddest score of the week had to be Thursday's showdown between Illinois and Minnesota, as the Fighting Illini managed just 36 points in a 23-point loss. The Golden Gophers led 22-16 at the half, but at least they had a respectable second half. The Illini finished the game a shooting a miserable 15-for-51 from the field, and no one on the team scored in double figures.

Also, at this point Wisconsin may be CBI bound. With a one-point loss to Purdue and a three-point loss to Northwestern, the Badgers have now dropped six straight and have faded into the back of the Big Ten pack.

Games to watch this week:
-Purdue at Ohio State, 7 p.m. Tuesday
-Minnesota at Michigan State, 8:30 p.m. Wednesday
-Temple at Xavier, 7 p.m. Thursday
-Michigan at Connecticut, 6 p.m. Saturday
-Purdue at Illinois, 1 p.m. Sunday
-Rhode Island at Temple, 2 p.m. Sunday

-Brown

Exactly 365 days ago, No. 8 Michigan State left the Bryce Jordan Center 85-76 losers against a Penn State team that seemingly had nothing left to play for.

(I know it was Feb. 2, but 2008 was a leap year.)

The Nittany Lions iced that contest by hitting 16 of their final 20 free throws. Today, the Lions' 1-for-8 showing at the charity stripe during one stretch in the closing minutes almost prevented them from pulling off another upset of the Spartans. Ultimately, their 12-point lead with as little as 4:15 to go proved too much for Michigan State to overcome in the 72-68 decision.

All season long the Achilles heel of this team has been free throws, and my colleagues and I were just wondering if and when it would ever come back to bite them. Needless to say, we were chatting it up as we saw Spartans coach Tom Izzo decide to foul Penn State early. The strategy proved smart, and would have been labeled genius had Kalin Lucas, who was automatic all-season (84-for-106) from the line, not clanked his potential tying free throw with 12 seconds left. Lucas, ironically, was 8-for-8 on the afternoon until that miss.

But as Tom Izzo said post-game, the game was not won or lost on Lucas' attempt. The Lions simply looked like the better team today, erasing a 13-point first half deficit in the blink of an eye before taking control of the second half and building a 12-point cushion.
Just how good were the Lions offensively today? They shot 56 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range. Of course, that was almost all for naught because of their 47 percent showing from the stripe.

Official Ed Hightower certainly didn't help the Lions cause much, either. He must really have it out for Jamelle Cornley after T'ing him up in consecutive games. We all know what Cornley did to earn the T last Saturday, but even then it seemed as if Hightower was unwarranted in initiating the Cornley response that drew the T. Tomorrow I'll have to ask Jamelle what he said this time, because on TV it didn't look like much. I'll say one thing, you know it's bad when fans of the team receiving favorable calls agree that it is one-sided.

I found this forum particularly entertaining after the Iowa comeback last week.

One last note. Last night I made mention of the 12-point spread to Mink. His reply? "I'm guessing Penn State is the underdog?"

Sure enough, that conversation resurfaced after Talor Battle's layup made it 68-56 with 6:51 remaining.

Anyway, be sure to read Mink's FRONT-PAGE gamer in tomorrow's Collegian. Who would have thought Penn State would ever have a basketball team stealing headlines on a Super Bowl Sunday featuring a Pennsylvania team?

-Fortuna