All right, welcome back everybody. Matt Brown here to quick check in with you all. As Mink said, the late start means tight deadlines, and tight deadlines mean we don't have too much time to blog this one.

Nothing too much new to report as Penn State continues to control this one with ease, and the Penn State fans continue to dominate the arena. It's worth repeating how impressive the turnout has been for PSU fans.

We've reached the under-eight media timeout and Penn State holds a 49-35 advantage over the Irish. Not to jinx anything, but it's looking like the Lions have a date with Baylor Thursday night for a "championship of a national tournament," as Ed DeChellis would say.

Notre Dame's made a couple plays to cut the lead back down to 49-35, but this one still looks firmly in the grasp of Penn State.

I wish we could bring you some more compelling in-game commentary, but that'll have to do it for the live blog. We'll be sure to check in later on Hardwood Hits to wrap everything up from the Garden.

Thanks for following along.

***

Unfortunately Lion fans, this reporter has a deadline to meet, so the blog will go to Matt Brown for the second half. If ya'll readers get bored with his commentary, flip over to ESPN2 and watch it on the tube.

Closing thoughts:

Penn State probably could've stretched its lead a bit more toward the end of the half. But if you hold Notre Dame to 18 points, what else do you want? Penn State is playing at a level that wins these tournaments. It helps ND is shooting 24 percent, too.

***

Cornley has to leave the game with about 40 seconds to play. It appears his shoulder got hit. Then, Jackson hit the deck hard, but he rubs it off and gets backs down the court to play defense.

Notre Dame holds for the half's final possession, and Harangody gets a reverse lay-up to drop.

Halftime
PSU 31, ND 18

***

Battle smiling to the front row spectators at the Garden after a lay-in rims out that would've given him a shot at a 3-point play. It's that kind of the night for the Albany native, nothing but fun for the guys in white.

***

Penn State keeps opening up this lead. It's grown to 15 with less than one minutes to play.

***

The Lions are playing like an NIT champion basketball team.

Battle drives hard inside and absorbs the contact to finish with a 3-point play. Then he ventures back into the paint and lays a pretty pass to Jones, who gets Harangody off his feet with a pump fake and gets an easy lay-in.

Harangody got in the box score with a fast break lay-up, but keeps missing his go-to move, the jump-hook.

3:55 left 1st half
PSU 25, ND 10

***

Harangody and the rest of the Irish can't but a bucket. Penn State is getting sloppy in its possessions and aren't stretching the lead out much during the Irish drought.

Harangody is getting ticked off at his performance. By my count, which doesn't say much, he's 0-for-6 and I still haven't seen him shoot from outside the paint.

6:03 left 1st half
PSU 20, ND 8

***

Penn State still keeping a pretty comfy lead here midway through the first half. Pringle and freshman Chris Babb knocked down mid-range jumpers and Battle closes this scoring spurt with a 3. Huge crowd advantage for Penn State and they're feeding off it.

7:20 left 1st half
PSU 20, ND 8

***

The shot clock forgot to start. Or the people in charge of the shot clock. So, we get an extra cheerleading routine.

***

Morrissey hits a 3 coming off a screen. Harangody still hasn't made a shot. He's missed everything in the paint.

***

Jones hits a jumper over Harangody for the game's first points. And Penn State has come out stormin'. Battle drilled a 3 from the left wing, and the Nittany Lions have played uptempo in the early stages.

Pringle had to catch up to an outlet. But once he did, he sped right past McAlarney and finished with a reverse lay-up around Harangody.

14:31 left
PSU 11, ND 2

***

Cornley has his bandage on, and we're underway.

***

Here are tonight's starting lineups.

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

Notre Dame
44 F Luke Harangody
42 G Randy Ayers
23 G Kyle McAlarney
33 F Zach Hillesland
2 G Tory Jackson

It sounds Penn State has a slight edge in the crowd advantage.

***

We're about seven minutes till tip. This place is filling up fast, so we should be in for a much louder, boisterous atmosphere than the first game.

A very loud WE ARE chant is heard booming around the venue right now. Touche, Penn State.

***

Jamelle Cornley is out shooting around without the massive bandage on his left shoulder. Last Friday, DeChellis said his power forward would need it again tonight. Maybe he'll get it wrapped once he's in uniform.

Penn State will wear the home whites tonight.

I don't think ND has "lucky" Green jerseys for basketball.

***

Shocker. Baylor won 76-62 to advance to the NIT final.

The game all you readers are here for though is about a half hour from tip-off. For some the reason the Baylor Bear is pumping up the Penn State student section gathered behind the hoop. I guess that Bear wants to go mano e mano with a real mascot Thursday. The Notre Dame Leprechaun is one ugly short dude.

Both teams are out for their shoot arounds now.

***

Well, Baylor appears on its way to the NIT final Thursday night. They lead San Diego State by about 15 with two minutes left. San Diego State gets the award for "Hottest cheerleaders in attendance"

***

The Nittany Lions take aim for a school record 26th win tonight at the Garden. And at a fan pep rally at 6:30 p.m., Penn State football coach Joe Paterno made it clear Lion fans won't need to pray for a victory against the Irish. Paterno was the last special speaker to appear at the rally. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney also made an appearance along with AD Tim Curley, and former Nittany Lion mascot James Sheep was basically the host of it.

Curley especially thanked Sheep for his contributions on the field.

***

The Baylor cheerleaders on my side of the court look like a high school squad -- looks that is, not talent -- although the talent wasn't much better.

***

Hey Penn State basketball fans, Mink here taking you through the Nittany Lions' NIT semifinal matchup against Notre Dame tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Special shout-out to Hannan Abdul for transporting us from the Garden to Fortuna's Manhattan apartment. That kid can drive a cab through Central Park like no other.

This Baylor-San Diego State game is about eight minutes from being in the books, and then it's the Lions' time under the lights here in New York.

Stay tuned for more updates to come as this game unfolds and we draw closer to game time.

Hey folks, I'm coming to you live from the 8th floor of the Marriot Marquis on 46th and Broadway. The elevators here are, for lack of a better word, sick.

But that's not the only perk here. We've got a very wonderful selection of pasta, soup, beef and turkey to choose from for lunch, not to mention the endless supplies of brownies that will surely await me after.

The one downside? I must pay for internet. Not cool.

***
Just myself and Blue-White Illustrated's Nate Bauer are in attendance from the Penn State side. A lot of the local media has made it, however. I've already spotted the New York Post and Newsday people, not to mention a few local TV stations.

Talor Battle and Jamelle Cornley were the only players made available from PSU, accompanied by Ed DeChellis, Dave Baker and Brian Siegrist, who just confirmed for me that Joe Paterno will actually be in attendance at tomorrow night's game. Guess all it takes is a lil' home cookin' for the Brooklyn boy to get out of Happy Valley.

***
The Nits arrived in NYC yesterday morning, and Cornely still can't believe the chaos that resides in the Big Apple.

"It's crazy. It's so fast. There's so many activities going on everywhere. Every time you turn around there's somebody doing something or some group of people doing something," the senior captain told me. "There's conferences, there's socials, there's a lot of traffic, so you gotta get used to the pace and understand that you gotta keep on moving, but its been fun so far."

Battle, meanwhile, was unable to make any progress on his RPTM 300Y class project because of yesterday's rain.

The point guard, who felt he could carry his group given this trip to NYC, was unable to get any pictures since the team only drove past the site briefly on the bus.

The sophomore captain said he wasn't much help to his teammates on their tour of the city either, despite growing up in nearby Albany.

"This is maybe two hours and some change form my house, so I don't get down here that much except for when I wanna go shopping or something like that," Battle told me. "There's some great shopping places down here but they know that, I think everybody knows that."

He said he and the rest of his teammates are thrilled to see a Big Ten team in the Final Four, and they hope Michigan State can take advantage of playing in nearby Detroit.

"What's even better is that we know we beat that team, so if they win it we can just say we beat the national champions or a team that made a run to the Final Four," Battle joked.

***
Notre Dame's hot-shooting guard Kyle McAlarney had bigger preseason goals than the NIT, but finishing his career at MSG is no small consolation for the Staten Islander.

"This is the brightest lights. Obviously, if the [NCAA] tournament wasn't going on right now this would be the brightest lights in college basketball right now," the Moore Catholic product told me through his thick Island accent.

(I told him my Xavier squad took care of them the years after he graduated, to which he laughed.)

McAlarney said he expects countless friends and family members in the stands tomorrow night, but most of them have already learned the drill when it comes to scoring tickets from their hometown hero.

"I think I'm experienced with it and I think people have experience with it as far as not bothering me and my parents too much anymore," he said. "I've learned to just try and take care of my family and let everybody else get their own and that's how it is. People have been really good about it."

Not long after, longtime college coach and broadcaster Fran Fraschilla stepped to the podium, where the Brooklyn native talked about how he "loves guys who sound like me," in reference to his fellow New Yorker, McAlarney.

***
Fraschilla acted as host for those at the podium, which included all four teams' coaches to his right and the NIT selection committee on his left.

The former St. John's coach kicked things off by introducing San Diego State coach Steve Fisher, who thanked Fraschilla for passing up the SDSU job in 1999 and opening the door for the Aztecs to hire the former coach of the 1989 national champions and, of course, the infamous Fab Five.

***
Scott Drew took the mike afterward, and Fraschilla introduced him by saying his rebuilding job of the Baylor program in the wake of numerous tragedies and recruiting violations was "more miraculous than [Scott's brother] Bryce's shot."

***
DeChellis said PSU was able to fill "10 or 12" buses full of students who will make the trip here for tomorrow's game.

Irish coach Mike Brey followed by joking that both coaches know neither school will get any fans to NYC should something big happen during either's spring football practices.

-Fortuna

...well, technically from my couch. But, contrary to Ed and his buddies' demands in the Big Ten Network commercial, I will leave the couch early tomorrow morning to make it to Broadway for the NIT Final Four press conference. From there, it's filing and welcoming the rest of the crew to the Big Apple before heading off to MSG to cover the semifinals Tuesday night.

For an NYC native, this week will hold a special place in my heart. Sure, covering an NCAA tournament would have been nice, but just the mention of the word "Garden" evokes memories dating back to when I was six-years-old, when my father woke me up early on a Sunday morning with the news he scored a pair of tickets to Game 7 of another epic Knicks-Pacers clash, this one taking place in the 1995 Eastern semifinals.

You all probably know the story from there (my bio to the right tipped you off, I know). Patrick Ewing missed the open lay-up -- right in front of the basket I sat directly behind, mind you -- and it was onto another offseason of futility for New Yorkers.

Yet I can't help but think of the brighter moments I was fortunate enough to witness inside the storied building, namely LJ's Miracle on 33rd Street, P-Ew's jersey being raised to the rafters and a pair of Big East title games.

So, seeing MSG from the other side of the fence will certainly be interesting Tuesday, but until then, I urge you all to check in throughout Monday, when I'll be filling this space with as much possible information on the people who are actually playing in the games you're so interested in.

-Fortuna

Last-place Indiana will certainly be substantially better next season. The second-to-last-place team? It doesn't look too promising.

Jake Kelly, who Nit fans may best remember for likely ruining their NCAA dreams, is leaving Iowa. The sophomore wants to be closer to his friends and family after the death of his mother in a 2008 plane crash.

Indiana State seems like the probable choice for the Terre Haute, Ind., native.

The honorable mention all-Big Ten player isn't alone in his departure. Hawkeye coach Todd Lickliter announced today that Jermain Davis, David Palmer and Jeff Peterson would be leaving the program, as well.

***
In other Big Ten news, B.J. Mullens has done the predictable and will leave Ohio State for the NBA, becoming the fifth Buckeye freshman in three years to do so.

Luke Harangody poured in 30 points and 11 boards as Notre Dame punched its ticket to MSG by topping Kentucky, 77-67, tonight in South Bend.

This sets up an NIT semifinal showdown between the two football schools on basketball's grandest stage Tuesday at 9. It's also another reunion for Lewis Preston, who served as an assistant for the Irish for six years before his two-year stint at Florida.

Kentucky became the third SEC team to fall in the quarterfinals. The last team out was St. Mary's, which lost by four at San Diego State tonight.

The Aztecs will take on Baylor before Penn State's contest Tuesday, with each game's winner playing for the title next Thursday.

-Fortuna

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Well, the live blog had to be shut down with about 5 minutes to go so I could get to writing, but as I'm sure you're all aware of now, Penn State held off Florida 71-62 and will play the Notre Dame-Kentucky winner next Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in the NIT semifinals. Of course, that game will also be at 9 (in other words, more tight deadlines for us!).

Anyway, I'm back to the hotel after staying at the O'Connell Center until about 12:30 a.m. One short game story will appear in the print edition of the Collegian, while a longer, more in-depth game story will be published online.

Some final stats from the game:
Field Goals: PSU 48.1%, UF 41.7%
3-pointers: PSU 8-25, UF 5-22
Free throws: PSU 11-12, UF 7-9
Rebounds: PSU 37, UF 27
Turnovers: PSU 10, UF 13

Stat Leaders:
Penn State
Jamelle Cornley 23 points, 12 rebounds
Stanley Pringle 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
D.J. Jackson 14 points, 4 rebounds
Talor Battle 13 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists

Florida
Erving Walker 16 points
Alex Tyus 15 points, 8 rebounds
Nick Calathes 10 points, 7 assists

Attendance: 6,525

That'll do it from Gainesville for me. It's 1:07 a.m., and I have to leave by 8 to drive to Orlando, drop off my rental car and catch my 12:10 p.m. flight back to Philadelphia... where I'll get in the car and drive another 3 1/2 hours back to State College.

Thanks for following along.

-Brown

Cornley completes a 3-point play at the line, Penn State now has a 57-48 advantage with 7:54 to play.

Tyus answers Cornley now with a big two-handed slam to get the crowd going here at the O'Connell Center. DJ Jackson misses a 3 and Florida takes control. Tyus misses a hook shot against Drew and the ball goes back to the Lions.

Cornley with a big offensive rebound for Penn State, Jackson gets the feed down low and he scores plus the foul on Tyus. Jackson's free throw rolls in and the Lions have a 10-point lead.

5:29 second half
Penn State 60, Florida 50

That will probably do it for the live blog here as other work needs to be done. Check the Collegian for a short write-up tomorrow and the Collegian Web site for a longer game story. I'll be sure to check in here later. Thanks for following along.

-Brown

***
Morrissey misses a 3 after the timeout. On the other end, Calathes draws a foul on Danny and heads to the line for 2 shots. Calathes hits 1-of-2, 52-46 Lions.

Cornley backs down into the paint and turns aroundfor 2, Calathes answers for 2 on the other end. 54-48.

Morrissey almost picks up his fourth foul on a loose ball collision but the call goes the other way. Cornley is having his way with Tyus as he ducks in, scores and draws the foul. He'll go to the line after a timeout to try to complete a 3-point play.

7:54 second half
Penn State 56, Florida 48

***
Calathes brings the ball up for Florida out of the timeout as PSU shifts to a 1-3-1 zone. Calathes misses a 3 and Florida misses a second-chance opportunity. Morrissey's 3 just rims out and Jones is stuffed again on a follow-up attempt.

Alex Tyus scores down low to end the Florida drought, we go to the under-12 timeout.

10:13 second half
Penn State 52, Florida 45

***
Battle with the lucky bounce as his deep jumper falls with the shot clock expiring. 44-41 Lions.

Calathes draws a foul on Morrissey and heads to the line for 2. He sinks both, 44-43 PSU.

What a block by Chandler Parsons as he stuffs Drew Jones. He picks up another block but gets called for a foul. Drew Jones at the line for PSU's first free-throw attempts of the game. Jones knocks down both.

After a Florida miss from deep, Battle finds Morrissey spotted up in transition, and he connects from downtown. 49-43 Nitttany Lions.

Another 3 for Stanley Pringle. Amazing how much he has heated up since his slow start. 52-43 PSU and Donovan uses a timeout.

10:53 second half
Penn State 52, Florida 43

***
Penn State to start the second half with the ball and a 33-32 advantage over Florida.

The starting five is out there for the Lions. Drew Jones committed 2 first-half fouls and played just six minutes, but he's back out on the floor now.

Good start for PSU as Cornley hits a jumper from the free-throw line. 35-32 Lions.

Florida's first-half star Erving Walker hits another 3 and the lead is back down to 1. Penn State now coming toward me on offense as DJ Jackson throws the ball in right in front of me.

Back-to-back missed 3s on one possession for Florida. Battle hits a floater down the baseline but it's taken off the board with an offensive foul.

Steal by Erving Walker and it looks like he got away with stepping out of bounds. Florida hits a 3 and the game is tied up at 37. The energy is back in the arena.

With the shot clock winding down, Pringle gets a kick-out at the top of the key and knocks down a 3 for the lead. Calathes with a deep 2 to answer and Florida gets a chance to press again. Nice job by PSU to get the ball up the floor easily this time. Jackson just misses a jumper, and Shipman hits a jumper to give Florida a 41-40 lead.

Cornley gets the feed inside and goes up strong for 2. 16 now for Cornley to lead all scorers.

The ref completely misses a call as the ball bounced off Battle's foot and rolled out of bounds, yet the ball stays with PSU.

13:19 second half
Penn State 42, Florida 41

***
Some quick halftime stats:
FGs: PSU 46.7%, UF 41.9%
3-pointers: PSU 5-15, UF 3-8
FTs: PSU 0-0, UF 3-3
Rebounds: PSU 16, UF 18
Turnovers: PSU 6, UF 7

Leading scorers:
Penn State
Jamelle Cornley, 12
Stanley Pringle, 9
D.J. Jackson, 7
Talor Battle, 5

Florida
Erving Walker, 9
Alex Tyus, 7
3 players with 4

The second half is about to start, although my updates probably won't be as frequent with deadline rapidly approaching after the game.
***
PSU gets the ball in low to Cornley, and he kicks out to Pringle on the wing for a 3. 32-30 Gators.

Another 3 for Stanley in transition, and all of a sudden Penn State has taken the lead back. That's an 8-0 run for the Lions.

Under a minute to play now in the first half after some sloppy play on both ends of the floor. Battle now patiently dribbles before hitting Morrissey. Morrissey drives the baseline but picks up an offense foul. A 3 second difference between shot clock and game clock as Calathes walks the ball up the court and Florida sets up. Florida loses control and gets hit with a shot clock violation. PSU has just 1.9 seconds to work with as Morrissey throws it in to Battle across the court, and his last-second shot just rims out.

HALFTIME
PENN STATE 33, FLORIDA 32

***
Pringle with a terrific bounce pass into Jackson, and he goes up for 2 to tie the game at 25. Calathes comes up empty again and PSU can take the lead, but Cornley's short jumper rims out.

Nice tip-in by Werner off a miss to give Florida a 27-25 lead. Erving Walker pulls up for 3 in transition and knocks it down for the Gators after a Babb miss. Florida gets a steal and Calathes finally gets his first points with an easy uncontested lay-up. 32-25 and the place is rocking here. Battle misses, but DJ Jackson gets the tip-in. May have been offensive goaltending, but the refs didn't call it.

3:42 first half
Florida 32, Penn State 27

***
An exchange of steals by the two teams, and Battle ends up with a fastbreak layup to cut the lead to 2. PSU comes up with another steal but Battle gets called for a walk. Timeout again.

7:16 first half
Florida 25, Penn State 23

***
Jeff Brooks now on Calathes, and Calathes with a great feed down the baseline to Parsons for 2. Florida's press gets PSU for the first time as 10 seconds is called. Cornley back into the game for Brooks

Calathes misses a 3, he's yet to score. He does have 4 assists already though.

Another 2 for Cornley, but Walker answers by draining a wide open 3 from the wing. Two times in a row now PSU has a complete miscommunication on defense as Walker gets a wide open 3 from the same exact spot.

8:12 first half
Florida 25, Penn State 21

***
Chris Babb now in the game for the first time. He kicks out to Brooks, who misses everything on a 3 from the corner. And another timeout.

10:01 first half
Penn State 19, Florida 17

***
Shipman at the line shooting 2 after the timeout. He sinks the first, Jeff Brooks replaces Drew Jones and Shipman also buries the second. 13-9 Gators.

After a Pringle miss from 3, Morrissey replaces Jackson. Battle-Pringle-Cornley-Morrissey-Brooks now for the Lions.

Pringle drives and kicks back to Battle for an open 3 from the corner to cut the lead to 1. Tyus gets it back to 3 on a second-chance bucket in the lane. Another 2 for Cornley, he has 8 already. Make that 10.

A terrific drive by Hodge and he sinks a floater to retake the lead 17-16. Pringle finally connects on a 3 and it's 19-17. Billy Donovan uses his first timeout.

10:52 first half
Penn State 19, Florida 17

***
In other NIT news, Baylor has beaten top-seeded Auburn 74-72 on the road to become the first team to advance to MSG. Baylor will take on either San Diego State or St. Mary's.

***
Florida controls the opening tip and we're underway here in Gainesville. Walter Hodge misses a 3 and PSU gets a chance to grab the first bucket. Cornley does just that with a short hook shot. Good thing the injured arm is his left arm. Way too easy for Alex Tyus as he beats Drew Jones and draws the foul. Tyrus knocks down the free throw and Florida goes into its full-court press.

After a Pringle miss, PSU grabs an offensive board and Cornley ends up with another short bucket. 4-3 Lions.

Walter Hodge with a quick bucket on the in-bounds pass after a Battle foul away from the ball. A short jumper for Tyrus is good and it's 7-4 Florida. On the press, Erving Walker gets called for a foul away from the ball.

Ray Shipman with an easy bucket in the lane and Florida takes a 9-4 lead. Florida's goes back into a matchup zone, but Calathes is guarding Battle on the press. Another bucket for Cornley. Getting it inside is clearly PSU's gameplan early, injury or not.

DJ Jackson with a big 3 from the corner and we're tied at 9. Jackson is guarding Calathes in PSU's man-to-man. Calathes comes open and feeds Chandler Parsons for 2.

Ray Shipman draws a foul on Drew Jones and will head to the line after a timeout.

14:22 first half
Florida 11, Penn State 9

***
Starting lineups being introduced now... Cornley left shoulder is very heavily wrapped, but he is starting.

A video is played calling the O'Connell Center the "House of Horrors," and well, it's hard to argue against that one. Florida is 18-1 at home, and a win tonight would set the school record for homes win in a season.

And we're about to get underway here. Should be a great one.

***
Among the PSU contingent here is athletic director Tim Curley to the right of me. And the cheerleaders did manage to find the place...

Still a lot of empty seats on the two ends but the rest of the place is pretty full as we get close to tip-off. Definitely not a bad NIT crowd. Good student turnout too it looks like.

***
I mentioned the lousy chant by one PSU fan earlier, but to be fair, there have been plenty of not-so-clever insults coming from the people behind me as well. That's all I'll say.

***
For some reason the Florida pep band plays the National Anthem 10 minutes before tip-off. Apparently Penn State didn't get that info because the Lions went back to the locker room beforehand. Oops.

***
A Penn State fan keeps screaming "Nick Calathes sucks." Well, that's just not true.

Calathes is the obvious player to watch for the Gators. Not only does the 6-foot-6 guard score 17.4 points per game, but he has broken the Florida single-season assists record in each of his first two seasons in Gainesville.

With his height, he will be a tough matchup for the Lions. Expect DJ Jackson to get a shot at defending him early.

***
Not that it wasn't expected, but good news for PSU fans as team spokesman Brian Siegrist informs me Jamelle Cornley is ready to go tonight.

The usual contingent of Penn State family members is seated to my left behind the bench, but I've also spotted a Penn State fan sporting a No. 12 shirt in the Florida student section. Apparently the Nittany Lions' cheerleaders are supposed to be here, but no sign of them yet. Florida's student section has filled in nicely but I'm curious to see how the rest of the place looks at game time. For a program that just won back-to-back national titles, it's understandable if the fans aren't too excited about the NIT.

Today's probably starting lineups:
Florida
G- 11 Erving Walker
G- 15 Walter Hodge
G- 33 Nick Calathes
F- 21 Dan Werner
C- 23 Alex Tyrus

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

Just under 20 minutes until tip.

***
Matt Brown here, coming to you live from the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. After a 3 hour drive to my hometown of Perkasie last night, a 1 hour drive to the airport in Philly this morning before sunrise, a 2+ hour flight to Orlando and a 2 hour drive from Orlando to Gainesville, I am in my seat with about 35 minutes until tip-off of tonight's third-round NIT showdown between Penn State and Florida. The winner advances to Madison Square Garden to take on Notre Dame or Kentucky Tuesday in the semifinals.

I have a great seat on the end of the baseline press row, with only the tunnel separating me from the Penn State bench. Should be a great vantage point. Unfortunately, it's a 9 p.m. tip, meaning an extremely tight deadline for writing after the game. I will do my best to keep the live blog updated, but given that it's a one-man operation here along with the tight deadline, things will be busy.

Stay tuned.

The Nittany Lions leave for sunny Florida tonight at 6, and I'll be following in the morning. Matt Brown here, getting ready to fly down to Florida to cover Tuesday night's NIT third-round showdown between Penn State and Florida in Gainesville.

I'm making the drive back home to Bucks County tonight and my flight leaves Philadelphia International Airport bright and early at 7:55 a.m. and should arrive in Orlando by 10:45. From there, it's about a 1 hour, 45 minute trip north to Gainesville and the University of Florida.

I'm hoping nothing too eventful happens in my trip, but I'll be posting regular updates on the Hardwood Hits Twitter, along with a live blog here of the game from press row at the O'Connell Center. Also be sure to check the Collegian for stories from the game Wednesday and Thursday.

-Brown

Unfortunately for Jamelle Cornley, he will not play another game in the BJC.

No. 1 Florida advanced in the second round of the NIT tonight, beating Miami, 74-60, in Gainesville.

The win means the No. 2 Nits will now fly down to the Sunshine State for a Tuesday night contest, with an NIT final four berth and trip to the Garden on the line.

It also means Penn State assistant Lewis Preston will be back in Gatorland for the first time since leaving this past summer. Preston was on the staff of the back-to-back NCAA championship teams Florida produced in 2006 and 2007. His departure came as a surprise to many.

ESPN will televise the 9 p.m. tip-off. The winner will get the winner of the following night's Notre Dame - Creighton/Kentucky game in the NIT semifinals, which start Tuesday, March 31.

-Fortuna

Battle comes jogging back from the locker room with nobody with him. He should be fine. He's left games on numerous occasions this year but always seems to come out OK.

Andrew Jones grabs a huge offensive rebound to re-set the shot clock and put Rhode Island in foul mode the rest of the way. Jones has 14 points and 10 rebounds.

It's just free throw shooting the rest of the way. Penn State improved to 2-0 in the NIT, while Rhode Island drops to 1-1. OK, they're season's over.

The Lions don't know whether to arrange a fight and settle on a pilot for a trip to Gainesville or see if Miami heads north toward the BJC for the NIT quarterfinal game next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Bottom line: One more win and the Lions head to the Garden for two games.

FINAL
PSU 83, URI 72

***

Seawright has just fouled out of the game with 3:18 left in the second half. Battle has left the game. Not sure what happened, but he had a slight limp and needed help to walk to the trainers' room.

As we get down to crunch time, keep in mind Penn State has just one primary ball-handler on the floor now. Maybe Will Leiner will see some time late.

Morrissey sinks two foul shots to up the lead to nine.

Again the Lions break the pressure and Morrissey has to get fouled to save a lay-up. The Lions' free throw shooting is helping put this game out of reach.

1:43 left 2nd half
PSU 76, URI 66

***

Penn State has gotten a good look on either of its last two possessions. Ulmer skies for the ally-opp from Cothran and the Rams are within nine.

Seawright just picked up his fourth foul. Penn State is melting this baby down. Give the Lions credit for handling the full court press and half-court traps with ease, not allowing the Rams to get any quick buckets.

3:50 left 2nd half
PSU 68, URI 61

***

Jackson crashes the boards on the offensive end and earns himself a trip to the charity stripe, sinking both. Credit Penn State for keeping this lead around 13. Seven of the last eight home games have been decided by five points or fewer, so any type of comfy win goes a long for confidence in this tournament.

7:33 left 2nd half
PSU 68, URI 55

***

Pringle rattles in a 3 from the top of the key. Penn State is lighting up its home scoreboard with 66 about halfway through the second half. Again the lead grows to 13, and by the looks of this, the Lions could put up 80.

8:46 left 2nd half
PSU 66, URI 53

***

Penn State is doing a much better job breaking the press. Brooks found found Jones in transition for the lay-in. Seawright is out of the game at this time, so if Penn State can go on any type of runs, it'll be safe to say revenge has arrived.

Babb's 3 gives him a career-high 12 points tonight.

Penn State is taking to Rhode Island at this point, getting offensive rebounds and put-backs and a lot of chest pounding going on when running back for defense.

Baron is single-handedly keeping the Rams in it with deep 3's, and Delroy James followed up with a monster dunk on a miss.

9:45 left 2nd half
PSU 61, URI 53

***

Battle finds a cutting Jones in transition for a monster throw down. Jones gets another 2-foot hook to drop and the Lions lead by 13 again.

13:20 left 2nd half
PSU 54, URI 43

***

Rhode Island races out for four quick points to start the second half.

Pringle takes it inside to the big boys and finishes with a tough floater, but now the Rams are starting to get into a rhythm offensively. Baron hits another 3 with Battle in his face, and Seawright completes a 3-point play to cut the deficit to five.

Baron and Seawright have combined for 28 of the Rams' 41 points.

15:48 left 2nd half
PSU 48, URI 41

***

Battle's pacing all scorers with 14, but the bigger story is how Penn State is defending. You can chalk the 42 points up to good shooting, but keeping Seawright and Baron in check is the reason this team leads by 13 at intermission.

Jones is doing his part on Seawright, limiting his touches on the low block and containing the basketball when he does get it out of the paint.

And Baron's baskets have been tightly contested where when he hits it, you just gotta fuhget about it and move on.

We still have 20 minutes to go, but there's no excuse for blowing a 13-point halftime lead on your home court.

***

Rhode Island is doing a lot of pressing to perhaps tire the Lions' ball handlers. Purdue was constantly in Battle and Pringle's face in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal game, and Battle even admitted it wore him out.

Battle tried to go behind his back on the dribble-drive but lost sight of it and turned it over. Battle gets in back in transition and tosses it to Babb, who drives baseline and finishes with a reverse lay-in.

1:32 1st half
PSU 40, URI 29

Pringle finishes off the first half scoring with a pull-up 15-footer in transition.

Halftime
PSU 42, URI 29

***

Seawright is starting to fill up his stat sheet with eight points now, but Penn State just looks one step quicker tonight. Battle will head to the line for a pair.

3:43 left 1st half
PSU 32, URI 24

Battle hits both to extend the lead to 10.

***

Jones picks up his second foul, forcing him to sit while Seawright reamains on the floor. Andrew Ott has to guard Seawright, and on his first touch, he blows right by Ott and draws a foul on Jackson.

Jones has got to keep himself in the game.

Ott hits both two foul shots. I guess that transfer from Villanova paid off. I picked Nova to go to the Final Four, F.Y.I.

Babb swishes about a 30-footer and the Lions' lead climbs back up to double-figures.

***

Jones got called for traveling, and I watched and saw the pivot stay nailed down the hardwood. The Rams are now buckling down defensively, and Penn State can't seem to get any good looks. Of course there's Battle and Pringle, who knock in back-to-back buckets to make the offense look productive.

7:38 left 1st half
PSU 25, URI 17

Battle is on pace to net a career-high in points. He's got 12 a little more than halfway through the first half.

His career high is 29, coming this year against Michigan State.

***

I think the Rams are wondering what the heck is going on right now. Stevie Mejia knocks down a 3, then gets knocked over by a cutting Andrew Jones. Mejia is 5-foot-9 and spells his name S-t-e-v-i-e. Obviously he's a freshman.

Rhode Island is going on a bit of a run, scoring the last 10 in the contest. Chris Babb tossed in an awful in-bounds pass and the Rams forced another turnover off their press.

9:48 left 1st half
PSU 20, URI 15

***

Who said anything about the Lions needing Cornley? Battle is dead on from beyond the arc tonight, and the defense is giving nothing to Rhode Island.

11:24 left 1st half
PSU 20, URI 5

***

Keith Cothran checks in for the Rams. This is a kid who started in the first meeting between the teams. Pringle drives left and lays it off to Jones for a lay-in.

Jones is a doing a job on Seawright underneath staying in front and keeping him off the glass. And at the other end, Brooks hits a turnaround hook to make him the high scorer early on.

Brooks grabbed an offensive rebound and got another short one-hander to drop, and just now Battle hit another 3 from the left corner.

12:10 left 1st half
PSU 17, URI 5

I guess Brooks just excels when he needs to.

***

Rhode Island starts out in man, and a pass goes through Brooks' hands and out of bounds. Brooks doesn't box out his man and the Rams get an offensive rebounds. Ed DeChellis is talking to Cammeron Woodyard on the bench, and appears to be pointing things out. Maybe DeChellis is giving Brooks a short leash.

Battle hits a 3 from the left baseline. Brooks and Jackson combine for five early points, and Brooks helped out on Seawright in the paint and forced a turnover.

Baron hits his first 3 of the night.

15:01 left 1st half
PSU 8, URI 5

***

Tonight's starters.

Penn State
12 G Talor Battle
11 G Stanley Pringle
15 F D.J. Jackson
22 C Andrew Jones
25 F Jeff Brooks

Rhode Island
5 G Marquis Jones
20 G Jimmy Baron
33 F Kahiem Seawright
15 F Lamonte Ulmer
32 C Will Martell

***

Look for Marquis Jones to guard Battle. In the first meeting, Jones forced Battle into a 4-for-16 shooting night, including 3-for-10 from 3. Both Battle and Stanley Pringle never got going against a backcourt as quick as them. And with Cornley out, who pitched in a cool 23 against the Rams, guard play is ever more important.

Starting fives to follow.

***

Howdy Penn State basketball fans, Mink here to take y'all through tonight's rematch of a Nov. 28 meeting between the Nittany Lions and Rams.

Jamelle Cornley will not play tonight. He simply does not have the strength in the left shoulder. It'll be a shame if one of the greatest players to come through this program doesn't have the opportunity to play in his final game.

Good thing that No. 12 kid is playing.

Battle's electrifying buzzer-beater two nights ago sent the clear message that whether he's playing in the NCAA's or NIT, the kid just wants to play.

The Rams took the first meeting this season 77-72 at the Palestra in one of the few games the Lions had to enhance their pitiful non-conference resume.

We think Jeff Brooks gets the starting nod in place of Cornley tonight. Brooks turned in a career-high 13 points Tuesday against George Mason and wasn't afraid to pull the trigger. His confidence against an athletic, aggressive Ram frontline will go a long way toward tonight's outcome.

Jamelle Cornley still doesn't know if he'll be able to go tonight, and probably won't until today's shootaround.

The senior captain needs to see what kind of movement he can get out of his left arm this afternoon before he makes a decision on whether to play or not tonight.

The Nits' rematch with Rhode Island tips at 7 and will be carried by FSN Pittsburgh.

***
Many Nit fans are upset with the out-of-conference schedule, and apparently one of you is taking matters into your own hands.

All the way out in L.A., a Penn State alum has made a CraigsList posting asking good schools to play Penn State next year. He even goes as far as leaving director basketball operations Jon Perry's contacts for those interested.

I wouldn't expect any immediate responses until after the NCAA tournament.

***
Making the tournament isn't that bad. Especially if, say, you're a Gus Johnson fan.

The exuberant announcer finds himself in hot water after an altercation in a Memphis restaurant.

Let's hope this doesn't affect his status for the rest of the Dance.

-Fortuna

For those of you with Comcast (and judging from last night's crowd, you likely weren't at the BJC, either) here's the broadcast version of Talor Battle's season-saving 3-pointer at the horn last night.

Credit to Managing Editor Andy Staub for passing this along.

Watch live video from Gonzaga Basketball - Go Zags! on Justin.tv

-Fortuna

I'll give the Lions' season this: there has rarely been a dull moment.

Brown just mentioned the words "six overtimes" after that Vaughan 3 and the rest of us on press row simply turned to him and cringed.

Pringle is immediately fouled with 7 to go, and he'll now shoot two.

He hits both, Smith misses a 3 and Babb grabs the rebound to end it. What a finish, as the Lions win 77-73. The PA announcer just confirmed what we learned at halftime, so we'll see you all back here Thursday at 7 as PSU gets a shot at redemption against URI, one of the teams that kept them out of the tournament.

Have a good one, folks.
***
Battle then opens things up with a 3 in front of his own bench. This crowd is now into it, as is the captain as he walks up court with a smile on his face and his tongue sticking out, MJ-style.

And Battle hits another 3, this one with a hand in his face and the shot clock winding down. He's still smiling on the defensive end, and the crowd is fired up.

DJ fouls out as he gets Long down low. Now that I have a breather, I ask what's on everyone's mind.

WHY THE [freak] DOES NO ONE EVER FOUL UP THREE?!?!

"Ta-lor Bat-tle!" chants are now followed by "We Are" throughout the BJC.

Long nails both to cut the lead to four.

Battle drives on the other end and gets called for the charge on the big Monroe, who is slow to get up.

Battle lays it in after Morrison sinks one of two free throws. Nits up five with 90 secs to play now.

Battle then dishes to Jones, who is swatted by Morrison. With two left on the 35, PSU runs an over the top pass to Brooks, who catches it, travels then shoots. Amazingly, the buzzer never went off, nor was a travel call. Finally after GMU grabs the rebound, the refs blow the whistle to straighten things out.

The crowd is now growing uneasy as the officials still review the clock situation. It currently reads 1:08. The cowbell keeps everyone at ease, just as the game resumes.

Smith misses a 3 for GMU, and Pringle is fouled by Morrison as he goes to intercept Battle's pass. The Nits are now in the bonus.

Pringle clanks the first, but GMU misfires on a pair of 3s before Monroe is whistled for going over the back of Jones with 24.4 to go.

Jones hits the first, putting the Lions up six. He hits it again, and Jim Larranaga can only stare in disbelief at what has just unfolded these last five minutes.

Smith takes it to the hole for the two, and Long immediately fouls Babb with 18.5 left and the Nits up five.

Babb misses, but Smith does from 3 as well. The ball goes off a Lion, and Vaughan hits a long 3 to cut the lead to two and prompt a quick timeout with 7.7 to go.
***
Pringle fouls Smith on the inbound, and he'll go to the line with 4.8 to go. No timeouts for PSU here and it's one-and-one. Jones in for DJ.

Smith's first shot goes alll the way and allll the way down and in. Morrissey now in for Brooks.

Second is good, Battle drives and is forced to throw up a well-guarded 3 at the horn...

..AND IT'S GOOD! The captain sinks it a the buzzer to keep PSU's season alive and force overtime. One older fan in the front row runs onto the court to pat the point guard on the back.

**
Battle drives and looks like he gets drilled down low but there is no call. The Lions foul and now have one more to give with 5.1 to go.

Vaughan comes awfully close to a five-second violation but is able to call the Patriots' final timeout just before the whistle.

Replays near us actually indicate that Battle slipped, so my apologies about before.
***
Now Pringle has trouble getting it in, and he has to call a 30-second timeout.

Battle is fouled on the perimeter with 17.2 to go. Two more left until GMU is in the bonus. Each team has five.

Battle is fouled again now with 13.5 to go.

Larranaga calls a timeout now.
***
Tyrell Sales is shown on the screen behind the GMU bench during the break.

I'm going to go ahead and predict a strong finish down the stretch here from Battle.

The point guard scored 13 quick points in the first half and hasn't made a bucket since With Cornley out, it's up to Battle to keep this team's season alive. It also gives him an early taste of what next season might be like, as this team has no juniors coming back next season.

OK, that didn't work out too well. Morrison swats Battle after a drive to open things up out of the break. Monroe then scores on the other end to give the Patriots a one-point lead.

But again it's Brooks, stepping up huge tonight and hitting the J from the baseline to put PSU up one.

Vaughan answers with a quick two, giving GMU the one-point advantage.

Battle's 3 is off the back of the rim, and GMU now has it with under two to go. Vaughan's 3 is in-and-out, and Battle draws the foul at the other end. Three shy of the bonus, however, and the crowd chants stand up, as eerybody rises to their feet with 92 seconds remaining.

DJ continues his hot stretch from the weekend, hitting a J fromt he foul line to put PSU up one and get his place as loud as it's been all night.

Monroe quickly responds, and PSU calls for time with 51.2 to go.

Jones checks in for Brooks after the break. Why?

Here we go...

Battle dribbles the clock all the way down before driving and missing a floater. That cannot be what Ed drew up in the huddle.

The Lions foul with 20.9 to go, but are still two away from the bonus.

GMU has a hard time getting it in bounds and calls for time.

...the scoreboard manager may be re-thinking that earlier note about Thursday here.

And Monroe hands PSU another chance, as the big man traveled on the baseline. PSU didn't score last possession, Darryl. You can't do that.

PSU calls the timeout as the GMU band now plays Jimmy Paige's "Come With Me."
***
Pearson with the nice lay-in and foul out of the break. He connects from the line to tie it at 53.

The under-8 timeout comes shortly thereafter, giving the GMU band the chance to play "Don't Stop Believing." While all this is going on, I manage to find you guys this. OK, so it's not an actual picture of their leader, but it's the best I can do. And believe me, it is right on.

Battle's 3 is in-and-out in front of his bench, and the sophomore picks up a cheap foul going for the long rebound.

Pearson grabs an offensive rebound right over the bigger Ott, passes it out, calls for it back and then hits another turn around hook. GMU takes a two-point lead.

After Battle draws a foul on the other end, Ott is replaced by Jones.

Jones passes up a wide open bucket down low for an even more open 3 from Babb. The frosh delivers, putting PSU ahead by a point.

Morrison answers with a jumper in the paint as the Patriots regain the lead. Pringle comes in for D-Mo on the next trip down.

Babb with the nice pass to Jones, but it goes right out of his hands and trickles out of bounds. It's whistled off GMU, however, but Battle can't connect from 3.

Morrison can't connect from inside and the Lions now have another chance to take the lead.

Pringle helps them do just that, hitting a nice bank shot.

Jones plays tight defense on Morrison downlow, forcing a travel and taking us to another break in the action.

3:55 left,
PSU 58, GMU 57
***
Well, I think we just received the answer to one of our questions. Rhode Island, which beat Niagara tonight, will take on the winner of this game. The question was when and where, given the PIAAs at the BJC this weekend.

For a brief moment, the scoreboard read "Rhode Island at Penn State, Thursday, 7 p.m."

Babb escapes a couple of defenders and is able to hit the J from the foul line.

His tag team partner, Brooks, then comes up with the steal and is left all alone for a nice jam to put the Lions up two.

Smith answers with a nice reverse lay-in, but D-Mo responds with a 3 to give the Lions the lead and prompt a GMU timeout, leading to the fans starting their own Zombie Nation chant, which is less effective when the GMU band plays another PSU favorite, "Livin' on a Prayer."

8:33 left,
PSU 53, GMU 50
***
I'll give the GMU band credit. They've been rolling out all sorts of classics tonight, from Aha's "Take on Me" to Michael Jackson's (or is it Alien Ant Farm's?) "Smooth Criminal."

The band's leader is sporting a stylish dark green, striped suit with a bright yellow shirt underneath. Could be a St. Paddy's Day special, but given the Patriots' colors, I doubt it.

Meanwhile ...

Andre Cornelius hits a 3 for GMU, then steals it from Battle and takes it coast-to-coast for the east two to all of a sudden put GMU up a point.

Pringle misses a J from the elbow, but DJ comes out of nowhere with the rebound and is able to put it in.

Cornelius comes up limping on the next possession as the ref blows the whistle. Vaughan replaces him.

Mike Morrison then gets it inside, and his baby left hook goes in, out and back in to give the Patriots the lead again.

Babb comes in to a nice ovation and gives Pringle a rest.

And, well, he doesn't make me look to smart. Babb fires an airball, triggering chants from GMU's band as D-Mo replaces DJ.

Brooks with the easy two to put PSU up a point. Long then hits a jumper, giving GMU the two-point lead.

Cornley is back on the bench, although his arm is a sling. Not looking good. We'll keep you updated.

10:55 left,
GMU 48, PSU 46
***
Monroe blocks Cornley on the opening possession, and the senior captain goes down clutching the left shoulder that bothered him in the team's last two games, against Illinois and at Iowa.

Brooks replaces him, and two trainers accompany 'Mel to the locker room.

Another tough break for the big fella this week. Unfortunate.

Long hits a 3 for GMU on its first possession and it's a four-point game. Long then finds Morrison underneath for the slam to cut the lead to two.

Pringle with the smart foul on Long, who took an outlet pass and had the easy two before being hit from behind.

Long hits both to tie the game. 7-0 run by the Patriots to start things off.

Sloppy, sloppy basketball beingplayed by the Lions right now. Another turnover, this time from Brooks.

Jones is able to break the ice with a wide open jumper from the baseline. Monroe bumps into Jones, who slides. Clearly a foul or a travel, but of course neither are called and Jones is able to lay it in.

Monroe is a BIG dude, listed at 6-7, 275. I just saw him downstairs. Those numbers are generous.

15:06 left,
PSU 42, GMU 38
***
Just came from downstairs, where the George Mason team was huddled around the tunnel for what seemed like an eternity. Turned out the players were waiting for basketballs to, you know, shootaround with.

And to think, it's only been three years since postseason basketball inside the BJC.
***
Stats below...

GMU PSU
Field goals 13-26 50.0% 15-28 53.6%
3-point FGs 4-10 40.0% 6-12 50.0%
Free throws 1-2 50.0% 2-5 40.0%
Reb (O-D) 11 (2-9) 14 (5-9)
Turnovers 6 5

This is surely a nice change of pace for those of us up on press row (and those who have been following the Big Ten all year). Both teams are shooting the ball great from the outside, and who would have thought there would be a Brooks/Babb X-factor tonight, as the two have combined for 13 points in the first half.

OK, us three have been wondering all year why Babb doesn't get more minutes. Especially since Eddy D has reasoned the frosh has had defensive shortcomings. But why wait until five minutes left in Friday's Purdue game to put him in, knowing the defense out there couldn't have gotten much worse and you'd only get another scoring threat on PSU's end? Strange to me, especially since he's thrust right in tonight. (I'd ask why Woodyward isn't playing tonight either, but given the way the Lions are performing, I don't think anyone is missing his presence.)

Back with the second half in a few minutes...
***
Cornley now in for Jones out of the break, as the Lions go even smaller.

Andre Cornelius hits a 3 for GMU, but Brooks follows with another baby hook to put the Lions up six. Brown, seated to my left, smiles knowing that his preseason prediction of Brooks becoming a consistent scoring threat is no longer completely wrong.

Did I just say Brooks and consistent in the same sentence? He knocks down a trey to put PSU up seven.

His 3 is off next possession, but Babb keeps it alive and finds Pringle who passes it off to Cornley, gets it back and hits a beautiful reverse lay-up. This crowd is alive.

And with 1.8 seconds left, Will Leiner checks in to a loud applause. Pringle sits. Leiner's man gets completely away from him on the inbounds, but Smith's fadeaway jumper rims out at the horn. Leiner proceeds to knock over a GMU cheerleader on the way to the locker room.

You can't make this kind of stuff up.

Halftime,
PSU 38, GMU 31
***
Battle is left wide open off a screen underneath the basket and sinks a 3 to give PSU the lead out of the break. That's 13 for Battle so far in the first half.

Brooks tries to duplicate his captain's efforts two posessions later, but his 3 attempt in front of the GMU bench is a short line-drive.

Babb does replicate Battle, hitting a 3 the next time down to give PSU the six-point lead and prompt a 30-second timeout from Jim Larranaga.

My mind is being bent in two different directions during this break, as the stduents on the east end of the court chant "Let's. Go. P-S-U" while the GMU band is in action on the other side.

Monroe travels for GMU out of hte break, and Babb opens things up with a 3, followed by a Brooks baby hook. PSU now up by nine with Cornley on the bench.

Pringle comes in for D-Mo and look for PSU to try to run as much as possible now with three guards to go with Brooks and Jones up front.

Miscommunication between Batlte and Jones leads to an errant pass out of bounds, bringing us to the under-four timeout and the actual Penn State band accompanying Nittany Nation through this rendition of "Let's. Go. P-S-U."

3:56 left, first half,
PSU 31, GMU 24
***
Ott is at the line after getting cleanly blocked Michael Morrison. Questionable call at best. After the big man bricks a pair, D-Mo knocks down a trey to get PSU within one.

Brooks checks in for the Nits after that 3, and Cornley takes it inside to put the Nits up one on the next possession.

A pair of PSU turnovers and a four quick points by GMU give the Patriots a 3-point lead right after Chris Babb (remember him?) checks in for Cornley.

Battle hits a tough, tough 3 to tie it at 20.

Jones spares Ott before getting fouled, taking us to the under-8 timeout.

7:44 left, first half,
PSU 20, GMU 20
***
Battle seems to have quickly put Sunday's disappointment behind him. He has seven early points as he attacks the basket almost every time down.

Ott and Morrissey check in for D.J. and Jones at the 12:36 mark. And there are no field goals from then until the 11:18 mark, when a Ryan Pearson jumper gives the Patriots a 16-12 lead.

Pearson is from perennial Queens, NY, powerhouse Christ the King, and I got the chance to see him play in the Catholic league championship game last year over spring break. He turned into a force for his team down the stretch, and many questioned his decision to sign with George Mason so early, as his breakout senior high school season surely would have drawn more offers.

We're at the under-12 mark now with 10:55 to go in the first half,
GMU 16, PSU 12
***
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna here to take you through the Nits' first round matchup tonight against No. 7 seed George Mason at the BJC.

Tonight's starting lineups ...

George Mason

G - Dre Smith
G - Cameron Long
G - John Vaughan
F - Darryl Monroe
F - Louis Birdsong

Penn State

G - Talor Battle
G - Stanley Pringle
F - D.J. Jackson
F - Jamelle Cornley
F - Andrew Jones

Well, the Nits have had bigger showings inside the BJC tonight. I wonder what the atmosphere would ahve been like ahd this game been played in Virgnina. The Patriots have their band and a handful of fans (which, in this case, is a solid portion) up in Happy Valley for this one.

It is all students, so the atmosphere isn't completely dead here and, for the first time this season we may have seen some actual offense before the first media timeout. Battle and Jones each have four and Smith has hit a pair of 3s for the Patriots to open things up here in the early going.

15:12, first half,
PSU 8, GMU 8

Disappointment over the Nits not making the NCAA tournament Sunday night was quickly replaced with the excitement that this team is, in fact, playing postseason basketball.

A small contingent of about 10 loyal fans, calling themselves "Camp DeChellis," set up three tents and a television outside Gate A of the BJC close to midnight, hoping to generate some buzz as Penn State readies for its NIT opening round matchup against George Mason Tuesday night.

"Our new goal is the NIT championship," Alex Cohen (sophomore-business) said. "We're not about to prepare for next year. It's about George Mason. This season is still going on."

Cohen said he would be sending out a message to all of the members of the "Nittany Nation" Facebook group urging fans to come out in the next two days to show the Nits their support.

He also said Loren Crispell, Penn State's director of basketball marketing, would be bringing food and other items out to the campers to thank them for their support.

The goal is to get about 100 people outside, Cohen said, although he believes about 50 will join.

Cohen, who has camped out at Paternoville before football games in the fall, said the school will not let students stay out if the temperature is below 32 degrees.

That makes it difficult for Nittany Nation to ever organize basketball camp outs since most of the big conference games are in January and February.

Sunday, however, it was 49 degrees outside, giving him and other Nit fans the opportunity.

"It's kind of like a blessing," Cohen said. "Hopefully it can catapult into next year."

Cohen said he is not trying to build a rival to the fall's Paternoville, but is rather trying to keep the spirit of Penn State athletics moving beyond the first semester.

"Seven Saturday's in the fall? That's your whole athletic program? C'mon," he said.

He and other campers insist they are still proud of the Nits' season, saying they more than exceeded their expectations and that this year's crop of seniors will be remembered for years to come.

They hope this can help the team get over its disappointment of not making the NCAAs and keep moving forward with a potential three weeks left in the season.

"Maybe the team will see this and think, 'We have something to play for,' " Brian Gramolini (junior-actuarial science) said.

The fans know the team has a quick turnaround to Tuesday's game and likely won't have the time to come by, although they made sure to note they'd appreciate an appearance from "William 'Dolla Billz' Oliver" -- a reference to the freshman forward Billy Oliver, who is redshirting this season and has caught fans' attention with his Facebook username.

They did have one more request should the Nits win the NIT this season.

"Can they spell the shirts right?" Cohen quipped, speaking of the infamous "West Virgina" t-shirts Mountaineer players donned after winning the 2007 NIT.

-Fortuna

Well, as you all know by now, the Nits won't be dancing later this week. Instead, they get at least one -- and a chance for two or three -- more home game at the BJC this week, starting with a quick turnaround Tuesday night against everybody's favorite Cinderella, George Mason.

Penn State received a No. 2 seed, which probably means it wasn't even close to snatching one of the remaining NCAA bids. Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but the silver lining can be that a team that loves being doubted and proving the non-believers wrong is not even a top seed in a second-rate tournament. Perhaps that could fuel a leader like Jamelle Cornley into keeping this team motivated to reach the Garden and make the Big Ten back-to-back winners of the NIT (Ohio State took home the crown in 2008).

Also of note should be if the higher seeds advance. That would pit the Lions against Rhode Island in the second round. The Rams are one of a handful of teams that can make a claim that they ended the Lions' tournament hopes. Even if the two's contest was back in November, it still prevented the Lions from facing Villanova the next night, a game that surely would have boosted the Lions' RPI -- regardless of its outcome -- and might have changed the selection committee's mind today.

And if the Nits beat Rhode Island and there are no other major upsets in their region, then the team will travel to No. 1 Florida, where we'll see if there is any love lost between the two-time national champion Gators and Lion assistant Lewis Preston, who departed Gainesville this summer.

So take the rest of the night and wonder why the Nits didn't play a stronger out-of-conference schedule, how a flu-ridden Jake Kelly banked in two 3-pointers last Saturday and how a 19-13 team like Arizona sneaked its way into the tourney picture. All are valid questions. But tomorrow, the Nits will resume practice and have no choice but to look ahead, and faltering at home to a lower-seed will do nothing but add more ammo to the ever-growing contingent that believes this team is not worthy of a bid.

-Fortuna

In just a few hours the 10-member NCAA selection committee will make their picks public, and Penn State appears to be on the outside looking in as the conference tournaments wrap up. Most recently, Mississippi State beat Tennessee to win the SEC, snatching a precious bid from the shrinking list of bubble teams.

We're not going to unveil a comprehensive breakdown of all 65 selections, but here's our final verdict on the Nittany Lions' tournament chances after a five month chase for an NCAA berth.

Nate Mink

Why they're out: Penn State's non-conference schedule is, for lack of a better word, a joke. Discounting A-10 opponents, the schedule was cake walk. But even in conference play, the Lions' left a lot of doubt in the committee's mind. One of Penn State's 'good' wins came at Illinois. Really, the Lions happened to be the second-worst team on the floor in their 38-33 win in Champaign.

Why they're in: The Lions have six wins against RPI top-50 teams, and two have been on the road. For what it's worth, the Lions, and especially Jamelle Cornley, epitomize the NCAA tournament and the passion and never-quit attitude it thrives under. The Lions never feel they're out of a game until the clock reads 0:00.

Final Say: OUT

Matt Brown

Why they're out:
No. 343 N.J.IT. No. 292 Hartford. No. 281 Army. We all know about the non-conference schedule, and those are some of the RPI-killers that may put a dagger in Penn State's NCAA tournament hopes. It doesn't help that the one team the Lions beat that looked decent in non-conference play -- Georgia Tech -- ending up finishing last in the ACC. Just one more win against Temple, Rhode Island, Wisconsin or at Iowa might have put the Lions over the top, but they came up short in those crucial games. To make things worse, teams like Mississippi State and Cleveland State won their conference tournament to take away at-large spots for bubble teams.

Why they're in: Penn State was solid against RPI top 50 teams and really doesn't have a bad loss. No. 118 Iowa would be the worst, but that's still a Big Ten road game and not too bad of a worst loss. Also, the Lions finished the regular season 4-2 against the top 3 teams in the Big Ten, winning on the road at Michigan State, at home vs. Purdue and sweeping Illinois.

Final Say: OUT

Matt Fortuna

Why they're out: As Jerry Palm would say, Penn State is the classic NIT profile. Are the Lions one of the 65-best teams in the nation? Without a doubt. It's unfortunate we weren't given the chance to see how good they really are since they didn't beat a team in the top-116 of the RPI during their out-of-conference campaign. If the committee decides to take a stronger look at them, they'll see they won a once-in-a-generation game at Illinois and beat Michigan State and Purdue while both were undermanned.

Why they're in: Then again, if not for a couple of Jake Kelly miracles or catching Ohio State and Purdue at the wrong times, the Lions could have been the second seed in the Big Ten tournament entering this weekend and would have been all but guaranteed of a spot in the dance. It really works both ways with this team. The selection committee is always wary of schools from non-BCS schools getting in, so the Lions have that in their favor. They finished above .500 in the Big Ten, which almost any other year is more than enough to get in. However, it won't be without a major uproar if they do make it.

Final Say: OUT

In three hours the Nittany Lion men's basketball team will learn its postseason fate.

CBS cameras will be with the Lions between 6 and 7 p.m., providing live look-ins as the NCAA tournament bracket reveals itself.

Penn State is currently slotted as the first team listed in the 'First 4 out' on ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi's mock-bracket.

The NCAA selection show starts at 6 p.m., with the NIT bracket gets unveiled at 9 tonight.

Cornley keeps doing what he can to keep this respectable. But when Hummel gets accidental tip-ins to go down, what else can a guy do?

DeChellis is in between throwing in the towel and putting his best 3-point lineup out there. Cammeron Woodyard and Chris are both in the game, taking out Jones and Morrissey.

The last three minutes of this one can be chalked up to garbage time. Sunday will be judgment day for the Lions.

FINAL
Purdue 79, PSU 65

***

Cornley battles hard underneath for the offensive rebound and finished the possession with an opportunity for a 3-point play. Before he hit the foul shot, Cornley glanced up at the scoreboard and stared down the score and time remaining.

Purdue ups its lead to 23, and running down court on offense, Cornley again stares at the game clock above the hoop.

Kramer is limping off the court with the help of a staff member. It appears he banged knees with somebody.

7:41 left 2nd half
Purdue 77, PSU 55

***

Battle hits a 3 out of the timeout. Penn State showing some press now to try and get a quick scoring spurt.

We're at the under 12 media timeout. Brooks is headed to the foul line when the action kicks back on.

11:18 left 2nd half
Purdue 66, PSU 47

***

Hummel ups the lead to 19 with about 13 minutes to play. Back-to-back Hummel 3-pointers puts this thing out of reach.

13:04 left 2nd half
Purdue 66, PSU 44

***

Battle posts up Jackson on the opening possession of the second half, and draws a foul on Johnson down low. DeChellis might want to try to get some of Purdue's bigs out of the game.

Penn State goes back to its traditional man defense. Jackson plays a little inside-out with Jones, and then buries a 3-pointer. Jackson is playing with a ton of confidence in Indy.

Hummel was about the only Boilermaker to not play out of his mind in the first half. He's getting going early here in the second half.

But it's Purdue's defense that is leading to its offense. There's another transition hoop for Moore. Penn State is forced to settle for jump shots, and that's going to be a tough way to make any type of run with the way Purdue plays defense.

15:14 left 2nd half
Purdue 60, PSU 44

***

We're gonna play around for argument's sake. As it stands right now, the committee cannot fault Penn State for running into the Boilermakers tonight. A lot of people called this the 'clincher,' and a win definitely secures a bid. But a loss does not eliminate the Lions from consideration. Granted it'll make for a Sunday none of these players will forget anytime soon, but a lot of the Lions' tourney hopes lie with how well other bubble teams do.

As of today, the Lions were projected as an 11 seed for the NCAA tournament. I think the cutoff for the at-large teams is typically a 12 seed. So figure Penn State can afford to drop maybe four spots and still earn a bid.

I don't want to even think about how close it's going to be Sunday.

But again, 20 minutes could make this all a moot point.

***

Halftime
Purdue 51, PSU 35

Purdue shooting better than 63 percent from the field, including 8-for-12 from 3-point land. Grant came off the bench and hit all four shots, all from 3, to lead all scorers with a dozen points.

Pringle and Cornley lead the Lions with 10 and 11 points, respectively.

Seconds half adjustments for the Lions' defense are simple: Get the ball out of the paint. Purdue holds a 20-8 advantage in points in the paint. Couple that with a 21-0 advantage for the Boilermakers' bench and nine fast break points and Purdue can be smiling about a long of things during the intermission right about now.

***

Penn State's best bet would be to get this deficit down to single digits. There's no question Purdue is at the top of its game tonight. Even if Penn State drops this one by a reasonable margin, the selection committee can at least look at the strong fight the Lions are putting up.

The Lions are definitely scoring the way they need to win a typical game against Purdue, but if the Boilermakers hang half a hundred, there's not much any team in the league can do to beat them.

You figure before the game if Penn State would've put up 35 in the first half, it'd head to the locker room ahead. Not so, tonight.

43.9 seconds left 1st half
Purdue 49, PSU 35

***

It looks real bleak. The Lions are down 17, but I cannot stress this enough. This team does NOT think it's out of any game. As I type that, Pringle drills a 3-pointer from the top of the key to get the deficit down to 14.

Purdue is bound to cool off, but the Boilermakers are playing so efficient on offense, that they're finding ways to score besides riding the hots hands from 3.

3:43 left 1st half
Purdue 43, PSU 27

***

Grant connects on a 3 fresh out of the timeout.

Penn State has switched into a 2-3 zone to try and cool off the Boilermakers. Moore grabs an offensive rebounds and goes straight up for a basket. Playing the 2-3 makes it harder to box out the offense.

Grant hits his third 3 of the half. Purdue is 8-for-10 from beyond the arc.

There's not a lot of talking from the players in this huddle. I think it's pretty clear they know it's just one of those nights.

5:27 left 1st half
Purdue 41, PSU 21

***

There was a foul called, but in the immediate continuation Jones swatted the heck out of a JaJuan Johnson post move.

Pringle hits the Lions first 3 of the game, but Kramer scores in transition. Keaton Grant drills a 3 of his own from atop the perimeter. Purdue is getting whatever shot it wants so far.

Johnson is showing why he is first-team All-Big Ten. Jones was playing perfect interior defense on him, but Johnson hit a tough jump hook. Kramer followed that up with another transition throw down to extend Purdue's lead to 14.

Battle got called for carrying the basketball. While the hoard of PSU fans behind me were disgusted with that call, he has been cradling his dribble.

For some stress relief for you PSU fans, it seems the Lions picked up a new player

***

Purdue grinding away at Penn State's offensive with tough man-to-man defense. A couple fouls have been called on Purdue, and Penn State has scored on two possessions to chip into this lead.

11:49 left 1st half
Purdue 19, PSU 9

***

Cornley's shot from the outside couldn't be farther from last night's win. He shot two airballs in the game's first five minutes, a far cry from last night when he scored 13 points in seven minutes.

Morrissey spells Jackson.

Nemanja Calasan scored seven straight for the Boilermakers, and Penn State continues to struggle to find its offensive groove.

13:37 left 1st half
Purdue 19, PSU 5

***

Penn State has the opening possession, but it's Hummel who gets things rollin' with a 3-pointer and a slam.

Moore buries another 3 at the top, and after a defensive hold, Kramer apparently can dunk. I didn't see that coming from the token scrappy lock-down man.

Penn State in a 12-2 hole early.

Well, as DeChellis likes to preach, it's now the Lions turn to make their run. I'm not actually in the huddle, but I imagine I relayed to you the gist of that chat during the under-16 media timeout.

***

Mink's key to the game: Absorb the Boildermakers' pressure.

OK, so that's what Cornley told me last night was the key to the game. But in actuality, it is. Purdue, as Pringle likes to put it, loves to get up in your grill. It's gonna scratch, claw, and pest the Nittany Lions all night. Whichever backcourt doesn't turn the ball over, and can establish the pace of the game will walk outta here with a date with the Illini tomorrow night.

This is Purdue's first real run since a loss at Michigan State last Sunday. Penn State, meanwhile, is fresh off a 15-point throttling of Indiana. Last night, Ed DeChellis wanted to attack the Hoosiers from the opening tip. Look for a similar strategy tonight to try to catch the Boilermakers' off guard.

And for you Boiler fans, we shall see just how much the addition of Hummel can affect this matchup.

***

All right, Lion fans, we set up shop feet behind the Penn State bench to bring you ALL the details of tonight's matchup with the Boilermakers. We're about 15 minutes to tip. Illinois hung on to beat the Wolverines by 10. So the winner tonight takes on the Illini tomorrow at 4:05 p.m.

The other semifinal sees No. 5 seed Ohio State go up against No. 1 seed Michigan State. Should the Lions pull this out tonight, the question for Jamelle Cornley then becomes who would he rather face in a potential Big Ten tournament final: Best bud Travis Walton of the Spartans, or Ohio State, the school that spurned him

Starting lineups to follow.

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

Purdue
F 4 Robbie Hummel
F 25 JaJuan Johnson
G 3 Chris Kramer
G 23 Lewis Jackson
G 33 E'Twaun Moore

***

My clock reads 7:21 p.m. but we're gonna get a jumpstart on blogging Penn State's quarterfinal matchup with the Boilermakers a good 90 minutes before tip. Mink here bringing you the possible tournament clincher from Conseco Fieldhouse, and I honestly have no idea what my colleagues have been telling you, the internet here works perfect.

Illinois leads Michigan 25-24 at the half in the third quarterfinal game of the day. Penn State fans should pull for the men in orange to come away with this one. Michigan wiped the floor with the Nittany Lions in their last meeting in Ann Arbor, and the Illini are without senior floor general Chester Frazier, who badly injured his hand during practice Wednesday. The AP reports Chester had surgery this morning, and it is doubtful he will return not only for the Big Ten tournament, but maybe even the NCAA tournament next week.

We just got back from Shapiro's, an Indy hot spot for over-priced sandwiches. Think Fraser St. Deli, except twice the bill, and half the quality. My Brooklyn-style Pastrami paled in comparison to the hometown favorite, the McDuffy.

The second half of Michigan and Illinois is about ready to start. I won't try to blog that from the press room, but I'll share tentative score updates.

Illinois has upped its lead to 20 with less than seven minutes to go in the game.

Michigan cut the deficit down to a baker's dozen. But with less than five minutes to play, the Wolverines are now playing against the Illini and that red clock that counts backwards.

OK. There's about a minute to go and the Illini have a sturdy nine point lead.

Unfortunately for you guys, this was a good one. Would have been a challenge to keep up with, internet or not.

In the end, though, Ohio State pulled it out, hitting timely free throws and, I guess, upsetting the higher-seeded Badgers (if there is such a thing as a 4-5 upset).

The Bucks get a big one though, unofficially punching their ticket to the Big Dance with a nice 61-57 win to advance to tomorrow's semifinals against Michigan State.

There's a two-hour break now until Illinois and Michigan tip things off at 7, so we'll be back then with the rest of the day's action from Conseco.
***
OK, so this whole internet thing isn't really working out, which makes it really difficult to blog. I'll try my best from here on out, but for now, last year's tournament champion Wisconsin finds itself up on the Buckeyes 47-45 with 7:41 to go.

***
Lauderdale finds himself in the middle of all the action so far. He throws an arm to shoe away Landry, whose guarding him, and Landry takes it in the face and drops to the floor. No whistle until Lauderdale gets fouled by Hughes as he takes it to the basket.

Bo Ryan is furious and draws a technical foul. Buford hits one of two, as does Lauderdale as he takes his shots after the initial foul.

Ryan calls a quick 30-second timeout right before the half ends, but Taylor can't connect from 3. With a few seconds left, Ohio State pushes it and Buford drills a 3 as time expires and pumps his chest for dramatic effect.

The Bucks take a 29-28 lead heading into the locker room, and I can Erin Andrews hunt down Bo Ryan from afar. Luckily, there's a TV on my row, and in between the interview, ESPN shows a replay of the no-call on Lauderdale after he shoved away Landry. Ryan looks animated, but the loud fans make it impossible for me to hear what he says, unfortunately.

***
Mink's favorite player and the league's sixth-man-of-the-year B.J. Mullens gets half this crowd on its feet by slamming one home down low.

Kevin Gullikson follows with less than a work of art as he airballs a free throw. And as there is a break in the action following a clock malfunction after Gullkison's second miss from the line, the "O-H, I-O!" chants are drowned out by Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body," much to the delight of Collegian photog Steph Witt, seated to my right.

As play resumes, Taylor throws a lob that is just out of Landry's reach, and the Bucks capitalize in transition with two from Jeremie Simmons to tie it at 9.

Krabbenhoft sees his hustle pay off as he is found in transition by Taylor and lays it in.

Simmons follows with a 3 to knot things up at 14 before the under-12 timeout.

Bohannon opens things up out of the break with a J from the foul line, and the Bucks respond as Simmons lobs one up to Lauderdale, who does his best Dwight Howard impression as he tries to jam it with one hand. The ball hit the front of the rim and took a friendly role for the 6-8 big to tie the game at 16.

An interesting sequence a few plays later down low, as Lauderdale grabs a rebound, takes more than his fair share of steps, then has the ball ripped from his hands by Bohannon as they both fall to the ground. Bohannon, possessing the ball at the time, gets whistled for the foul.

Turner picks up his second foul on the next play and he'll take a seat ... before dropping his water bottle and watching it roll onto the court while Wisconsin brings it up. He's able to run onto the hardwood and retrieve it, though, before the ref stopped play (or someone suffered a devastating injury).

Leuer does his best Chris Kramer impersonation as he falls to the ground after a series of quick elbows that didn't even touch him. "FLOP-PER!" chants ensue from the Bucks' fans and Diebler responds with a 3.

That ends up triggering a nice back-and-forth of offense, something the Big Ten has suddenly decided to embrace.

Tim Jarmusz, Simmons and Bohannon hit back-to-back-to-back 3s on consecutive possessions to make it interesting before the under-four timeout.

2:04, first half,
UW 28, OSU 24
***
I'd like to say either team has a really strong turnout here in Indy, but it is really too tough to tell with so many folks in red (most of whom are seated directly below and above me), I'll just credit both.

Evan Turner hits a jumper on the baseline after a few minutes without any field goals, tying this bad boy at 5 as we reach the under-16 timeout with 15:08 to go in the first half.

Jordan Taylor hits an open Landry underneath to put the Badgers up two and get the red-clad fan next to me out of his seat in applause (and solve the mystery of which color sweater he has on).

Landry then banks a long two off-the-glass and in to put Wisconsin up four before Big Ten player of the year snub Turner travels on the opposite end.

A lot of contact down low this time, as Turner finally draws the whistle. We're at the under-12 timeout in Indianapolis.

11:45, first half,
UW 9, OSU 5
***
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna here to take you through the 4-5 matchup of the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Wisconsin Badgers

As noted earlier, on more than one occasion, the internet inside Conseco Fieldhouse, for lack of a better word, sucks.

There is a TON of red inside this place and we're moments away from tip-off. Here are today's starters.

Ohio State
G - PJ Hill
G - Jon Diebler
G - William Buford
F - Evan Turner
F - Dallas Lauderdale

Wisconsin
G - Trevon Hughes
G - Jason Bohannon
F - Jon Leuer
F - Joe Krabbenhoft
F - Marcus Landry

Well, more technical difficulties here. Right now Michigan State is up 51-41 with just under 7 minutes to play.

Kalin Lucas picks up a foul that wasn't a foul to send Damian Johnson to the line for 2. He converts both at the stripe and the Spartan lead is 8.

Michigan State continues to do a solid job of playing good team defense, always helping on the interior while making sure no one gets wide open on the outside. Chris Allen now shooting 2 for the Spartans... he makes 1-of-2 with the second shot taking about 10 seconds to finally fall through the hoop.

Damian Johnson again at the line for Minnesota. His first misses, as does the second. This has been a miserable free-throw shooting exhibition. Both teams are hovering around 50%, combining to go 23-for-42. Awful.

Kalin Lucas misses a floater and on the rebound, Blake Hoffarber tackles Draymond Green.

MSU now up 56-46 on a bucket by Chris Allen with under 4 minutes to play.

Michigan State fans now rise to their feet as Lucas dribbles the ball up the court nursing a 10-point lead. Empty possession fro the Spartans.

Now we head to the final media timeout.

2:41 second half
Michigan State 56, Minnesota 46

***
Remember what I said about the Internet working? Yeah, not so much.

13:16 now left to play in this one and Michigan State has taken a 44-36 lead as chants of "Go Green... Go White" echo through the arena. Michigan State's fan turnout is definitely impressive, although Illinois is looking pretty good as well. It's hard to tell when only fans of two teams are cheering per game. We'll hear from the Illini faithful in a few hours.

Gray at the line for the Spartans shooting 2... the first isn't close and the second also clanks off the rim.

Westbrook drives down the base line uncontrollably and gets called for a charge.

The Spartans extend the lead to 10 and things aren't looking good at all for Minnesota.

11:27 second half
Michigan State 46, Minnesota 36

***
And we're back underway in the second half here at Conseco Fieldhouse with Michigan State now leading 35-30. A breakaway lay-up by Damian Johnson trims the lead to 3.

Delvon Roe at the line and hits 1-of-2 free throws after 2 missed dunks by the Spartans. But on the second one Roe was fouled, it would've been a terrific put-back and a highlight-reel play for sure.

Westbrook scores for Minnesota and the MSU lead is down to 2. Minnesota continues to sit in a 2-3 zone with the guards putting some pressure on the perimeter. Suton hits a mid-range jumper.

Minnesota completely fails on an alley-oop attempt to Bostick. He didn't get high enough an the ball clanked off the corner between the rim and backboard.

2 more points for Suton, 40-36 MSU.

Finally a dunk goes down. Durrell Summeers brings some life into the building as Spartan fans continue to cheer. What a play.

Now Delvon Roe actually blocks Sampson's shot but a foul was called. Thought it might have been clean.

14:25 second half
Michigan State 42, Minnesota 36

***
A pair of Sampson free throws, a Draymond Green bucket and a Devron Bostick bucket give Minnesota a 30-29 lead as Tom Izzo calls a timeout with 57 seconds to play in the half.

Chris Allen for 2 as the lead switches hands again. About 4 seconds separating the shot clock and game clock as Minnesota controls the ball. Timeout Tubby Smith with 16 seconds to play in the half and 12 to shoot.

Offensive foul called on Sampson and a Minnesota fan next to us is far from pleased. Looked like a good call to me...

Kalin Lucas misses a short floater but grabs his own board and puts it back in for 2 as time expires. Halftime here in Indianapolis.

HALFTIME
Michigan State 33, Minnesota 30

***
Sampson knocks down a free throw for Minnesota and we are tied at 23.

What a shot by Devon Bostick with the shot clock winding down. He hits a fade away jumper from the corner with a defender in his face and Minnesota retakes the lead by 2.

Hightower calls a foul on Bostick and holds his pose for 20 minutes. Green misses at the line for the Spartans but they come up with a steal anyway and Chris Allen hits 2 free throws.

Minnesota gets a free throw from Damian Johnson, then Draymond Green scores for MSU to give Sparty a 27-26 lead.

3:33 first half
Michigan State 27, Minnesota 26

***
Chris Allen scores for Michigan State and the score is 21-20 in favor of the Gophers. Ralph Sampson III throws one of the highest-lofted hook shots I've ever seen and it misses as we had under the 10-minute mark in the first half now.

We have a much larger crowd on hand here for the second session of the tournament with a big Michigan State contingent making news. Every team has fans here, but we're surrounded by a lot of Wisconsin and Ohio State red and Illinois orange where we're seated.

Official Steve Skiles just imitated his partner Ed Hightower by running across thef loor and enthusiastically pointing at a Minnesota player who committed a foul. Durrell Summers heads to the line for 2 shots and misses the first... and the second. MSU grabs the rebound and Marquise Gray -- who for some reason isn't listed on our handy score sheet -- heads to the line and sinks a couple free throws.

7:37 first half
Michigan State 23, Minnesota 22

***
All right everyone, we're back in Conseco Fieldhouse and it appears like the Internet problems may be a thing of the past. I'm sure I just jinxed it, but we'll see.

We were at lunch so this post is a little late, but right now top-seeded Michigan State trails 8-seed Minnesota 16-15 with 12:59 to play in the first half. Matt Brown here to take you through the action the rest of this game, while Fortuna and Mink will be along for the other games today. We have a long day ahead of us as Penn State-Purdue doesn't tip-off until 9 p.m.

Paul Carter at the line for Minnesota looking to convert a 3-point play, and he does to extend the Golden Gophers' lead to 19-15. This is certainly a huge game for Minnesota, as a win would have to lock-up an at-large bid to the tournament.

11:45 first half
Minnesota 19, Michigan State 18

Apologies for the slow updates here. As noted earlier, the internet here is awful. Luckily for you, Penn State locked this game up by halftime. They now lead 63-43 with under five minutes to go, and I'll try to get you more as soon as this connection is restored.
**
Cornley catches the ball outside the 3-point line, takes a dribble in and swishes the soft jumper. Battle then steals the inbounds pass, but the Nits turn it over.

Jones hits a 3 for IU on the other end to cut the lead to 18.

Pringle, however, responds with a 3 of his own after being left wide open in the corner.

Roth keeps the back-and-forth going with a corner 3. Unfortunately for him, the Hoosiers will need many more of those.

...especially with the way Cornley is playing. He knocks down another midrange shot for his 22nd points of the night.

Battle throws a lob to D.J. who is fould hard by Pritchard. Somehow, a dunk attempt is not a shooting foul.

Cornley comes back to life with an airball, but D.J. has apparently resurrected as he puts back in another miss to make it 56-34.

Not sure if it was a pass or if Battle just lost it on the baseline, but the ball lands in D.J.'s hands as he lays it in and draws the foul. Looks like a career night for the Farrell, Pa., native, and the Lions will need this type of effort from him and everyone else against Purdue tomorrow, as well. (Yes, I'm going out on a limb and not predicting a Hoosier rally. Sorry.)

10:50 to go,
PSU 58, IU 34
***
Pritchard misses a pair of tough shots in the paint on the opening possession of the half before D.J. puts back a Pringle missed 3 on the other end.

Williams hits one of two at the line for IU, then PSU follows a number of missed attempts downlow before Cornley finally says enough. The big fella snags the rebound out of the air, takes a power dribble and softly lays it in.

Williams responds with a quick lay-in on the other end to cut it to 42-28.

And if IU didn't think it was already in trouble, Battle comes to life, hitting a long 3 for his first points of the game to put the Nits up 17.

Pritchard misses not one but two wide open lay ins underneath on the other end, and D.J. connects on the other end to give the Lions a 19-point lead.

Frustration may be boiling over for the Hoosiers as they foul Cornley following a routine rebound.

Break in the action.

15:45 to go,
PSU 47, IU 28
***
Here's a quick look at the first-half stats, which tells it all.

IU
36% FGs
42.9% 3FGs
16 REBs
4 ASTs

PSU
53% FGs
40% 3FGs
16 REBs
9 ASTs

All in all, can't ask for much more out of the Nits. They hit their shots, got IU in foul trouble and basically did what they were supposed to do against a far inferior team. Let's see if they can keep it up in the second half.
***
D-Mo in for Pringle as play resumes and Brooks misses a wide open 3.

Nice airball, er, pass, by Matt Roth, as his 3 sails way short of the rim but right into the hands of Pritchard for the easy lay-in.

Andrew Jones responds on the other end with the easy deuce of his own.

IU's Verdell Jones draws contact on the other end and knocks down a pair from the line to cut the lead to 13.

Battle still can't connect, as is reverse lay-in goes in and out. Jones tries to follow but it won't go. Roth's 3 on the other end goes in-and-out, and Eddy D will call a timeout with 41.3 seconds left and his team with the ball.

Pringle misses a 3 out of the break, and Williams can't connect for IU as we head to the half with the Nits up 38-25.
***
Pritchard makes a nice backdoor cut and is fed underneath before being fouled by Brooks. He makes one of two from the line, cutting the lead to 10.

D.J. responds with a lay-in inside.

Verdell Jones hits another 3, cutting the lead to single digits and bringing this crowd to its feet.

Pringle travels on the next possession and you get the feeling the momentum may be starting to switch.

Battle bricks a 3 in transition, and Verdell Jones gets called for the offensive foul while trying to push it down the other end. This stadium is livid, and Cornley gives them more reason to boo as he puts in yet another layup for his 16th points of the game.

I'll give it to these Hoosier fans. They're team, for lack of a better word, sucks this season, but they're right there with every call, making more mock applauses after IU gts a call against them.

Battle has just taken a single shot, but when the other two of the Nits' Big Three are on like tonight, it simply won't matter. Pringle lays another one in in transition for his 13th points on the night. Verdell Jones comes up hobbling on the other end as the refs stop play to let him sit. This could get ugly for the Hoosiers, who are now missing arguably their two best players.

Andrew Jones spares D.J. with Pritchard at the line. The frosh misses both, but gets his own rebound, misses a putback, and then sees teammate Daniel Moore get whistled after a clean strip of Andrew Jones underneath. I'm not sure if it will matter in a game like this, but PSU is getting every call here on the road, a rarity to say the least.

Jones knocks down the first of the 1-and-1, and PSU is up a comfortable 13.

Another stupid, stupid pass by IU leads to PSU transition points, this time with Battle lobbing an alley-oop to Brooks, who throws it down with ferocity to complete the 2-on-1 break. Where has that been the last two years, Jeff?

The PSU bench is up, as are Hank Cornley, Dorcella Smith and the rest of the PSU players' family members seated not far behind them

Timeout on the floor.

2:39, first half,
PSU 36, IU 21
***
Verdell Jones hits a 3 from the elbow to bring the crowd back to life again.

D.J. passes up a wide open 3 attempt from the top of the key, travels (doesn't get called ... guess the crowd's reaction), drives and loses it out of bounds.

Under-8 timeout with 7:55 to go in the half,
PSU 27, IU 16
***
Babb misses a 3 to open things up out of the break, but hte long rebound goes to Pringle, who finds Ott before the big man takes one too many steps in the paint.

No worries, as Morrissey picks off an AWFUL crosscourt pass near the midcourt line, triggering a PSU possession that ends in a Pringle 3 across from the IU bench. Pringle then picks things up in transition a play later and connects from the foul line, prompting another 30-second timeout from Crean with his team down 26-8 and not even a quarter of the way through this one.

Cornley's back in, along with IU-killer Will Leiner. The Coplay, Pa., native, you may recall, scored tow points and dished out a pair of assists against the Hoosiers on senior night.

Battle is out of the locker room now and just like that ready to replace the former walk-on. Pringle joins him, replacing Babb.

Jones hits a 3 to inject some positive energy into this building and cut the PSU lead to 13.

But it's Cornley again, this time taking it to the hole and drawing contact. Guess that bum shoulder is feeling much better.

D.J. spares D-Mo as Cornley knocks down one of two from the line before grabbing his own rebound. He really wasn't kidding when he said he'll do more if he has to in order for his team to make the NCAA tournament.

IU finally gets a call its way as Battle gets whistled for the charge in the lane. PSU will now press, and a confused Williams is forced to call another 30 second timeout.

8:36, first half,
PSU 27, IU 13
***
Danny Morrissey is in for D.J. out of the break, where Pringle opens things up with a pretty reverse lay-in to make it 10-4 Nits.

Cornley again, this time muscling his way inside for his ninth and 10th points of the game.

Finkelmeier and Pringle exchange buckets, making it 15-6 Nits and prompting a 30-second timeout from Tom Crean with 14:23 to go.

Everything going Cornley's way here, as he pumps from 3 and gets the foul call on Taber as he knocks him over while trying to take it inside.

Nick Willaims with the 2 for IU, cutting it to 15-8.

You thought he was finished? Cornley again takes it inside, this time getting hammered by Verdell Jones before throwing up an off-balance J in the paint. Cue Marv Albert: "It counts and the foul."

I must have missed something in between, as the IU "bench" gets whistled for a technical foul after the play. Pringle hits one of two freebies, and now 'Mel will get his turn after the beautiful play a moment earlier. Cornley makes it count, and it's 19-8.

Battle comes up hobbling on the next trip down and leaves the court limping. Doesn't look anything serious, but Chris Babb gets a chance to come in now.

Babb drives and misses, but Williams is called for the loose ball foul, the team's sixth before the 12-minute mark, and this crowd is not pleased.

And Battle walks slowly to the locker room as Jeff Brooks banks in two.

Andrew Jones gets called for the foul on the ensuing IU possession, drawing a mock applause from the home crowd. Andrew Ott replaces Jones.

Erin Andrews hanging near the corridor now after Battle just went in there to nurse his ankle. We'll keep you updated.

11:49, first half,
Nits 21, IU 8

***
It is clearly a pro-IU crowd as the Nits are booed when introduced.

Some members of the pep band, along with the Nittany Lion and Penn State cheerleaders are here and start the White Stripes' "7 Nation Army" chant as the Nits win the opening tip.

The Nits get a piar of looks that don't fall, but Jones is fouled off another offensive rebound and Cornley finishes on the ensuing inbounds pass.

The senior captain follows with an open 3-pointer from the top of the key an it's quickly 5-0 Nits here in the early going.

After about a 3-minute scoring drought, IU's Jones hits a turnaround to put the Hoosiers on the board and it's 5-2 Nits. Taber tips in a Jones miss off a steal and its quickly 5-4.

Annnd Cornley quickly responds with another 3. Maybe he saw DeShawn Sims' performance in the earlier game for Michigan?

We're at the under-16 timeout.

15:47, first half,
Jamelle Cornley 8, IU 4

***
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna here to bring you all of the action from inside Conseco Fieldhouse today, where No. 6 seed Penn State takes on the hometown favorite, No. 11 seed Indiana. There are a ton of red shirts in this arena today, and we'll see if the Hoosiers can pull off the upset over the Nittany Lions. Tip-off is in about five minutes, and here are the projected starters for the game:

Indiana
F - Kyle Taber
F - Tom Pritchard
G - Nick Williams
G - Verdell Jones III
G - Brett Finkelmeier

Penn State
F - Jamelle Cornley
F - Andrew Jones
F - D.J. Jackson
G - Stanley Pringle
G - Talor Battle

As you can see, Devan Dumes is not expected to play tonight. Bloomington Times Herald IU reporter (and Collegian alum '04) Chris Korman reported that Dumes tried to practice earlier today but was unable to go full contact. That could spell doom for Indiana today.

Back with the opening tip in a bit...

Well, that'll about do it for this live blog. We continue to have Internet problems, but there's not much to report from this game. DeShawn Sims is good, Iowa can't shoot and that's about it. There's 13:44 left to play and the Wolverines are dominating the game 54-30.

We're about to head down and try to grab some food before Penn State finally tips off around 5 p.m. Hopefully the Internet situation will improve a bit by then so we can bring you a more complete live blog of the Nittany Lions-Hoosiers.

Check back soon for that.

***
More Internet difficulties here. 16:27 to go now with Michigan leading Iowa 44-26. DeShawn Sims still has not missed. I believe he's 9-for-9 from the field and 2-for-2 at the charity stripe.

Douglas hits a 3, now Sims with a two-handed slam and this game is getting out of hand.

15:36 second half
Michigan 49, Iowa 26

***
The first game's halftime entertainment brought us musical chairs. Game 2 brings us human slingshot bowling. Some Indiana fan starts things up by sliding in on a sled-type object for a strike. The Iowa fan hits 3-of-5 and the Michigan fan gets 4. This may be as exciting as the first half of our current game.

Conseco Fieldhouse has started to fill up a little more. There was no one here at noon for the start of the Minnesota-Northwestern game, but the crowd is slowly building. Still a lot of empty seats in here, but there's been at least some noise now.

Some halftime stats:
-Michigan shooting 68%, Iowa 26% from the field. That explains a lot.
-Michigan's DeShawn Sims has 18 points, just 1 fewer than the entire Iowa team
-Surprisingly, Sims' first-half performance is not the best of the day. Northwestern's Kevin Coble had 19 in the first 20 minutes of Game 1.

Back in a few.

***
All right, well technical difficulties (a lack of a good Internet connection) have been plaguing us all day. So anyway, I'm back with Michigan taking Iowa to the woodshed 40-17. Yeah... in the near 8 minutes of play since our last update, Iowa has scored 2 points. Sure doesn't make Penn State's loss Saturday look good.

Jarryd Cole finally adds to the Hawkeyes' total by hitting 2 free throws with 11.9 seconds to play in the first half.

Manny Harris with the ball for Michigan and he has it stolen from him. Matt Gatens (I think) ended up launching a shot from half court that rimmed out. May or may not have counted.

HALFTIME
Michigan 40, Iowa 19

***
Harris hit the free throw, Lucas-Perry buries another 3 and this game is getting out of hand early. 25-9 Michigan leads.

Iowa finally scores again with a Bawinkel 3. Jake Kelly finally gets on the scoreboard with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 10. This time it didn't hit the backboard twice before falling in...

7:58 first half
Michigan 25, Iowa 15

***
Sims back in the game and he hits a fade-away jumper. I picked him 1st Team All-Big Ten and he's making me look smart.

Manny Harris scores and is fouled, he'll try for a 3-point play after an Iowa timeout.

10:28 first half
Michigan 21, Iowa 9

***
Belein uses the timeout to take his entire team out of the game as Sims heads to the bench. Cyrus Tate at the line for Iowa, and he connects on 2 free throws to cut the lead to 14-9.

It took more than 8 minutes, but someone else on Michigan scores as Harris skips to Laval Lucas-Perry for a 3.

11:25 first half
Michigan 17, Iowa 9

***
Maybe John Beliein is reading this blog during the game because DeShawn Sims now has all 10 Michigan points and the Wolverines are up 10-7.

Make that all 12 for Sims. Make that all 14. Timeout Todd Lickliter. Perhaps he should make an adjustment.

12:20 first half
DeShawn Sims 14, Iowa 7

***
And we're underway with the second game of our first-round triple-header as Michigan wins the tip.

To the surprise of no one, Michigan attempts a 3 on its first trip down and misses. An exchange of turnovers and we have a terrific start to this game on offense.

Iowa's in man-to-man, but the defense doesn't seem to matter. Michigan's offense always appears the same: swing the ball around the perimeter until someone has a 3. Occasionally they do get it inside to the underutilized DeShawn Sims, who scores the first bucket of the afternoon. And Sims scores again as he gets the deep pass on a breakaway for an easy 2.

Devan Bawinkel gets Iowa on the scoreboard with a 3. That name is always funny to type.

Again Michigan finds an open Sims down low. He has all 6 of the Maize and Blue's points.

15:58 first half
Michigan 6, Iowa 3

***
Matt Brown here at Conseco Fieldhouse as we continue to take you through today's action. Minnesota just beat Northwestern to move on and face Michigan State Friday. Next up, 7-seed Michigan takes on 10-seed Iowa, with the winner facing 2-seed Illinois.

The Internet connection here in Indianapolis is pretty lousy, but we'll do our best to keep you as up to date as possible.

Penn State fans should be pulling for Iowa (as hard as that may be after last Saturday, as well as November's football game), as a Hawkeye win might knock Michigan into the NIT.

Starting lineups:
Michigan
G- 0 Zack Novak
G- 2 CJ Lee
G- 3 Manny Harris
G- 1 Stu Douglass
F- 34 DeShawn Sims

Iowa
G- 5 Matt Gatens
G- 15 Devan Bawinkel
G- 32 Jake Kelly
F- 24 Aaron Fuller
F- 50 Jerryd Cole

Westbrook connects on two foul shots to push the lead up to five with two minutes to play. On the next possession, Johnson throws it UP to Sampson to throws it DOWN. Westbrook tacks on another foul shot to make it an eight point game with about a minute left.

This one appears to be in the books, but that would be letting March Madness off the hook too easily.

After a defensive hold Nolen sinks two free throws. After another Northwestern miss, Johnson struts back to the charity stripe to put this one to bed.

FINAL
Minn. 66, NW 53

***

Thompson banks in a floater as the shot clock was winding down. After back-and-forth defensive holds, Sampson goes right through Coble for a chance at a 3-point play, which he then converts, to put the Gophers back up by one.

3:43 left 2nd half
Minn. 50, NW 49

***

Northwestern has this thing down to two, and it has two free throws coming up. Thompson hits both to knot the score at 47.

7:59 left 2nd half
NW 47, Minn. 47

It's worth repeating again. Penn State fans are rooting for a Gopher loss.

***

Coble hits two foul shots to get his first points of the half. Thompson keeps his steady second half going with a baseline jumper, and all of a sudden it's a four point ball game.

9:12 left 2nd half
Minn. 47, NW 43

***

Thompson hit a 3 to cut the lead down to seven.

Luke Mirkovic connects on four straight points for the Wildcats.

10:57 left 2nd half
Minn. 45, NW 39

***

Moore helps out Coble in the opening minute by drilling a 3. Westbrook is getting a chunk of the early second-half scoring for the Gophers. He knocks down two jumpers to help build the lead back up to nine.

Coble misses for just the second time this afternoon.

15:07 left 2nd half
Minn. 42, NW 32

***

Stat of the half: Coble has 19 of his team's 25 points.

Coble is redefining single-handedly keeping his team in the game. On the other hand, the only thing that is appealing about this game is the potential to see Coble go off for about 40.

Bostick leads the Gophers with 11 points.

***

The Wildcats have cut the lead down to seven with about a minute left. The wireless connection at Conseco Fieldhouse is making the blogging thing a little slow, but we're gonna suck it up and stick with it.

With the game clock winding down, Busch dishes off a pretty no look pass to Bostick, who is fouled going up for the lay-up.

Coble ends the half with a buzzer-beater just from beyond the arc.

HALFTIME
Minn. 31, NW 25

***

Coble cuts the lead down to single digits with a jumper. Hoffarber answers with a nice floater in the lane, though.

Nolen set up Travis Busch for a jump shot to extend the Gopher lead to a baker's dozen. Iverson is back in the game, so whatever bothered him wasn't too serious.

Bostick is quickly becoming the player of the half. He fought hard underneath for the offensive rebound and went up strong for the basket.

3:02 left 1st half
Minn. 29, NW 17

Coble has 10 of the Wildcats' 17 points.

***

Coble still has all the Wildcat points. Minnesota has upped its lead to 12 after Devron Bostick hit a pair of field goals. And Colton Iverson slammed it home to push the lead to double-digits moments ago.

Bostick gets another fast-break slam for the Gophers and it's 22-8. Iverson heads to the locker room.

7:33 left 1st half
Minn. 22, NW 11

***

Coble has the first five points for Northwestern. But so far, a real sluggish start to this game. This is probably the least sexy game to watch in the whole tournament. The Wildcats don't have much crowd support here. Minnesota brought some of its band. Overall, I'd say this crowd is pretty neutral.

15:24 left 1st Half
NW 5, Minn. 4

***

INDIANAPOLIS --- So, if you're a fan of everything Big Ten and just accidently stumbled your way onto Hardwood Hits. Or if you were curious what kind of google hits would pop up if typed in Nate AND Mink, today's your lucky day.

All day the Collegian men's basketball writers are bringing you LIVE coverage of the Big Ten Tournament in Naptown.

On deck is No. 9 seed Northwestern against No. 8 seed Minnesota. This game actually can impact Penn State's tournament chances. Minnesota is one of the teams jockeying for a bid along with the Nittany Lions. A quick exit in Indianapolis and the Gophers will probably be on the outside looking in.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, have an outside shot at an at-large bid, too. But they probably need to win three, maybe even all four games this weekend to go dancin'.

Before we give you the starting five for the tournament opener, I'll tell you we ran into Eddie George in The Locker Room, a roomy eating area/bar. George was dressed semi-professionally in a black vest, jeans and sneakers.

OK starting lineups.

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

Northwestern
F 44 Kevin Coble
F 24 John Shurna
C 54 Kyle Rowley
G 20 Craig Moore
G 22 Michael Thompson

While much of Penn State is in Mexico, Florida or just sleeping at home, Matt, Nate, photographer Steph Witt and I are back in State College ready to get on the road and head to Indianapolis. Well, actually we'll be heading an hour further to Bloomington, where Collegian alumnus and Bloomington Herald Times Indiana beat writer Chris Korman will graciously be providing us poor college kids with a place to stay.

We have about a 9 hour trip ahead of us, and we have no idea how long we'll be staying in Indiana. That depends on those Nittany Lions. The NCAA tournament selection show is Sunday night, but there is a lot of business for Penn State to take care of first in the Big Ten tournament. And we'll be there as long as the Lions are there to bring you coverage through the Collegian Web site, Hardwood Hits and the relatively new Hardwood Hits Twitter. And be sure to check Monday's Collegian for coverage as well when everyone returns from break.

As for the road trip, we'll be using the Twitter to update on all the little things that happen on the way to Indiana (hopefully nothing too eventful), on the way back and anything else in between that isn't worthy of an entire post.

So be sure to check all of our outlets of communication throughout the week for the latest from the Big Ten tournament.

-Brown

Well, to recap:

Player of the Year: Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
Defensive Player of the Year: Travis Walton, Michigan State
Coach of the Year (Media): Ed DeChellis, Penn State
Coach of the Year (Coaches): Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Freshman of the Year: William Buford, Ohio State
Sixth Man of the Year: BJ Mullens, Ohio State

Scroll down for the First/Second/Third All-Conference teams and the All-Freshman and All-Defensive teams.

For Penn State, DeChellis grabs the media's Coach of the Year honors, while Talor Battle is a First Team selection by both the media and coaches, and Jamelle Cornley splits the Second and Third teams.

It's hard to argue with any of the picks really. I had Turner as the player of the year, but arguments could certainly be made for Lucas and Battle.

That'll do it for this half-hour live blog from my couch. Time to watch some conference tournaments.

***
And we have our player of the year, according to both the coaches and media. It's Michigan State's Kalin Lucas, their first winner since Morris Peterson. Revsine correctly describes Lucas as "the best player on the best team."

Lucas joining the broadcast live, and he gives credit to his teammates and coaches... which is exactly what Izzo did for coach of the year.

Now we have a good question. Revsine asks Lucas to pick someone else for player of the year, and he chooses Evan Turner. Talor Battle can hang that quote up in his locker.

Revsine now brings Battle into the discussion. Jackson agrees with the Lucas selection, and Doyle picks Turner, calling him the best and most valuable player in the league. Turner is also my selection and I think he's the best all-around player, but I would say that Battle is the most valuable player to his team. Revsine picks Turner too.

Just like that, the fun is over. I'm surprised this was only a half-hour show.

***
Jim Jackson uses the phrase "If heck freezes over...". Man, things are getting pretty intense on the set.

Player of the year coming after the break. I know who it is, but I'm going to build the suspense.

***
Sixth Man of the Year: B.J. Mullens from Ohio State.

Freshman of the Year: William Buford, also from Ohio State.

No love for Evan Turner, but Mullens and Burfod getting some attention.

All Freshman Team
-William Buford, Ohio State
-Matt Gatens, Iowa
-Delvon Roe, Michigan State
-BJ Mullens, Ohio State
-Lewis Jackson, Purdue

I was about to complain about how my pick -- Indiana's Verdell Jones -- got no love. But then Tim Doyle decided to make the argument for me. And he's right, Jones got overlooked because of Indiana's absolutely terrible record (he also mentioned Tom Pritchard).

***
I'm surprised at how quickly those selections were announced. Where's the suspense? This would be a 5-hour special if ESPN was running it.

Anyway, no surprises on the first team. Personally, I had Sims over Harris but you can't argue with the Big Ten's No. 2 scorer being first team. (Speaking of our picks: make sure to check those out from yesterday)

Defensive Player of the Year goes to Michigan State's Travis Walton. Take that Chris Kramer.

All-Defensive Team
-Travis Walton, Michigan State
-Chester Frazier, Illinois
-Damian Johnson, Minnesota
-Chris Kramer, Purdue
-JaJuan Johnson, Purdue

The Coach of the Year according to the coaches is Michigan State's Tom Izzo. And he makes a live appearance to downplay the importance.

And the Coach of the Year according to the media is Ed DeChellis. Ed is Penn State's first Big Ten coach of the year honoree. And he is available via live feed to answer two questions from Dave Revsine. Ed gives credit to the coaching staff and players for the success.

Jim Jackson thinks Bill Carmody should've won the award. Tim Doyle likes Izzo because they had a bullseye on their chests. Not to mention the most talent, Tim.

***
No surprise, Dave Revsine, Jim Jackson and Tim Doyle are here to bring us the selections. Gene Keady and his combover are not present.

Getting right into it...

FIRST TEAM
-Manny Harris, Michigan
-Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
-Evan Turner, Ohio State
-Talor Battle, Penn State
-JaJuan Johnson, Purdue

SECOND TEAM
-Goran Suton, Michigan State
-Kevin Coble, Northwestern
-Etwaun Moore, Purdue
-Mike Davis, Illinois (Coaches)
-Marcus Landry, Wisconsin (Coaches)
-DeShawn Sims, Michigan (Media)
-Jamelle Cornley, Penn State (Media)

THIRD TEAM
-Demetri McCamey, Illinois
-Craig Moore, Northwestern
-Robbie Hummel, Purdue
-DeShawn Sims, Michigan (Coaches)
-Jamelle Cornley, Penn State (Coaches)
-Mike Davis, Illinois (Media)
-Marcus Landry, Wisconsin (Media)

***
With plenty of time to fill, why not make a half-hour show out of the all-conference awards? Matt Brown here to update you live on the All-Big Ten selections, which are being announced on the Big Ten Network.

Usually, Penn State fans might not have a whole lot to look forward to with this announcement, but this year is different. Talor Battle is probably a lock for First Team All-Big Ten, while Jamelle Cornley will surely find himself on the Second or Third Team.

But the biggest announcements are Player of the Year and Coach of the Year. Talor Battle is a prime candidate for top player with Michigan State's Kalin Lucas and Ohio State's Evan Turner, while Ed DeChellis is likely battling Bruce Weber of Illinois (and maybe Northwestern's Bill Carmody) for coaching honors.

Stay tuned.

UNC received two more votes than Pitt to reclaim the No. 1 spot in this week's AP Top 25 poll. The Tar Heels garnered 35 first-place votes, while Pitt received 33. Memphis received a pair and Louisville even gained one.

Michigan State remained the class of the Big Ten, moving up a spot to No. 7. That's more than can be said for Purdue and Illinois. The Boilermakers dropped five spots to No. 24 while the Fighting Illini are now on the outside looking in, basically at No. 26.

Joining Bruce Weber's squad outside the poll are Penn State and Ohio State, which received two and one votes, respectively.

Having just two teams ranked going into the Big Ten tournament will do little to sway the selection committee into thinking this league should receive eight bids, no matter how strong it is from top to bottom.

AP Top 25
Rank School Record Pts Pvs
1. North Carolina (35) 27-3 1,734 2
2. Pittsburgh (33) 28-3 1,731 3
3. Connecticut 27-3 1,592 1
4. Memphis (2) 28-3 1,544 5
5. Louisville (1) 25-5 1,513 6
6. Oklahoma 27-4 1,399 4
7. Michigan St. 25-5 1,349 8
8. Wake Forest 24-5 1,246 10
9. Duke 25-6 1,237 7
10. Villanova 25-6 1,108 11
11. Kansas 25-6 1,038 9
12. Gonzaga 25-5 978 14
13. Washington 24-7 910 16
14. Missouri 25-6 779 15
15. UCLA 24-7 752 20
16. Butler 26-4 536 22
17. Clemson 23-7 528 18
18. Syracuse 23-8 518 25
19. Xavier 24-6 465 17
20. LSU 25-6 461 12
21. Marquette 23-8 453 13
22. Florida St. 23-8 333 24
23. Arizona St. 22-8 199 21
24. Purdue 22-9 169 19
25. BYU 24-6 158 --
Others receiving votes: Illinois 131, Texas A&M 63, Saint Mary's, Calif. 56, Utah 21, West Virginia 17, Auburn 9, Dayton 7, Utah St. 6, Va. Commonwealth 6, Weber St. 5, Creighton 4, N. Iowa 3, Oklahoma St. 3, Siena 3, California 2, New Mexico 2, Penn St. 2, Texas 2, American U. 1, Ohio St. 1, Tennessee 1.

-Fortuna

Hey folks, Wisconsin just topped Indiana, 85-61, to wrap up the Big Ten regular season tonight and ensure that the Nittany Lions will not receive a first-round bye in the conference tournament and instead open up at 5 p.m. Thursday against the bottom-feeding Hoosiers. The winner of that contest will get No. 3 seed Purdue at 9 p.m. the following night.

With the announcement of the conference awards coming tomorrow, we figured we'd share with you our choices, especially since we don't get an official vote (sadly).

So without further ado, the All-Big Ten teams, from each of us ...

Matt Brown
First team

Talor Battle, Penn State
Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
Evan Turner, Ohio State
DeShawn Sims, Michigan
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue

Second team

Manny Harris, Michigan
Kevin Coble, Northwestern
Mike Davis, Illinois
Jamelle Cornley, Penn State
E'Twaun Moore, Purdue

Player of the Year: Evan Turner, Ohio State
Turner is the Big Ten's best all-around player -- a versatile 6-foot-7 guard/forward who can score consistently, crash the boards and even run the point if needed. He finished third in the league in scoring, third in rebounds, ninth in assists, seventh in field goal percentage and fourth in steals.Arguments can be made for Talor Battle as the most valuable player to his team and Kalin Lucas as the best player on the best team, but Turner is the most dangerous and versatile offensive threat in the Big Ten. He forces teams to mold their entire defensive gameplans around him.

Coach of the Year: Ed DeChellis, Penn State
Consider it kind of a multi-year award for where Penn State was when DeChellis took over to where the program is now. This team looked like it would be Ed's best heading into the season, but I don't know if anyone saw 21 wins.

Most Improved Player: Mike Davis, Illinois
Davis' minutes tripled this year, and he became one of the Big Ten's best all-around players. He led the league in rebounding and finished the season wiht five double-doubles, including a 14-point, 16-rebound performance against Purdue Feb. 8.

Freshman of the Year: Verdell Jones III, Indiana
In a league filled with talented sophomores, this year's freshman class doesn't come close to last year's. With few impact players, I'll give the nod to Verdell Jones III, who scored in double figures in seven of the Hoosiers' final nine games and has emerged as a legitimate scoring threat.

Defensive Player of the Year: Damian Johnson, Minnesota
The lanky junior recorded multiple steals in seven of his last eight games and is as feisty a defender as there is the Big Ten. Chris Kramer gets a lot of the hype as the league's top defender, but Johnson also needs to be recognized for his scrappy play.

Matt Fortuna
First team

Talor Battle, Penn State
Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
Evan Turner, Ohio State
Manny Harris, Michigan
Kevin Coble, Northwestern

Second team

JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
Mike Davis, Illinois
Jamelle Cornley, Penn State
DeShawn Sims, Michigan
Goran Suton, Michigan State

Player of the Year: Evan Turner, Ohio State
I've been torn between Battle and Turner all season, but Turner won me over with his play down the stretch today. He's been more consistent and has filled in a variety of roles for a young Buckeye team that could have easily collapsed after David Lighty went down before Big Ten play.

Coach of the Year: Ed DeChellis, Penn State
No, this isn't just because I called it at the beginning of the season. I've questioned his in-game decision-making more than once, but the fact of the matter is these guys play their behinds off for DeChellis every single night, buying into the family concept and the belief that they really can win every game. It has certainly showed this season with one of the program's best-ever campaigns.

Most Improved Player: Mike Davis, Illinois
Mike Davis' stats, 2007-2008: 10.4 mins, 2.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg, .3 apg
Mike Davis' stats, 2008-2009: 30.2 mins, 11.1 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.9 apg
Need I say more?

Freshman of the Year: William Buford, Ohio State
He's the Big Ten's Hakeem Olajuwon, the default winner of this award since there are no Michael Jordan's around to win it this year. Even though you can't really compare this year's freshmen class to last year's, Buford has stepped up immensely after receiving more minutes when Lighty went down in December, averaging 11.1 ppg for an Ohio State team currently seated on the right side of the bubble.

Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Kramer, Purdue
DeChellis wasn't kidding when he called last year's winner the "energizer bunny" for the way he keeps going and going and going. Nittany Lions fan need just look at their team's two games against the Boilermakers this season to notice his effectiveness. Kramer sat out Purdue's first game at Penn State with an ankle injury, and the Nits' starting backcourt combined for 39 points in a three-point win. Last month in West Lafeyette, Ind., the duo combined for five in a 14-point defeat, with the masked Kramer responsible for the frustrating night despite breaking his nose less than two weeks earlier.

Nate Mink
First team

Talor Battle, Penn State
Kalin Lucas, Michigan State
Evan Turner, Ohio State
Manny Harris, Michigan
DeShawn Sims, Michigan

Second team

Kevin Coble, Northwestern
E'Twaun Moore, Purdue
JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
Jamelle Cornley, Penn State
Goran Suton, Michigan State

Player of the Year: Talor Battle, Penn State
No player means more to his team than Battle. The conference's scoring champ didn't earn that title by playing the most minutes, either. Whenever his team needed a spark or play, the ball was in his hands. His buzzer-beater against No. 23 Illinois on Mar. 5 may have been the difference between an NIT and NCAA tournament bid.

Coach of the Year: Ed DeChellis, Penn State
One more basket in regulation against Iowa Mar. 7 and Penn State would've been the second seed in this week's Big Ten tournament. Most figured the Nittany Lions would be vying for an NIT berth this time of the year, not the NCAA bid they are within reach of. The most important trait of this team is its resiliency. Give DeChellis credit for making these guys believe no game is out of reach.

Most Improved Player: Evan Turner, Ohio State
Turner probably gets the nod as Big Ten player of the year Monday night, and a big reason for that is because of how much he has improved since last season. ET has doubled his scoring to almost 17 a game, increased his rebounding by three and upped his assists, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and free throw percentage as well.

Freshman of the Year: Matt Gatens, Iowa
Playing 33.5 minutes a night for coach Todd Lickliter, Gatens averaged more than 11 points and close to four rebounds. What separates Gatens from the other freshmen is his coolness at the free throw line. He's a ridiculous 90 percent foul shooter, missing eight all season.

Defensive Player of the Year: Chris Kramer, Purdue
Kramer led the Big Ten in steals and was the recipient of the award last year. Just how tough is this kid defensively?

Wow.

What a tough loss for Penn State. For the second game in a row, they looked finished with a few minutes left in the game but ended up making a big comeback. But in the second overtime, Penn State went cold from the field and that was that. Jake Kelly played a terrific all-around game, and Penn State had too many defensive mix-ups allowing too many easy buckets down low.

Final Stats
Field goals: PSU 38.5%, Iowa 46.6%
3-pointers: PSU 25%, Iowa 33.3%
Free throws: PSU 10-12, Iowa 11-17
Rebounds: PSU 25 (7 off.), Iowa 39 (10 off.)
Turnovers: PSU 9, Iowa 11

Game leaders
Iowa
Jake Kelley - 22 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds
Cyrus Tate - 15 points, 10 rebounds
Jarryd Cole - 14 points, 11 rebounds
Matt Gatens - 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists

Penn State
Talor Battle - 26 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists
Stanley Pringle - 15 points, 6 assists
Jamelle Cornley - 10 points, just 1 rebound

So that'll do it from here in my living room. Gone are Penn State's hopes at a No. 2 seed. We won't know the seed until tomorrow night.

Scenarios:
-Wisconsin beats Indiana, Ohio State beats Northwestern = PSU No. 6
-Wisconsin/Ohio State split = PSU No. 5
-Wisconsin/Ohio State both lose = PSU No. 4

Thanks for following along, this is Matt Brown signing off.

Iowa 75, Penn State 67 -- Double Overtime

***
Eddie George: both "candid" and "real." Wow! Sounds riveting.

Jake Kelly with the ugliest 3-pointer in the history of basketball. Off the backboard, off the rim and in. That was much worse than Pringle's straight-away 3 Thursday night. Talk about luck. Iowa up 71-67 with 50 seconds.

Cornley misses a 3, Battle grabs his 10th rebound, but his pass to Jones is stolen. Penn State's in big trouble now as Gatens heads to the line with 26.5 seconds to play. Not the best person to foul, as he sinks both and the lead is 6.

Morrissey misses a 3, and that's probably it. Battle fouls out and Cole will go to the line.

"Winningest play of the game" is Kelly's 3... one of the worst makes I've ever seen.

Cole hits both free throws and the lead is 8. What a shame for Penn State after that comeback at the end of regulation.

FINAL SCORE - DOUBLE OVERTIME
Iowa 75, Penn State 67

***
All right, Penn State in control of the ball to start our second overtime. Jones is blocked from behind but the ball is out off of Iowa. 3 seconds on the shot clock, Battle buries a 3... although we didn't see that thanks to the Big Ten Network's convenient camera work.

3 points for Bawinkel to tie the game.

That was Battle's 1st made 3-pointer. He now has 26 points but is 1-for-8 from 3. Great job by DJ Jackson to grab an offensive board on a Pringle miss. Battle blocked by Kelly and Iowa can retake the lead. They walk instead.

Pringle's 3-point attempt is off the front of the iron, Iowa ball with under 2 minutes. Pringle gets matched up with Cole for some reason, Pringle fouls him and Cole goes to the line. But that's not a bad thing as he's horrible at the line. Misses the first, makes the 2nd... 68-67 Iowa.

Battle drives and has it stripped away by Kelly, who is just playing a terrific all-around game.

1:17 second overtime
Iowa 68, Penn State 67

***
With 31 seconds to work with, Jake Kelly dribbles around for a while, Penn State plays good defense, and Kelly launches a 3 with a defender in his face. It's way off, and we head to a second overtime.

END OF 1ST OVERTIME
PENN STATE 54, IOWA 54

***
I feel like I need a breather trying to live blog the finish to this game. A good, but rather boring game most of the way turns into a shootout in the final minutes/overtime.

Morrissey misses a 3, grabs the rebound and Battle misses a 3. Two huge misses for Penn State as Iowa sets up with under a minute to play.

Iowa air balls a 3, and PSU has control again. Morrissey drives and creates for Cornley on the outside, who hits a 3... what? That's not how it usually happens. Tie game, 31 seconds left.

0:31 overtime
Penn State 54, Iowa 54

***
OK, we're in overtime now. The key stat may be Talor Battle's four fouls with another five minutes to play now.

Battle misses a 3 to start overtime and the ball is deflected off of Jones out of bounds. Kelly misses an open 3 and PSU grabs the board as we head under 4 minutes. Pringle misses a 3 and the ball goes over the backboard off the bounce. Iowa ball.

Kelly pulls up from 3 and buries it. What a shot. 59-56 Iowa. Jones gets an open bucket down low to cut the lead to 1.

Tate heading to the line for 2 shots, he misses both. 3 points Danny Morrissey and Penn State is back in front 61-59. Morrissey's first bucket of the afternoon.

Gatens misses a learner but the loose ball goes off Penn State. And Kelly hits a 3 to put Iowa back on top by 1.

2 free throws for Gatens puts Iowa up 64-61. Timeout.

1:28 overtime
Iowa 64, Penn State 61

***
I just can't describe what is happening right now. Steal Penn State, Pringle gets a fast break, lays it in AND ONE. Pringle makes the free throw and somehow PENN STATE HAS TAKEN A 2-POINT LEAD. I can't explain this.

Tie ballgame as Kelly picks up his 10th assist by feeding Cole for 2. With 10 seconds left, PSU takes control but Battle fired up a 3 with 3 seconds left to go. They had time but it didn't look like they tried too hard there. I don't understand that at all.

Anyway, we're heading to overtime. Just a crazy last few minutes in Iowa City.

END OF REGULATION
Penn State 56, Iowa 56

***
Battle nearly fouls out but the officials correctly called a blocking foul. Battle buries 2 free throws, 54-53 Iowa. Timeout Iowa as Penn State's press is effective.

1:02 second half
Iowa 54, Penn State 53

***
Battle hits the first at the line but misses the second. Looks like PSU should've grabbed the rebound, but Iowa somehow ended up with it. 7-point Iowa lead.

Foul on Battle down low puts Penn State over the limit. 1-and-1 for Cole... he misses the front-end but PSU's rebounding troubles continue. Three players had a shot at it but fought each other for it and the ball went out-of-bounds to Iowa.

Where is the help defense? Just terrible team defense as Gatens drives past everyone and scores.

Pringle turns it over, DeChellis calls a timeout, and Penn State is in big, big trouble.

Battle with a leaner to cut the lead to 7, steal by Pringle, Battle with a circus shot that falls, and 1. What? This team never quits, that is for sure. Battle completes the 3-point play and it's 51-47 Iowa. Foul on Jackson sends Kelly to the line with 1:40 left.

Kelly shooting 1-and-1, hits the first and the second. That's huge as the lead is now 6.

Gatens picks up Iowa's seventh team foul and Battle will shoot 1-and-1 with 1:25 left. Nothing but net on the first, and the second also falls. Battle with a steal and lay-up, 2 point game. Wow. Just wow.

Jones with a smart foul to send Cole to the line instead of getting a 2-point bucket. The first is a complete brick and the second falls.

1:11 second half
Iowa 54, Penn State 51

***
Pringle back in the game for PSU, and he needs to stay in. He's been the top offensive player for the Lions for the second straight game.

A huge two-handed slam for Jeff Brooks as Pringle fed him near the basket.

Woodyard gets beat down low, Tate scores. Just unbelievable how many looks Iowa is getting with a foot of the basket.

Cornley just took an elbow in the mouth and fell, and Cole gets a bucket from a foot away. Cornley stays in the game.

Beautiful drive by Battle down the baseline ends with him missed horribly on the lay-in attempt. Then he picks up a ticky-tack foul.

Battle will be on the free-throw line after a timeout.

3:31 second half
Iowa 49, Penn State 41

***
Cornley tosses up a brick in the lane. Penn State needs to get Stanley Pringle back on the floor. I assume that will happen after this media timeout.

6:29 second half
Iowa 45, Penn State 39

***
Talor Battle heading to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game. Battle knocks down both to tie the game at 39.

Another defensive breakdown for Penn State as Tate gets a look down low and scores. Jake Kelly with 7 assists now.

Kelly steps through the PSU defense with ease and scores to extend the lead to 4. Fatigue may be coming into play here.

Again, Cole scores down low. Perhaps PSU should adjust on defense? Yeah, that would be smart.

7:12 second half
Iowa 45, Penn State 39

***
Terrific ball movement around the perimeter for Penn State but Pringle was short on his 3-point attempt. Gatens misses a wide-open shot for Iowa. And we have another timeout.

9:35 second half
Iowa 39, Penn State 37

***
Two points for Pringle as he drives and scores to re-take the lead for the Lions.

Iowa's dominance of the offensive glass is embarrassing for PSU right now. Another second chance allows the Hawkeyes to tie the game. That's 10 now I believe.

Pringle heating up, he hits a 3, and Morrissey grabs a rebound for PSU. Pringle launches a long 3 but misses and Drew Jones picks up a pointless foul on the rebound. Cyrus Tate trims the led to 35-34 with a basket down low.

Another basket down low for Iowa, as this Jarryd Cole found the basket. Iowa's doing a terrific job of getting size mismatches in the paint. Battle answers with a leaner in the key. 37-36 Lions.

Bawinkel spots up from beyond the arc and gives Iowa the lead. Ed DeChellis calls a timeout.

10:44 second half
Iowa 39, Penn State 37

***
28-25 now after a Cyrus Tate free throw and a Stanley Pringle bucket.

PSU comes up with a steal, Pringle feeds Battle and Battle finishes in a whole mess of traffic... plus a foul. The free throw is no good though 30-25.

3 points of Jake Kelly from the wing cuts the lead to 2. That's a huge shot for Iowa as they've been lost on offense this half.

And the Lions turn it over, Bawinkel misses a 3 but Morrissey failed to go for the rebound and Bawinkel grabbed it. Tate scores down low to tie it.

15:01 second half
Penn State 30, Iowa 30

***
This announcing team has been pretty solid so far. I don't recall them doing a Penn State game this year, although I could be wrong.

Penn State takes the lead to start the half with a Drew Jones bucket down low. Todd Lickliter already upset, as he uses a timeout.

19:29 second half
Penn State 26, Iowa 24

***
On the bubble right now:
Texas A&M obliterating Missouri 48-27 near halftime
Rhode Island trailing UMass 41-35 near halftime
Florida 29, Kentucky 20 at the half (sounds like a Big Ten game, doesn't it?)
South Carolina 27, Georgia 23 at halftime (where's the SEC speed?)

***
HALFTIME STATS:
Field goals: PSU 43.5%, Iowa 35.7%
3-pointers: PSU 33.3%, Iowa 23.5%
Free throws: PSU 1-1, Iowa 0-0
Rebounds: PSU 14 (4 offensive), Iowa 17 (8 offensive)
Turnovers: PSU 5, Iowa 4

Leading scorers:
Iowa
Matt Gatens, 6
Jake Kelly, 6

Penn State
Jamelle Cornley, 7
Talor Battle, 5
Stanley Pringle, 5

Another riveting Big Ten first half, as Iowa held the ball for the length of the shot clock nearly every possession and also grabbed eight offensive rebounds. That's why both teams are on pace for under 50 points, along with some bad 3-point shooting.

Penn State's legs at least appeared to have woken up toward the end of the half, and at this point, I'm going to predict about a six-point win for Penn State.

Brilliant quote of the year on the BTN's halftime show:
"Iowa needs to score more points than Penn State to win." - Tim Doyle.

Thanks, Tim. You've completely changed my perspective on basketball. That's just mind-blowing analysis.

PENN STATE 24, IOWA 24 at the half

***
DJ Jackson gets called for, well, I don't know what as he leaned in and shot. Just the fifth foul in this game.

Half the Big Ten has the same offense: stand around for 32 seconds, then shoot. Illinois effectively ran this Thursday and kept hitting shots at the buzzer, but Iowa misses here.

Two points for Pringle, Davis misses a 3, and Cornley knocks down a 2 to tie the game.

Iowa misses a 3 and DJ Jackson nearly comes up with an 80-foot prayer as his heave hit the rim.
HALFTIME
Penn State 24, Iowa 24

***
Jake Kelly finds an open spot and hits a leaning jumper for 2.

Pringle drives and misses and Iowa takes control again. Penn State just isn't getting many good offensive looks and clearly appears tired out tehere.

Morrissey bricks a 3 off the back of the iron, and Cyrus Tate scores over Jones down low. Cammeron Woodyard makes his first appearance in a week and hits a 3. Huge shot for Penn State. 21-15 Hawkeyes.

Battle drives and kicks out to Cornley for a wide-open 3, which falls and cut the lead in half. Matt Gatens answers from 3 and doubles the lead. What a play by Battle as he misses a 3, follows it and scores inside.

2:55 first half
Iowa 24, Penn State 20

***
A 3-pointer for Bawinkel as Iowa embarasses Penn State on the offensive glass.

Battle drives on Bawinkel, scores and draws a foul. He finishes the 3-point play and it's 17-12 Iowa.

Another Iowa offensive rebound off a missed 3... and another off a Gatens miss. Tired legs or not, this is inexcusable. You just can't give a team so many second and third chances.

7:41 first half
Iowa 17, Penn State 12

***
BTN graphic shows Iowa has won the last 6 against Penn State at Carver-Hawkeye. But Penn State hasn't exactly paid much attention to historical numbers this season.

Cornley with another turnover and Cyrus Tate scores for the Hawkeyes. Cornley answers with a nice turnaround jumper.

Cyrus Tate with a tip-in off of one of his missed shots, and after a Battle miss, PSU leaves Jermain Davis wide open from 3. Drew Jones grabs and offensive board and scores to make it 11-7 Iowa.

Drew Jones looking good so far, as Morrissey misses a jumper but Jones out-muscled Tate for the rebound and slammed it home.

A wide-open Matt Gatens drills a 3. To pull a John Madden and state the obvious, Penn State should stop leaving people open.

10:32 first half
Iowa 14, Penn State 9

***
A backcourt violation to kick off the game for the Nittany Lions. Great way to start.

Man-to-man defense for Iowa to start the game, and Jackson and Cornley both miss shots. Jake Kelly gets Iowa on the scoreboard in the paint, 2-0 Hawkeyes.

Where is the help defense for Penn State? Jake Kelly just walked through the entire team and scored easily. But Pringle picks up right where he left off Thursday and buries a 3.

Drew Jones just got tackled but apparently that's not a foul in basketball. To be clear though, Ed Hightower is NOT present at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

15:05 first half
Iowa 4, Penn State 3

***
Pitt just finished taking care of UConn, looks like we'll have a new No. 1 yet again. Perhaps UNC if they beat Duke tomorrow.

And Michigan takes down Minnesota 67-64 at the Barn.

Jamelle Cornley will play in the game, and it'll certainly be interesting to see how effective he is.

***
Big Ten Network pregame show: Gene Keady picks Kalin Lucas for player of the year, Tim Doyle picks Evan Turner.

Doyle on Penn State: "If they win this game, they are absolutely 100% in the tournament."

***
PERKASIE, Pa. -- We usually don't do live blogs for the road games (at least when we're not actually in attendance), but with the importance of today's game, Matt Brown here to take you through today's action as Penn State (21-9, 10-7 Big Ten) visits Iowa (14-16, 4-13) in the regular season finale for both.

It's spring break, and in a few days we'll head out to Indianapolis for the Big Ten tournament. But right now, I'm writing to you from the comfort of my living room back home in Perkasie.

ESPN's Bob Knight and Jay Bilas both supported Penn State for the NCAA tournament during College Gameday this morning, and every updated bracket I've looked at has the Lions in. But a loss today could put them right back on the border between NCAAs and NIT. Also at stake is Big Ten tournament seeding. A win combined with a Purdue loss at Michigan State tomorrow would put Penn State as the No. 2 seed, while a win and a Purdue win would put Penn State at No. 3. With a loss things get confusing, but we'll wait to go there until some other games are played.

The big question heading into the game is the status of Jamelle Cornley, who aggravated a shoulder injury in Thursday's win against Illinois. If Cornley goes, the starting lineup will likely be Talor Battle, Stanley Pringle, DJ Jackson, Cornley and Andrew Jones. If Cornley is sidelined, my guess would be Jeff Brooks returns to the starting five.

15 minutes until game time, and for now, I'm watching Michigan and Minnesota and Connecticut and Pitt battle down to the wire. Stay tuned.

Obviously, the big game to watch today is Penn State's regular season finale at Iowa at 2 p.m. on Big Ten Network.

But, with the Nittany Lions still on the bubble and the Big Ten tournament seed up in the air, there are plenty of other games to pay attention to this weekend. So here's a quick guide to what to pay attention to this weekend:

Saturday
Noon - Michigan at Minnesota, ESPN
Noon - Georgia Tech at Boston College, ESPN 360
2 pm - Penn State at Iowa, BTN
2 pm - South Carolina at Georgia, ESPN 360
2 pm - Kentucky at Florida, CBS
2 pm - California at Arizona State, CBS
2 pm - UMass at Rhode Island, Cox Sports TV
2 pm - Missouri at Texas A&M, ESPN2
3:30 pm - Oklahoma State at Oklahoma, ABC
3:30 pm - Maryland at Virginia, ABC
7:30 pm - Stanford at Arizona, CBS
8 pm - Duquesne at Dayton, WHIO-TV

Sunday
Noon - Purdue at Michigan State, CBS
2 pm - Virginia Tech at Florida State, ESPN 360
5 pm - Northwestern at Ohio State, BTN
7 pm - Indiana at Wisconsin, BTN

If Penn State can beat the Hawkeyes this afternoon, every PSU fan should be tuned in to watch the Boilermakers and Spartans on Sunday. A Penn State win plus a Purdue loss equals the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament for the Nittany Lions.

It should be a fun weekend of college basketball to watch as we move closer and closer to March Madness. Also, No. 1 UConn and No. 3 Pitt play each other at noon Saturday and No. 2 North Carolina hosts No. 7 Duke at 4 p.m. Sunday. Little impact on Penn State, but it just adds to the weekend.

-Brown

Illinois gets the ball with the possession arrow with 9.5 seconds left.

Penn State fouls with 8.4 left. Davis is shooting a 1-and-1, and DeChellis calls a timeout. Both teams have one timeout left. Davis is way short on the first. Battle somehow finds a way to get a shot and in with 0.3 seconds left. He went baseline and did some kind of circus shot that hits all kinds of iron and glass before dropping.

FINAL
PSU 64, Illinois 63

***

Jackson is at the line for a 1-and-1 with a chance to cut the lead to one. Jackson makes good on both, and here we go folks, final minute.

58.1 seconds left 2nd half
Illinois 63, PSU 62

***

Frazier is at the line shooting 1-and-1 and comes up short on the first attempt. On the ensuing possession, there's no quit in Frazier's defense as he is right in Pringle's grill when he launched that 3, but it's nothing but net.

1:32 left 2nd half
Illinois 63, PSU 60

***

Cornley had been taken into the locker room, but here he comes with 3:41 left.

3:36 left 2nd half
Illinois 63, PSU 57

I got confirmation from team spokesman Brian Siegrist that Cornley was nursing a dislocated shoulder he's dealt with since his sophomore year.

***

Cornley is getting is left shoulder rubbed on the end of the bench. It doesn't look too serious, so I'd be shocked if Cornley is out much longer.

Jones fouls out with 4:40 remaining. Ott comes back in.

McCamey sinks one of two free throws, and Illinois is now in the low 60s.

4:31 left 2nd half
Illinois 61, PSU 55

***

Ott checks in for Jones, and I don't know if he's going to be nearly as effective against Tisdale.

As I type that, Davis gets loose down low and flushes it home.

Pringle cuts the lead in half with a deep bomb, but there's Tisdale to answer with another baseline jumper to keep this crowd frustrated.

McCamey extends the Illini to eight with a huge triple on the left wing.

Lions turn it over on offensive goaltending. Key possession here, and Illinois gets a tip-in as the shot clock expires.

A lot of groans from the fans in white.

5:09 left 2nd half
Illinois 60, PSU 50

***

Battle uses a screen to get into the lane then throws up a floater that drops. Pringle buries a 3 in front of the Penn State bench to bring this crowd back into it ... until Illinois answers yet again.

Lions still trail by four.

key moment here: 7:47 left Andrew Jones picks up his fourth foul after just seemingly throwing Tisdale to the floor.

Illinois 51, PSU 47

***

Things are startin' to get a little sloppy on both ends. Penn State keeps pushing the ball up the floor, but is unable to get any fast break points.

We have less than 10 minutes to go and a Brock baseline jumper makes it a three possession game.

9:29 left 2nd half
Illinois 49, PSU 42

***

The lead is at two now and Illini coach Bruce Weber sends Tisdale to the bench. Calvin Brock nails a 3 late in the possession, and once again the Illini answer the Lions' run with a big bucket.

12:18 left 2nd half
Illinois 47, PSU 42

***

Cornely gets the offensive rebounds after Jones misses the second free throw, but missed a point-blank lay-in. He makes up for on the next possession by driving baseline off a nice pump fake.

14:27 left 2nd half and Illinois is finally at the line. Dominique Keller misses both though. After Penn State cuts the lead to one, and nearly taking the lead off a quick turnover, Mike Davis hammers a home a huge jam through the Lion defense and completes the 3-point play.

Lions down four.

***

Cornley gets active right off the bat, driving to the hoop for a lay-in. McCamey knocks down a jumper at the other end. It looks like the scoring won't let up, thankfully.

Frazier knocks down another 3 to up the Illini lead to five. Jones is at the line and comes dangerously close to air balling the first attempt, just drawing the front of the iron. He sinks the second.

Jones goes to work in the post against Tisdale and draws another shooting foul.

15:32 left 2nd half
Illinois 41, PSU 35

***

Penn State is starting to do the things it needs to come leave a winner. It's taking good care of the basketball, and the defense got in gear in the closing minutes.

How the Nittany Lions come out, you know, when they don't have the pre-game adrenaline flowing will be interesting to watch. They spent a good deal of the first half staving off six, eight-point deficits. Any type of sluggish beginning could spell trouble.

***

Stats at the half:

ILL
Field goals 15-28 53.6%
3-point FGs 4-10 40.0%
Free throws 0-0 0.0%
Reb (O-D) 17 (7-10)
Turnovers 9

PSU
Field goals 13-25 52.0%
3-point FGs 3-8 37.5 %
Free Throws 3-4 75 %
Reb (O-D) 9 (3-6)
Turnovers 6

I didn't think it was possible for Illinois to go another half without shooting a free throw.

Leading scorers:
PSU - Stanley Pringle 9
ILL - 3 tied with 8

I also don't think 8-year-old basketball is what college kids want to see as halftime entertainment, although there are a few cheers every made bucket. Maybe I'm the one not entertained?

***

Pringle crosses over a bunch of times then hits the mid-range jumper.

Here's something rare. Tisdale launched a 3 as time was expiring and Davis gets whistled for a foul on Cornley with about 0.2 seconds left. It's a 1-and-1 for Cornley.

Cornely hits one of two.

HALFTIME
Illinois 34, PSU 32

Illinois has already exceeded its point total from the last meeting. Penn State still has six to go.

The Lions probably need to keep the game in the low 60's to have a real shot at it. They held strong defensively down the stretch but need to close out on shooters better.

***

McCamey drills a 3 as Cornley was late closing out on him.

1:54 left 1st half
Illinois 34, PSU 29

***

Tisdale shows his range by knocking down long jumper. Morrissey shoots it a little bit further for the triple to bring Lions within five. Pringles goes coast-to-coast but is blocked by Tisdale. Pringle gives up about a foot on Tisdale.

Davis hits a baseline jumper with the shot clock winding down. On the next possession, Pringle gets into the lane and get a runner to go. Pringle follows up that deuce with a long bomb to cut the lead to four.

Today's Pringle's 22nd B-Day, too.

2:56 left 1st half
Illinois 31, PSU 29

***

Battle, Chris Babb, Danny Morrissey, Andrew Ott and Jones are on the floor. Morrissey feeds Brooks down low to cut the deficit to eight.

Battle could not have played better defense on Frazier. Frazier is leaning out of bounds on the baseline and throws up a rainbow that hits nothing but net. All Battle can do is look up at the sky and roll his eyes.

7:15 left 1st half
Illinois 25, PSU 17

***

Battle misses way long on a 3-point attempt from the left corner. Lions are trailing by six and is lucky Illinois botches up in transition. Lions have to be careful to not get behind too much.

Cornley takes a seat with 13:26 remaining in the half. Jones shows practice makes perfect with a nice baby hook in the lane. Jones has definitely up-ed his game on the offensive end this season, taking his time in the post and not rushing any moves or shots.

Jones gets caught out of position and Tisdale slams it home.

11:34 left 1st half
Illinois 19, PSU 10

***

Cornley muscles his way down low for two. Lions are on an 8-0 run. This is the exact start needed with this type of crowd. There's a lot of hustle plays and more importantly, offense.

Illinois answers with a 7-0 run of its own to lead by four.

14:48 left 1st half
Illinois 12, PSU 8

Even Blue Sapphire P.J. made it out to the game tonight.

***

Tisdale wins the tip and works Jones down on the low block for two to open things up. McCamey puts the Illini up five early. It doesn't look as if the Illin will repeat their 30 percent shooting night from earlier this season.

Penn State is getting out into transition early, always a good sign for a lackluster offense. The Lions bring out a press and force two Illini turnovers. Pringle knocks in a baseline jumper and the Lions lead 6-5.

Before Jamelle Cornley was introduced he was standing on the bench shouting all kinds of things to pump himself up. Good luck Mike Davis or whoever is guarding him tonight.

***

Hey ya'll Penn State basketball fans, (and I bet there's a good number of you out there considering there's a ton of empty seats 10 minutes to tip-off) and get ready for arguably Penn State's biggest game on this campus in more than a decade.

There's a lot of white in this place this evening, but some orange snuck past the ushers. It finally feels like a college basketball environment in this building. It will definitely be loud early, but let's see how much screamin' Nittany Nation will do if the Lions come out ice cold.

QB Daryll Clark came out in a white t-shirt to pump up the crowd before the game. This guy is uber-hyper. Clark said he wants to dunk on somebody. No word if Juice Williams is in the house tonight.

Starting lineups.

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

Illinois
1 G Trent Meacham
3 G Chester Frazier
54 C Mike Tisdale
32 G Demetri McCamey
24 F Mike Davis

UConn reclaimed its spot atop this week's AP Top 25 poll, receiving 67 of the 72 first-place votes.

Despite staying put at No. 5, Memphis actually garnered a first-place vote.

In the Big Ten, Michigan State moved up a spot to No. 8 while Purdue and the Nits' next opponent, Illinois, slid three spots each to Nos. 19 and 23, respectively.

Penn State failed to receive any votes in either poll this week, which was likely due more to its close home win over Indiana than its road loss at Ohio State.

The Lions better hope the selection committee doesn't view things the same way.

AP Top 25
Rank School Record Pts Pvs
1. Connecticut (67) 27-2 1,792 2
2. North Carolina (3) 25-3 1,678 4
3. Pittsburgh (1) 26-3 1,612 1
4. Oklahoma 26-3 1,576 3
5. Memphis (1) 26-3 1,543 5
6. Louisville 23-5 1,462 6
7. Duke 24-5 1,340 7
8. Michigan St. 23-5 1,302 9
9. Kansas 24-5 1,190 15
10. Wake Forest 22-5 1,158 13
11. Villanova 23-6 913 10
12. LSU 25-4 894 18
13. Marquette 23-6 860 8
14. Gonzaga 23-5 837 17
15. Missouri 24-5 795 11
16. Washington 22-7 704 21
17. Xavier 23-5 629 19
18. Clemson 22-6 564 12
19. Purdue 22-7 545 16
20. UCLA 22-7 497 22
21. Arizona St. 21-7 347 14
22. Butler 25-4 302 24
23. Illinois 23-7 287 20
24. Florida St. 22-7 272 23
25. Syracuse 21-8 99 --
Others receiving votes: Creighton 52, BYU 41, Utah 22, Saint Mary's, Calif. 13, Dayton 11, West Virginia 10, Davidson 9, Texas 9, California 8, Providence 7, South Carolina 7, Washington St. 4, Arizona 3, Oklahoma St. 2, American U. 1, Boston College 1, Rhode Island 1, Utah St. 1.

-Fortuna

Last week, the three of us made the trek out to Columbus to bring you coverage of the Ohio State-Penn State showdown. With no ability to provide instant updates from the road via this blog, we waited until after we got home to post a little recap of our journey.

With the Collegian's Footblog providing travel diaries, we want to be able to do the same. That's where Twitter comes in.

On the sidebar to the right, you should see the new Hardwood Hits Twitter. The main use will be next week's road trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten tournament, as we'll provide instant updates from the road during our eight or nine-hour road trips, as well as from Canseco Fieldhouse and our temporary home away from home in Bloomington.

In addition to that, we'll use it for any instant updates on basketball-related things that pop up, as well as any items that may not warrant entire blog posts.

We're rookies with this, but we'll do our best to keep it up to date. So become a follower by clicking the button on the sidebar if you wish and enjoy.

-Brown

Here we are, the 16th week of following just how bad some of Penn State's non con-conference opponents have been doing. There's just one more week left in the college basketball regular season, with some smaller conference tournament getting underway in just a few days.

Last week, Matt, Nate and I traveled along endless stretches of I-80 and I-71 through all hours of the night to cover Tuesday's interesting showdown with Ohio State. After a 19-2 start to the game in favor of the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lions stormed back and we had a back and forth game until a big Penn State drought in the second half. Saturday, the Lions ran into a more-than-ready-to-play Indiana squad that brought it's "A" game but came out on top -- barely.

Heading into Sunday, RealTimeRPI had Penn State's RPI at No. 64, with a weak Indiana team delivering a blow to the strength of schedule.

Anyway, here is the second-to-last regular season look at Penn State's opponents in the last week (Feb. 23-March 1):

Non-Conference Opponents
-William & Mary... L 64-63 at Old Dominion, W 48-47 vs. Drexel
-NJIT...L 60-53 at Texas-Pan American, L 89-39 at Utah Valley
-Hartford... L 62-40 vs. Stony Brook, L 67-57 at Boston U.
-New Hampshire... W 64-56 vs. Albany, L 55-49 vs. Stony Brook
-Penn... L 87-79 vs. Yale, W 64-54 vs. Brown
-Rhode Island... W 93-91 vs. Dayton, W 73-71 at Duquesne
-Towson... W 75-74 vs. Delaware, L 71-59 at George Mason
-Georgia Tech... L 104-74 at North Carolina
-Temple... L 70-63 vs. La Salle, L 70-65 at Dayton
-Army... W 79-55 at Lafayette, W 70-53 at Bucknell
-Mount St. Mary's... L 66-63 at Robert Morris
-Lafayette... L 79-55 vs. Army, L 75-68 vs. American
-Sacred Heart...W 76-73 at St. Francis (NY), W 90-60 vs. Bryant

Big Ten Standings
1. Michigan State 13-3 (23-5)
2. Purdue 11-5 (22-7)
3. Illinois 11-6 (23-7)
4. Wisconsin 9-7 (18-10)
4. Penn State 9-7 (20-9)
6. Minnesota 8-8 (20-8)
6. Ohio State 8-8 (18-9)
8. Michigan 8-9 (18-12)
9. Northwestern 7-9 (16-11)
10. Iowa 4-12 (14-15)
11. Indiana 1-15 (6-22)

Non-Conference Opponents' Record: 149-226
Big Ten Opponents' Record: 178-106
Total Opponents' Record: 327-332

Next week, we'll go over where everyone is seeded in their conference tournament or how they did, depending on the conference. At this point, Mount St. Mary's, Sacred Heart, Temple and Rhode Island appear to be the only ones with a shot in their conferences, and Temple and Mount St. Mary's both had bad weeks. Meanwhile, Rhode Island beat Dayton and jumped to second place in the Atlantic 10, just half a game behind Xavier.

For the weekly NJIT update, the Highlanders traveled 2,178 miles to Orem, Utah, and lost by 50. Ouch. Utah Valley hit 16-of-26 3-pointers. Not bad.

And what appeared to be Penn State's biggest non-conference win continues to disappoint. Georgia Tech gave North Carolina a game for the first 10 minutes or so before being blown away and allowing 104 points.

It was a big week in the Big Ten, and Michigan State clinched a share of the regular season conference title today with its hard-fought win over Illinois at Assembly Hall. Wisconsin also picked up an important win by knocking off Michigan at home. As of right now, Wisconsin and Penn State would each receive a bye in the Big Ten tournament and would square off in the quarterfinals in the 4-5 game.

For Michigan, Sunday was a disappointment after the Wolverines put up 50 in the second half against Purdue on Thursday. Apparently real offensive basketball can be played in the Big Ten every 10 weeks or so. Of course, in the Wisconsin game, Michigan scored just 21 in the second half.

Games to watch this week, aside from Thursday's huge showdown at the BJC between Penn State and Illinois:
-Wisconsin at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m. Wednesday
-St. Joe's at Temple, 7 p.m. Thursday
-Purdue at Michigan State, Noon Sunday

-Brown