Penn St.-Ohio St. Preview
Gameday Matchup PSU OSU
W-L 10-6 17-0
Avg Points 65.8 80.4
Avg Points Allowed 64.6 56.6
Home Record 9-3 12-0
Road Record 1-3 5-0
Current Streak W2 W17
Team Stat Leaders PSU OSU
Points T. Battle 20.9 J. Sullinger 17.5
Rebounds J. Brooks 8.2 J. Sullinger 10.1
Assists T. Frazier 4.5 A. Craft 4.8
Steals T. Frazier 1.4 A. Craft 1.6
Blocks J. Brooks 1.8 D. Lauderdale 2.2
Penn State has beaten consecutive ranked opponents for the first time in more than half a century. Ohio State is a win away from its best start in nearly 50 years.
The second-ranked Buckeyes also know they're likely on their way to No. 1 if they can extend their winning streak against the suddenly feisty Nittany Lions to 14 on Saturday in Columbus.
Penn State has knocked off two of the Big Ten's premier programs in the past week, and Ohio State (17-0, 4-0) hasn't quite looked like a juggernaut during its three January wins.
The Buckeyes have been tested, but rallied to win 73-68 at Iowa on Jan. 4, defeated Minnesota 67-64 on Sunday and knocked off Michigan 68-64 on Wednesday to match the 1990-91 team for the third-best start in school history.
Later that night, top-ranked Duke lost at Florida State, opening the door for Ohio State to ascend to No. 1 on Monday.
"There wasn't one word said," coach Thad Matta said Friday. "Maybe it was 11:30 at night, but these guys were kind of like, 'Hey, what are we going to do to beat Penn State?' as they got off the bus. That's what I love about this team."
The only Ohio State teams to begin with better records were the 1960-61 squad that started 27-0, and the '61-'62 team that won its first 22 contests. Led both seasons by Jerry Lucas, those Buckeyes lost in the NCAA tournament title game each time.
"It's early in the season," forward David Lighty said. "We're 17-0 but there's still a long way to go. We're kind of looking at the bigger picture."
A home game against the Nittany Lions (10-6, 3-2) no longer appears to be an easy matchup.
Penn State had lost four of five heading into a visit from then-No. 18 Michigan State last Saturday, but beat the Spartans 66-62 despite conference scoring leader Talor Battle finishing with 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting.
Battle didn't struggle again Tuesday. The senior guard had 26 points in engineering a 57-55 upset of No. 16 Illinois, the first time the Nittany Lions have beaten back-to-back ranked teams since the 1954 NCAA tournament.
"We can't be satisfied with what we've done so far," Battle said Thursday, "so it's not just upsets anymore. We're expected to win."
They won't be expected to win in Columbus, considering Penn State has dropped 13 straight in the series. Battle averaged 23.0 points in two losses to the Evan Turner-led Buckeyes last season.
As good as Battle has been this season, the Nittany Lions have fared better when he's done less. They're 2-4 when he scores 26 points or more and 8-2 when he has 21 or fewer.
When senior forward Jeff Brooks has at least 17 points, Penn State is 6-0.
Brooks may be hard-pressed to reach that total against the stingy Buckeyes. Ohio State is giving up 56.6 points per game, eighth in the nation, and the Nittany Lions -- who get 52 percent of their points from Brooks and Battle -- average a Big Ten-low 65.8 points.
Penn State is also allowing opponents to shoot 39.5 percent from 3-point range, which doesn't bode well against a Buckeyes team that shoots 40.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Even if Lighty, Jon Diebler and William Buford aren't hitting, Ohio State has one of the nation's top interior players. Freshman Jared Sullinger is averaging 17.5 points and 10.1 rebounds, making him the first Big Ten player to average that high in both categories since Minnesota's Kris Humphries finished at 21.7 and 10.1 in 2003-04.
http://espn.go.com/ncb/preview?gameId=310150194~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LET'S GO BUCKS!!!
