“I Thought Football Season Was Over?”
February 19, 2009 at 3:31 pm Ryan Jones 1 comment
38 points, none for style...
So texted a friend of mine this morning, upon seeing the final score of Penn State’s road upset of No. 16 Illinois last night in Champaign. The reason for his feigned confusion? When the Nittany Lion football team beat their counterparts from Illinois in Beaver Stadium last fall, the final score was 38-24. Last night, the men’s basketball team won with 38 points of its own.
Ugly? You could say that. The AP reports that the 38-33 win is the lowest scoring Division I game in four years, and it’s Penn State’s lowest scoring output in a victory since a 24-9 win over Pitt — in 1952. Hard as it was to watch (and if you missed the Big Ten Network telecast, you can see the, um, “highlights” here) , the result is a thing of beauty for Penn State hoop fans. With their third win over a top-20 team this season (and second on the road, after a 72-68 upset of then No. 9 Michigan State in East Lansing three weeks ago), the Nittany Lions improved to 19-8 overall, 8-6 in the Big Ten. Three wins in their (at least) five remaining games — four regular-season games, plus at least one more in next month’s Big Ten tournament — should be enough to get Penn State into the NCAA tournament for the first time in eight years.
For now, they remain firmly on the tournament bubble, meaning the only guarantee is that every game left is a big one.
Ryan Jones, senior editor
Entry filed under: Nittany Lion basketball. Tags: Beaver Stadium, Illinois basketball, Michigan State basketball, NCAA tournament, Pitt basketball.
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