 faces No. 5 Michigan, which will try to repeat as tournament champs on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.Purdue frustrated Carr and held him to 4-of-18 shooting. The sophomore faced an array of defenders, including the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Nojel Eastern, 5-10 P. J. Thompson, 6-4 Dakota Mathias, 6-8 Vincent Edwards and 6-1 Carsen Edwards.''When you have a good player like that it takes more than one guy because he's able to make shots and make plays over guys,'' Vincent Edwards said. ''They just did a good job of taking up that space and being able to force him into tough shots.'' Shep Garner led the Nittany Lions (21-12) with a career-high 33 points and the senior set a school record with 129 career points in the Big Ten Tournament.The Boilermakers will be making their third appearance in the Big Ten championship since the tournament started in 1998. Their one championship came in 2009.Against Penn State, Purdue used a 12-2 run the middle of the second half to build a 15-point lead. Carsen Edwards led the way, spinning through the lane for a driving layup and making a 3 from up top that made the score 59-44 with 9:15 left. He finished with 27 points and shot 6 of 9 from 3-point range after scoring 26 on Friday against Rutgers.''It's a consistency,'' guard Dakota Mathias said of Edwards. ''He's being very efficient, too.'' Edwards made back-to-back 3s to make it 74-56 with 3:41 left and Purdue was on its way to play for a title.Isaac Haas, the 7-2 center, added 17 points and seven rebounds for Purdue.With Carr struggling, Penn State could not keep up. He picked up a third foul in the second half, a push off call that caused Penn State coach Pat Chambers to draw a technical.''I think they were very physical,'' Chambers said. ''Obviously that's why I felt like I needed to get T'd up, my first T in a long, long time.'' BIG PICTUREPenn State: The Nittany Lions had a chance to work their way into the conversation for an NCAA at-large bid by beating Purdue, but now Penn State seems like a long shot at best. Chambers is still hopefully.''Well, I'm an optimist,'' he said. ''We have NCAA Tournament talent.'' Purdue: The Boilermakers hit a rough patch losing three straight close games in early February to Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin, but an argument can be made that they have been the Big Ten's most consistent team this season.''We had an opportunity to win the Big Ten regular season. We kind of gave that away,'' said Thompson, one of four senior starters. ''But we still had a goal of winning a Big Ten championship on our list before the season started and we put ourselves in position to be able to do that tomorrow.'' Purdue does most everything well, except rebound. A night after giving up 17 offensive boards to Rutgers, the Boilermakers allowed 16 rebounds to Penn State.SHEP SHOOTERGarner went 4 for 5 from 3-point range, including a four-point play, to carry Penn State in the first half. The Nittany Lions led much of the way, but Edwards made a 3 for Purdue with 2 seconds left in the half to send the Boilermakers to the break ahead 33-31.UP NEXTPenn State: An NIT bid is likely coming the Nittany Lions way, though the big question beyond March is whether Carr returns for another season or heads to the NBA draft.Purdue: The Boilermakers swept the Wolverines in two games decided by a combined five points.''Just a really skilled offensive team'' Carsen Edwards said. ''They have a lot of options. For us it's going to come down to defense and getting stops.'' ---For more college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://twitter.com/-Top25)
Mar 03, 2018 Penn State has Ohio State's number.For the third time this season, the Nittany Lions upset the Buckeyes -- and this one was the biggest of the three, earning Penn State on Friday a spot in the Big Ten tournament semifinals Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.The seventh-seeded Nittany Lions will face No. 9 Purdue (27-5), the 3 seed, which beat 14th-seeded Rutgers 82-75 in the late game Friday.Josh Reeves made a dunk to help Penn State regain the lead with 3.1 seconds left, and the Nittany Lions held on for a 69-68 win.Penn State guard Tony Carr was the one who found Reeves."I was definitely surprised how open he was," Carr said. "He was wide open, but I guess that's what happens when it's a mismatch and you got to pay some extra attention to the ball." "As soon as I did it, I feel like I left my body for a second," Reaves added. "I was just standing there, just excited. I heard that they called a timeout, so I took advantage of that moment to try to get the crowd into it." The Nittany Lions advanced to their first semifinals in the Big Ten tournament.Does the win over the Buckeyes put Penn State (21-12) back in the at-large-bid discussion for the NCAA Tournament?"If we keep winning these basketball games, no doubt," Nittany Lions guard Shep Garner said. "No doubt. I mean we're a confident bunch. We know what we can do. Even without the big fella (Mike Watkins, who is out due to injury), we know what we can do." Purdue advanced buy putting a halt to Rutgers' Cinderella aspirations.The Boilermakers trailed for the entire first half and were tied with the Scarlet Knights with seven minutes to go.But Rutgers, which had upset Indiana a day earlier, ran out of gas down the stretch.The Scarlet Knights' second season under head coach Steve Pikiell came to an end at 15-19."I think this is a Final Four team," Pikiell said of the Boilermakers. "We did a lot of good things. We hung around with them. They're well-coached, and that's as good a team as there is in the country. I haven't seen too many better teams in 15 years." For Purdue, it was a matter of survival."They were hitting tough shots; they rebounded pretty well," senior guard Dakota Mathias said. "I was pretty proud of our guys the last five minutes, gutting it out the way we did." The Boilermakers edged Penn State 76-73 on Feb. 18 in the only meeting this season between the teams, and their coach, Matt Painter, was impressed."I think it was just a great win in terms of from an energy standpoint," Painter said after the game. "We were very fortunate to win this game."
Looking for More Picks?
You can browse all the individual handicapper picks below.
Penn State
Purdue
Pick Center
NCAAB
FINAL (3/3/2018)
DeanSports
