Penn State Update - 3/7/2009

What's happened the last week in Penn State athletics? Find out below...

• Let's start with men's basketball. The Nittany Lions had quite the eventful week. Last Saturday night they squeaked out a win versus lowly Indiana at the Bryce Jordan Center, 61-58. The significance about the win was two-fold. First, it got the team to 20 wins. That's a HUGE accomplishment for this team. Second, and more importantly, it kept their March Madness hopes alive. After the win on Saturday the team had off until a home showdown with Illinois on Thursday, March 5th, whom they beat in Champaign just a little over two weeks ago. The game was exciting, to say the least. Penn State pulled out an epic win, upsetting the Illini (again), 64-63. As you can tell this meeting had a bit more offensive flair than the previous one. Talor Battle stole the victory by hitting his shot with 0.3 seconds left in the game. For the first time that I know of, fabns actually rushed the court. [Nittany White Out]
  

From Nittany White Out.

• There are plenty of basketball write-ups to share. They are all good. [Nittany White Out, Black Shoe Diaries, Nittanydelphia, & Zombie Nation]
• Nittany White Out continues their great PSU basketball coverage. They actually had a post rebutting MGoBlog's about why Michigan should make the NCAA Tournament and not Penn State. This was written prior to the second Illinois upset. [Nittany White Out]
• Yes, the Penn State win over Illinois was huge. Rushing-the-court huge. Oh, and very You Tube-worthy. [Nittany White Out, Nittany White Out, & Black Shoe Diaries]
• The kid that appeared ready to attack Talor Battle after the Illinois game has come clean. He claims to have only bear-hugged him... for 3 seconds. [Crispin and Cream]

From Crispin and Cream

• Enough with men's basketball, how about the women? After back-to-back wins over Illinois and Northwestern the Lady Lions couldn't keep it going versus a strong Ohio State squad. The ladies drooped the game in Columbus 74-63 on March 1st. On the 5th they were in Indianapolis for the start of the Big Ten tournament. They faced Illinois once again but didn't come out on top, dropping the game 58-49. The Lady Lions are done for the season, finishing 11-18 overall and 6-12 in Big Ten play.
• Moving from the court to the diamond, the baseball team hasn't played any more games outside of that four game set with Texas. The Longhorns had their with Penn State. Texas swept the series, outscoring Penn State 25-4. Ouch. The most memorable of the series was the February 28th nightcap, in which SP T.J. Macy went eight innings, allowing one run on five hits, and struck out five. The team sits at 2-5 and has a match at 7:30 tonight against Akron in Florida. They also have a double header tomorrow, playing Lehigh at 1:00 PM and St. Joseph's at 4:30 PM. [Black Shoe Diaries]
• Nothing has happened with the wrestling team in two weeks. However, the Big Ten Championships started today in University Park. They continue tomorrow. [The Nittany Line]
• After a 1st place finish on February 21st the women's gymnastics team had off until last Sunday. They faced off against Ohio State and Alabama in Rec Hall. The ladies came out victorious. They finished with a score of 196.650, good for 1st place. The women travel to West Virginia for a head-to-head match tomorrow and then next Saturday travel to Maryland for another head-to-head match up. The Big Ten Championships are the following Saturday in Illinois.
• The men's gymnastics team hosted Ohio State last Saturday and traveled to Philadelphia to play Temple on Friday. The Nittany Lions won both matches, continuing their streak of good play. The team has off today but suits up again tomorrow for a dual meet in Williamsburg, VA. The team is matched against William & Mary and Navy.
• The men's volleyball team continues to roll through their regular season schedule. After trampling Lewis last Friday the team took down NJIT on Saturday. They swept George Mason last night at Rec Hall. Next the squad heads to Long Beach, CA for the Long Beach State Active Ankle Classic. They play BYU Friday and Long beach State on Saturday the 14th. The squad is 15-1 and ranked 4th as of March 2nd.
• The Icers competed in the ESCHL Post Season Tournament where they were the host and #1 seed. They dispatched Drexel in the semifinal, 6-2, on Saturday and then beat Delaware in the championship game, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon. The Penn State Icers were regular season and post season champions of the ESCHL. Yesterday the team took on Pitt, and easily disposed of the Panthers 6-2 in a tune up for Nationals. Nationals begin next Saturday. The Icers take on Drexel. [Penn State Hockey]
• Lastly, the great SBN blog Black Shoe Diaries - mentioned on this site (multiple times) weekly - awards their Nittany Lion of the Week every Wednesday. On the 4th, BSD selected woman's gymnast Brandi Personett. She was awarded her 4th Big Ten gymnast of the week award for the 2008-2009 season. This was her eighth award of her career. [Black Shoe Diaries]

That is the Penn State athletics round up for the last week. With Big Ten Championships heating up these next two weeks, the update should be quite exciting!