After losing 3 straight Big Ten games, Penn State needed a win to keep their hopes of an NCAA bid alive. Using strong defense and size they were able to do just that picking up a crucial win against a Northwestern squad that has played good and bad basketball all season.
For Penn State is was all about Talor Battle who's 19 points put him over the 2,000 point mark in his career and is now only 5 assists from being the first Big Ten player to put up 2000 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebounds.
Battle wasn't the only Nittany Lion to get involved as Penn State had 4 players score in double figures including a solid performance by Tim Frazier who scored 12 points while dishing out 7 assists.
Northwestern on the other hand struggled to find any shooting rhythm going a stretch of 20 minutes scoring only 7 points which included going 2-21 from three-point range. Overall it was the type of game Penn State has come to expect from Northwestern, who has not beat the Nittany Lions in four years. For Wildcat fans it was a disheartening loss for a squad that had such high hopes in the early season for a school first NCAA Bid.
Penn State improves to 6-7 in the Big Ten and will face Minnesota this Thursday. Northwestern falls to 4-9 in conference and will need to win out in the Big Ten Tournament to pick up a NCAA bid.