Basketball Preview: Penn State at No. 23 Ohio State

By Tim Shoemaker on February 11, 2015 at 10:10 am
Shannon Scott daps up the Buckeye Nuthouse.
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Ohio State senior point guard Shannon Scott didn't really need to be asked about it. He remembered what happened the last time the Buckeyes played Penn State.

“We remember last year; they swept us," Scott said Tuesday. "They stormed the court on us after they beat us last year at their place."

WHO WHERE WHEN TV
Penn State (15-9, 3-8) Schottenstein Center 7 p.m. BTN

Scott, of course, was referring to the Nittany Lions' 65-63 win over Ohio State last February which gave Penn State its second win over the Buckeyes that season. It was a Nittany Lions team that finished the year just 16-18.

And much like last year, Penn State is struggling and Ohio State is in the top half of the Big Ten. The Buckeyes, in search of their fifth win in the last six games, return to their home floor tonight to host the Nittany Lions.

"They do know it. I think from the fact that they beat us twice last year and we hadn’t lost to them before that," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. "I think from that perspective our guys are very, very aware. Just from the film sessions we’ve shown them they know how good Penn State is.”

Opponent Breakdown

It's pretty simple when it comes to Penn State, as it has been the same thing for the last few years: Stop D.J. Newbill and you have a great shot at winning.

Newbill, the Nittany Lions' star guard, leads the Big Ten in scoring at 20.9 points per game. He also averages a team-best 3.1 assists per game and shoots it around 36 percent from behind the 3-point line.

"What a great player," Matta said. I think that you are looking at guy that scores the basketball so many different ways. It’s hard to get a pattern on him."

Behind the play of Newbill, Penn State has somewhat righted the ship. The Nittany Lions began their season 12-1 in the non-conference, but once Big Ten play began they lost their first six league games. Since then, however, Penn State has won three of its last five.

“They’re going to be a physical basketball team. We know Newbill can score the ball with anybody in the country so he’s definitely a focus for us," Scott said. "They’re going to be diving on the floor and all that stuff, crashing the glass, everything that involves physicality basically so we’re going to be ready for that.”

Buckeye Breakdown

Ohio State will once again be without its second-leading scorer Marc Loving for the third-straight game.

Without him in the lineup, the Buckeyes struggled offensively in their 60-58 loss at Purdue. But just four days later, on Sunday, Ohio State was much more efficient in a 79-60 rout of Rutgers.

A large part of that was the play of freshman Keita Bates-Diop, who scored a career-high 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds against the Scarlet Knights. He provided the Buckeyes with some much-needed floor spacing to allow star guard D'Angelo Russell to penetrate as Bates-Diop knocked down three 3-pointers.

"I thought Keita was kind of primed to play well," Matta said.

Russell was also superb against the Scarlet Knights, recording just the fourth triple-double in Ohio State history with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. It was the first triple-double ever recorded by a Buckeyes player in Big Ten competition and the first ever by an Ohio State freshman.

Russell has been on a tear over the last two months of the season and is the leading scorer in Big Ten games, averaging 21.7 points per game. He was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time and earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for the sixth time.

“Personally, I think it’s scary for my opponents because I feel like I get better every game and every practice I learn something that I didn’t know going into that practice or that game," Russell said. "It’s scary because I feel it, like I get better every game. It’s just something new that I’m doing or something that I didn’t expect to happen happened.”

How It'll Play Out

In a highly-contested Big Ten, every game is crucial. Even the ones against the league's bottom feeders.

Ohio State is currently one of six teams with four Big Ten losses. A win over the Nittany Lions keeps it right in line for the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament. But a loss and the Buckeyes could plummet down to eighth or ninth in the standings.

With that said, Ohio State is the significantly better team in this matchup. And, with the game being at home, there really isn't any reason to expect anything other than a decisive win for the Buckeyes.

"Our goals from the beginning of the season to now are the same and my individual decisions and success doesn’t affect us at all," Russell said. "Just keep preaching and focusing on the same thing.”

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