Penn State vs. Purdue: College basketball game preview, TV schedule
Penn State is still alive for a NCAA Tournament bid after upsetting Ohio State. Can they continue the momentum against the Purdue Boilermakers?
TV schedule: Saturday, March 3, 4:30 p.m. ET.CBS
Arena: Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York
The quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament were fun from noon on, with three of the four games coming down to the wire. One of them was between Penn State and Ohio State, with the Buckeyes looking for revenge from getting swept in the regular season to the Nittany Lions.
Those two wins are thing only things keeping the team in the bubble conversation, although according to our latest Bracketology projections Penn State isn’t even within out First Eight Out. But with many other bubble teams losing this week, they felt that they still had a shot at an at-large bid.
They took a great step towards that in the 69-68 win, thanks to the game-winning dunk by Josh Reaves with a couple of seconds to go. Star guard Tony Carr had a huge game, dropping 25 points in the win. It remains to be seen how big a win this is, but the Nittany Lions get to play another big team to enhance their resume.
They’ll get that in Purdue, who had to survive an upset-minded Rutgers team in the 82-75 nail-biter. The Scarlet Knights had a halftime lead, and after the Boilermakers stormed out to retake the lead, they still kept it close in the final seconds as well. It was the Edwards duo who led Purdue to the big win, with both Carsen and Vincent each having 26 points.
In the regular season, these two teams played just once, with the Boilermakers winning a tight one, 76-73. Carsen Edwards led all scorers with 27 points, with Dakota Mathias chipping in with 18. Carr had 19 to lead Penn State, while Shep Gardner had 17 points as well.
Next: 2018 Big Ten Conference Tournament breakdown
The Nittany Lions need this win to really have a shot for an NCAA bid. They have a look of an underdog that wants to make some noise, and since it’s March Madness, why not go with Penn State?
Prediction: Purdue 74 – Penn State 76