Talor Battle will look to become just the second Big Ten player in the last decade and 22nd in the history of the conference to reach 2,000 points Sunday when Penn State (12-11; 5-7 Big Ten) takes on Northwestern (14-9; 4-8 Big Ten) in a 3:30 p.m. tip at the Bryce Jordan Center.
It is also Alumni Day at the Jordan Center as approximately 30 former Nittany Lions will return for the game. Among them will be three members of the 1954 NCAA Final Four team including 1954 team captain and two-year starter John Sherry, three-year starter and 1956 team captain Bob Hoffman and three-year letterman Dave Edwards.
Battle scored 19 points in the Lions’ loss at Michigan State on Thursday to pass Joe Crispin (1,986) for second place on Penn State’s all-time career scoring chart. Battle will bring 1,996 points into Sunday and needs just for to join Wisconsin’s Alando Tucker (2007) as the only Big Ten players in the last decade to reach 2,000 points. With a start Sunday, Battle will also set the Penn State record for career starts with 121 topping the mark set by DeRon Hayes in 1993. Battle stands four points and nine assists shy of becoming the first player in Big Ten history to record 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists. His scoring average of 20.4 ppg stands second in the Big Ten on the year and would rank as the highest season scoring average at Penn State in 48 years.
Jeff Brooks returned from missing one game with a dislocated right shoulder at Michigan State and played very well posting 15 points and four rebounds. Fellow senior David Jackson posted 20 points in Penn State’s victory over Northwestern last year in Evanston and needs116 points to become the 30th Nittany Lion to post 1,000 career points.
Penn State will begin a two-game home stand in the Jordan Center facing a pair of Big Ten foes for the first time this season and for the first of two meetings with each in two weeks. The run begins Sunday with the Wildcats and continues Thursday vs. Minnesota. Penn State leads the series with Northwestern 24-12, is 14-2 at the Jordan Center vs. NU and has won four-straight and nine of the last 11 meetings in the series. The Wildcats last win in the Jordan Center came 55-49 in 2002. PSU posted wins of 81-70 in the BJC and 79-60 at NU last year. Jackson scored 20 points in the first meeting at Northwestern while Battle led the Lions with 16 and six assists in State College.
The Wildcats lost a comeback bid at Michigan 75-66 on Wednesday and have posted one win in their last five games, a 71-70 victory over instate rival Illinois on Feb. 5. The Wildcats are 4-8 in the Big Ten with victories over Indiana (93-81), at Iowa (90-71) and vs. Michigan (74-60). The Wildcats rank among the top scoring offenses in the Big Ten (74.7 ppg), but are also last in scoring defense (68.3 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (47.0). They are led by John Shurna, who stands fifth in the Big Ten scoring 17.8 ppg, and guard Michael Thompson who posts 14.7 ppg and 4.52 apg. Shurna, Thompson and Drew Crawford (12.9 ppg) all have more than 40 threes on the year.