In Nittany Nation, Jesse Arnelle is the proudest lion; at when it comes to scoring. His 2,138 points is the most in Penn State college basketball history. Arnelle, also PSU’s all-time leading rebounder, led the Lions to the 1954 Final Four.
Current senior point guard Talor Battle is the only other Nittany Lion ever to score two grand, and with 2,066, he needs just 72 more to reach Arnelle. At Northwestern on Thursday begins PSU’s final three games. And if Battle’s averages hold, it looks like he’ll reach the mark in Penn State’s Big Ten Tournament game.
Just in case he doesn’t, and should PSU lose that opening round conference tournament game, Talor gets another chance in the postseason. Penn State is firmly on the NCAA Tourney bubble right now, so that could be a destination for them if they get on a serious run here.
It would take an utter and total collapse for them not to make the NIT, so they’ll be in the postseason somewhere. And Battle has more records to collect along the way.
He comes to Evanston needing just 3 assists to become the first Big Ten player and just 10th in NCAA Div. I history to reach 2,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists. With 590 rebounds, Battle could also soon join the elite list of two players in NCAA Div. 1 history (Danny Ferry (Duke) & Grevis Vasquez (Maryland) ever to post 2,000 points, 600 rebounds and 500 assists.
With three regular season games remaining, Battle leads the Big Ten averaging 20.8 ppg and could become Penn State’s first ever Big Ten Season Scoring Champion and post the highest scoring average by a Nittany Lion since 1963.
Battle is also BFF with last year’s Big Ten player of the year, Evan Turner. Their friendship grew out of their time together on the U.S. World University Games team.