Penn State Nittany Lions Bolster Their NCAA Tournament Hopes

SteemSports Presenter: @scottybuckets
SteemSports Editor: @theprophet0

The Penn State Nittany Lions beat the Northwestern Wildcats and improved their NCAA Tournament hopes. It was a close game deep in the second half before Penn State pulled away 65-57. Senior guard led all players in scoring with 25 points including 6-10 from the 3 point line. Shep Garner nailed 4 shots also from the 3 point line and Josh Reaves hit 3 to help Penn State make 44.8% on the night.

Northwestern fought hard but couldn’t match the outside shooting of Penn State. Head coach Chris Collins had the dream of making a magical run in the Big Ten Tournament and earning the automatic bid into March Madness. But their season came to a screeching halt. Senior Scottie Lindsey ends a great career by scoring only 12 points on 4-13 from the field and 2-7 from the 3 point line. He has been one of the best Northwestern Wildcat basketball player of the last decade and should be remembered fondly.

Penn State now sits at the pivotal 20 win mark. Almost every team in recent NCAA Big Ten history that has won 20 games has made the Tournament. They will have another chance to bolster their record when they play the 13th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Friday evening. I think they are already in as an at large team, but if they can beat the Buckeyes, it will be a sure thing.

Tony Carr and Shep Garner need to stay hot from deep. Ohio State plays tough defense and Bates-Diop is playing at an extremely high level and will cause the Nittany Lion defense fits. It should be a dynamite match-up.

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