Coach utilizes witty defense – The Collegian
For the first time since the 2000-2001 season, the Nittany Lions men’s basketball team has double-digits in the win column. They routed Purdue last night, 74 – 54 in Happy Valley.

In a column yesterday, Dave Jones of the Patriot-News made the case that Lions could play into the postseason:

A win this evening means a 2-1 start against a Big Ten slate that will get a whole lot tougher in the subsequent five dates, starting with a Saturday noon meet with Ohio State.

It sounds nuts, but coach Ed DeChellis actually has a shot at getting his guys in the NIT without any crazy upsets; that was his rationale in scheduling glazed doughnuts like New Hampshire and Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne.

There are four not-good teams in the Big Ten, of which PSU is one along with Purdue, Minnesota and Northwestern. If the Lions can sweep Purdue tonight and a month from tonight in Lafayette and merely hold serve against the Wildcats and Gophers at home, they’re 14-13 heading to the Big Ten tournament in Indy, where they’d get one of the bottom-feeders again.

Oh for the days when you couldn’t spell Nittany without N-I-T!

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