Penn State nabs 10-seed, will face Illinois in B1G Tournament

The first game of Penn State’s Big Ten Tournament is set. Beyond it, should the Nittany Lions get there, can still be determined based on the outcome of games still being played Sunday evening.

Locking up the 10-seed with a last-second, 65-64 win over No. 21-ranked Maryland on Sunday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center, the Nittany Lions will open play in Chicago on Thursday against 7-seeded Illinois. The game is set for tipoff at 6:30 p.m. EST and will air on the Big Ten Network.

This year’s Big Ten Tournament is being held at the United Center in Chicago, the first round beginning on Wednesday, March 8 with games between the Nos. 14-11 seeds, and play opening with No. 12 taking on 13. 

Should Penn State advance past the Illini, the No. 2 seed would await. Dependent on the outcome of the Northwestern vs. Rutgers game, the Nittany Lions would face the Wildcats with a win, or Indiana, should the Wildcats drop their last game against the Scarlet Knights. Early in the second half, Northwestern leads in Piscataway, N.J.

Penn State resume

With their 1-point win over Maryland on Sunday afternoon, Penn State built on its NCAA Tournament resume. Finishing the regular season with a 19-12 overall record, including a 10-10 mark in Big Ten play, the Nittany Lions notched just their seventh all-time .500-or-better season since joining the conference 31 seasons ago. 

More important to Penn State, the win improved on Bracketologist projections that, as of Thursday following an overtime win at Northwestern, included the Nittany Lions in the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament. Adding the Terrapins to a list of Quad 1 wins that have also included Indiana, Illinois on the road, Northwestern on the road, and Ohio State on the road, Penn State is 5-6 against those top-tier opponents.

Further, only a 79-74 overtime loss at home against Wisconsin stands as a blemish in the “bad loss” territory of Quad 3 and 4 games. At No. 77 in the NET entering Sunday’s games (and locked in a battle with Minnesota in the second half), the Badgers are just two spots away from becoming a Quad 2 home loss for the Nittany Lions.

Next steps

Given the conclusion of Penn State’s regular season, head coach Micah Shrewsberry was asked about the worthiness of his Nittany Lions for NCAA Tournament consideration. Holding back from pounding the table, the program’s second-year head coach maintained the stance that has delivered the Nittany Lions to a 5-1 record over their past six games. 

Focusing solely on the next opportunity at hand, Penn State and Shrewsberry will look forward to what’s next.

“We’ve won 19 games, we’ve won 10 games in the Big Ten, we’ve beaten good people with at home. At one point in time, the road was really a struggle. We won three straight on the road,” Shrewsberry said. “We’re starting to take some question marks away, I think. But, I don’t know.”

Instead, Shrewsberry and his senior point guard and All-American candidate, Jalen Pickett revisited the reality of Penn State’s position heading into the conference tournament.

Delivering a flurry of wins late in February and March, in the wake of a four-game slide that appeared to doom their chances, the Nittany Lions are feeling good. 

“The last couple of games for us have been really good,” Pickett said. “We felt like we’ve been playing pretty good basketball. So coming around now, this is where we want to be. Coming off a two-game win streak, playing the way we’re playing. We’ve had tight games, on the road, and at home, so we feel like we can play with anybody in the league. It’s just building confidence for us and we’re excited to get going.”