Another packed arena on the road could pose another serious threat for No. 5 MSU when it visits unranked Penn State on Saturday.
A sellout crowd of 15,261 is expected at Bryce Jordan Center in a matchup that will be the first time a defending NCAA champion has visited Happy Valley, Pa. since Marquette during the 1977-78 season. The three Spartan losses (21-3 overall, 10-3 Big Ten) at Indiana on Jan. 7, Ohio State on Jan. 27 and Illinois on Feb. 6 were all played in front of capacity crowds.
The Nittany Lions (16-8, 6-7) are led by sharp-shooting guard and all-Big Ten candidate Joe Crispin, who leads the team in scoring with 20.3 points per game, while shooting 38.7 percent from three-point range.
“They might be playing as well as anybody in the league,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said of Penn State, which has won four out of its last six games. “This game will definitely be a test for us. We’re going to have to defend all their shots very aggressively or else they are going to hit them all night.”
Purdue head coach Gene Keady, whose team lost to the Nittany Lions 92-71 Saturday, said it’s the Penn State’s outside shooting that makes the team deadly.
“They are pretty darn good,” Keady said. “They’ve beat some good teams like Kentucky in Lexington and Temple. They can really shoot the ball, I don’t even know if you can guard them. Joe Crispin has a great step-back move on his jump shot.”
Another key opposing player in the Spartans’ first of two final road games of the regular season is guard Titus Ivory, who is second on the team in scoring with 16.7 ppg.
Penn State head coach Jerry Dunn said Ivory - who lit the Spartans with 22 points in a losing effort Jan. 3 at Breslin Student Events Center - should definitely be considered one of the best players in the conference.
“He’s certainly the glue that puts our team together,” Dunn said. “He should be right up there at the top when picking the all-Big Ten team. He’s really been the heart and soul of this basketball team, doing a lot of different things on both parts of the floor.”
Izzo said it will be important to strongly finish in the Big Ten.
“A lot can happen in the next couple of weeks,” Izzo said. “We are just going to have to respond to the challenge.”
MSU’s last regular-season conference road trip will be at No. 19 Wisconsin (17-7, 8-5) on Feb. 27, and then the team will play its final home game of the season against Michigan (10-14, 4-9) on March 3.
