The Penn State Nittany Lions take on the Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten Tournament today. The game is scheduled for a 2:25 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. Currently the College Basketball Betting Odds for the game have the Boilermakers favored to pick up the victory.

Penn State shocked fifth-seeded Iowa yesterday in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, taking over the game in the second half as the Nittany Lions continue living the dream. Penn State has won three straight games overall, including the opening round win over Nebraska.

Purdue owns a win already this season over Penn State, beating them in overtime back in January. The problem for the Boilermakers in today’s game is the team hasn’t played in nearly a week and the Nittany Lions have some momentum built up. While winning on five consecutive days to claim the conference title is nearly impossible, Penn State is starting to believe they can accomplish the feat. If they are able to beat Purdue today, they’ll take on the winner of the Wisconsin/Michigan game.

D.J. Newbill led the conference in scoring this season at 20.8 points per game but didn’t make the First Team, using it for motivation to win as many games as they can in the conference tournament. Penn State can win today’s game and if they can keep Purdue from dominating the boards they’ll have a better shot. Purdue’s A.J. Hammons and Rapheal Davis both average double digits per game but also made the Big Ten All-Defensive Team as well. Both will be critical in today’s game on both ends of the floor.

Penn State’s problem has been the lack of a secondary scorer to complement Newbill. In yesterday’s game Ross Travis had a solid game with 17 points and he will need to show up again today. 

The Nittany Lions fell behind yesterday, but found a way to score 48 second half points. In today’s game that experience can help them if they get behind, but jumping on Purdue and getting an early lead would be even more important. Penn State is hot right now and in March, that’s a big deal.

Free Pick: Penn State 68, Purdue 63

 NCAA Basketball: Who Can Win it All?

Teddy Covers and Steve Fezzik from Pregame.com discuss who they feel will win it all in the NCAA Tournament, while throwing in some teams that have a chance to make a deep run in the tournament.

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