UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team (7-11, 4-10) travels to Iowa (16-6, 10-5) for the first game of a two-game Midwestern road trip. The first and only regular-season meeting for the Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes in 2020-21 is set for Sunday at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Penn State has won three of the five meetings between the two teams, but split the last two games in Iowa City.
Following Sunday's game, the Nittany Lions play at Nebraska at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23 in a game rescheduled from its original Jan. 30 date.
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ROSTER: Penn State | Iowa
SCHEDULE: Penn State | Iowa
STATS: Penn State | Iowa
GAME NOTES: Penn State | Iowa
IOWA HAWKEYES
Coach: Fran McCaffery (Penn, 1982)
Iowa Record: 210-149 (11th season)
Career Record: 461-326 (25th season)
2020-21 Record: 16-6, 10-5 Big Ten
Leading Scorer
#55 Luka Garza, Sr., C – 24.7 ppg
Leading Rebounders
#55 Luka Garza, Sr., C – 8.4 rpg
Assists Leader
#3 Jordan Bohannon, R-Sr., G – 4.5 apg
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
Interim Head Coach: Jim Ferry (Keene State, 1990)
Penn State Record: 7-11 (First season)
Career Record: 321-276 (20th season)
Top Scorer
#12 Myreon Jones, Jr., G – 15.1 ppg
Top Rebounder
#21 John Harrar, Sr., F – 8.7 rpg
Assists Leaders
#5 Jamari Wheeler, Sr., G – 3.4 apg
PENN STATE LAST GAME STARTERS
F -- 21 – John Harrar – Sr. | 9.0 ppg | 8.9 rpg
Note: Averaging a double-double with 10.3 points, 10.0 rebounds over last 11 games; Leads the Big Ten in offensive rebounds per game (3.72) and ranks 10th nationally in that category
G – 0 – Myreon Jones -- Jr. | 15.1 ppg | 2.8 rpg
Note: Leading scorer in last two games with 18; Has 10+ points in all but two games this season; Against ranked teams, averages 17.1 points per game while shooting 46.9 from field and 47.6 from beyond arc
G -- 2 – Myles Dread – Jr. | 7.4 ppg | 2.2 rpg
Note: Inserted into starting lineup for Nebraska game (2/14) and made second start of 2020-21 vs. No. 4 Ohio State; Has at least 2 treys in each of the last 4 games; Made key defensive stop with charge taken vs. Buckeyes' BE.J. Liddell
G – 5 – Jamari Wheeler -- Sr. | 5.3 ppg | 4.3 rpg | 3.4 apg
Note: Floor general dictates pace; Led Nittany Lions in first-half scoring with 11 points vs. No. 4 Ohio State and had game-high 7 rebounds to go with 4 assists on night
G – 12 – Izaiah Brockington -- Jr. | 13.7 ppg | 4.4 rpg
Note: Team's second-leading scorer and rebounder and second in total assists (37); Had 12 points and game-high, PSU individual season-high and career-best 7 assists vs. No. 4 Ohio State.
STARTING 5
The Big Ten's top two programs for made 3-point field goals square off Sunday. Iowa is at the top of the stat chart with 10.2 per game and the Nittany Lions are second at 8.7 per game.
Penn State utilized its third different starting lineup of the season in the last two games, starting four guards (Brockington, Dread, Jones and Wheeler) and Harrar at the forward spot.
The Nittany Lions have outrebounded seven of its last 11 opponents with an average margin of +2.3 in that stretch.
Penn State ranks second in the Big Ten in steals per game at 7.7 behind Rutgers (8.0). Individually, senior guard Jamari Wheeler and junior guard Myreon Jones rank second (1.7) and fifth (1.4), respectively, for steals per game.
Senior forward John Harrar leads the Big Ten in offensive rebounds per game (3.72) with 48 of his 67 total offensive rebounds since Penn State's restart (4.36 per game over last 11 games).
SERIES vs. IOWA
Neither team has won two games in a row in the series since Penn State swept Iowa in the 2017-18 season (A: 77-73, 12/2/17 and H: 82-58, 2/3/18). The Nittany Lions have won three of the last five meetings, but split in their last two visits to Iowa City.
Series streak: Iowa, W1
Last game: Iowa City, Iowa
No. 18 Iowa 77, No. 16 Penn State 68, 2/29/20
Overall series: Iowa leads 31-18 (PS H: 4-18)
Ferry vs. Iowa: First meeting
Series record and results are on page 5 of the game notes.
NET & KENPOM.COM
The Feb. 20, 2021 NCAA NET ranking has Penn State at 39, one of nine Big Ten teams in the top 40. Penn State is one of 10 Big Ten teams in the kenpom.com top 40 and checks in at No. 38. The Nittany Lions are only team among the top 40 at or below .500.
Feb. 20, 2021
NCAA NET – 39
Kenpom.com – 38
ON THE DEFENSIVE
In three of their last four games, the Nittany Lions have kept their opponents significantly below their scoring averages coming into the game. Listed below are five games, four in B1G play, where the difference has been at least 9.0 points.
| Opponent | Incoming PPG | Score vs. PSU | Difference |
| at Michigan | 86.4 | 62 | 24.4 |
| Maryland | 70.8 | 50 | 20.8 |
| at Virginia Tech | 74.5 | 55 | 19.5 |
| at Michigan State | 72.2 | 60 | 12.2 |
| Nebraska | 71.1 | 62 | 9.1 |
FOR 3!
Penn State is averaging 8.7 3-point field goals per game, good for second in the Big Ten. Penn State has connected for at least 3-point field goal totals in 10 games this season and has six games in double figures.
Over the last five years, the 3-point field goals made per game average has increased. The highest final team average in the Nittany Lions' Big Ten era is 8.4 (278 in 33 games) by the 2000-01 Sweet Sixteen squad.
RECENT RANKED WINS
Interim head coach Jim Ferry has been part of the Penn State coaching staff that has 12 victories over ranked teams in the past four seasons, including a Jan. 4, 2020 win over Iowa in the Palestra.
Ferry has four career wins over ranked teams, three coming on the road (at No. 15 Virginia Tech; Duquesne: at No. 9 Saint Louis, 2014, & at No. 25 St. Joseph's, 2016).
| AP Rank | Opponent | Score | Date |
| 4 | Maryland | 76-69 | 12-10-2019 |
| 6 | Michigan | 74-69 | 2-12-2019 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 79-56 | 2-15-2018 |
| 13 | Virginia Tech | 63-62 | 11-27-2018 |
| 13 | Ohio State | 69-68 | 3-2-2018 |
| 13 | Ohio State | 82-79 | 1-25-2018 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 81-71 | 1-30-2021 |
| 15 | at Virginia Tech | 75-55 | 12-8-2020 |
| 16 | at Michigan State | 75-70 | 2-4-2020 |
| 17 | Maryland | 78-61 | 2-27-2019 |
| 21 | Ohio State | 90-76 | 1-18-2020 |
| 23 | vs. Iowa (Palestra) | 89-86 | 1-4-2020 |
BY THE NUMBERS
3 – Three of interim head coach Jim Ferry's four career wins over ranked teams have occurred on the road.
3 – In the last two games, three Nittany Lions are averaging three 3-pointers per game each.
All three have shooting percentages at or above 40 percent (Myreon Jones – 46.2, Myles Dread – 40.0 and Seth Lundy – 46.2).
8 – Eight of Penn State's games this season have been decided by five points or less.
12 – Penn State tied its 2020-21 Big Ten season best with 12 3-pointers vs. No. 4 Ohio State. Since the restart, the Nittany Lions had a high total of 10 at Purdue.
16 – The Nittany Lions tied their Big Ten season-high mark for assists with
16 vs. No. 4 Ohio State. Penn State had 16 vs. Rutgers (Jan. 21).
82 – Penn State's 82 points vs. No. 4 Ohio State marked its second-highest scoring total in a Big Ten game in 2020-21 and its highest in a regulation game.
LAST TIME OUT: BUCKEYES' SECOND-HALF SCORING RUN BESTS NITTANY LIONS
A scoring run for the fourth-ranked Ohio State midway through the second period was just enough to lift it past a tenacious Penn State squad, 92-82. The Nittany Lions gave the Buckeyes all they could handle, but Ohio State used a 15-0 run in the second half to pull ahead and take the win.
Trailing 47-43, four different Nittany Lions scored coming out of the break to spark an 18-7 run to take a 61-54 lead with 14:04 to play in the game. Ohio State struggled to the 16-minute mark, going 1-6 from field which allowed Penn State go up by one, 50-49. Two triples by Lundy and baskets by Trent Buttrick and Sam Sessoms got them to 61.
Down 61-54, the Buckeyes responded with a 15-0 run without leading scorer E.J. Liddell who was on the bench with foul trouble in the second half.
Ohio State got back on track with a layup and 3-pointer before John Harrar picked up his third foul at 12:56. The Buckeyes tied the game at 61 with 12:32 to go and then forged ahead to take a 69-61 lead after Harrar left the game after being called for his fourth foul. Five free throws over the next two minutes put the Penn State back in the scoring column at 72-66 and then added two more by Jones for a 74-68 score.
A charge taken by Myles Dread and two baskets by Izaiah Brockington brought PSU within four, 76-72. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Jones and Dread kept the Nittany Lions within two possessions, but a Duane Washington Jr. layup and free throw pushed the Buckeye lead to nine, 88-79.
Fouls by the Nittany Lions put Ohio State back on the line and the Nittany Lions tried to take advantage of quick offensive possessions after Buckeye misses in the final 45 seconds.
Penn State was limited to just four field goals in the game's final six minutes, but trimmed the Ohio State lead to five following a Myreon Jones 3-pointer with 3:24 to play.
Liddell finished with a game-high 23 points and Jones finished with a team-high 18 points for Penn State.
A red-hot shooting performance from both teams lit up the Bryce Jordan Center scoreboard in the first half with the Buckeyes at 65.4 percent from the field with six treys and Penn State at 53.6 percent from the field with seven 3-pointers. With 7:35 to play in the first half and Ohio State leading by nine, the Nittany Lions connected on three treys to tie the game at 31-31.
The seesaw scoring continued to the final first half horn. The Buckeyes hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 47-43 lead into the locker rooms. Senior guard Jamari Wheeler led Penn State with 11 points at the half.
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