By Chris Hine INDIANAPOLIS -- Offense left the building long before Wisconsin and Penn State tipped off on Friday.
The Badgers and Nittany Lions engaged in a battle of who could go the longest without scoring and still win the game. To that end, Penn State beat Wisconsin 36-33 in a game that set offense back a few years.
The previous record low was 85 points, set in 2008 when Wisconsin beat Michigan 51-34. The Badgers have now been involved in four of the tourney's six lowest-scoring games, though none was quite like this.
"If you had told me that we would have only 36 points after our start, I probably would have said no way," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. "We didn't try to slow it down, we just really got out of rhythm and really had no flow. It's just one of those things, and hopefully we'll score a couple of more points tomorrow night."
Photo: Penn State's Talor Battle drives for a shot attempt against Wisconsin's Keaton Nankivil. (Andy Lyons / Getty Images) The Badgers' top scorers, Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor, struggled all night, and it took nearly 36 minutes for Wisconsin (23-8) to put a third player in the scoring column. Taylor finished with 16 points and, fittingly, missed a potential tying 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds to go. Leuer had 10 points.
The third-seeded Badgers, who lost their second straight for the first time in more than two years, were just 15 of 51 from the field and a dismal 2 of 21 from beyond the arc.
Wisconsin did not score in the first 7:27 of the game and Penn State staked a 14-0 lead over that span, but the Nittany Lions then went the final 9:58 of the first half without a field goal.
The second half was more of the same. The Nittany Lions shot 13-for-39 while the Badgers shot 15-for-51. Talor Battle led Penn State -- with nine points.
"We won a game two years ago 38-33 over Illinois, so we're pretty good in the 30s," Battle said.
Penn State was 13 of 39 from the field and 3 of 12 from 3-point range. But that was good enough to move into Saturday's semifinals against another upset winner, Michigan State. The Spartans knocked off No. 9 Purdue 74-56.
"All jokes aside, I wasn't even caught up in the score," Battle said. "I was just so focused on trying to win and make the plays."
Tribune News Services contributed
Source: http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2011/03/penn-state-leads-wisconsin-20-16-at-half.html
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