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Penn State Basketball: Nittany Lions look to establish winning streak and keep slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive

By Caleb Wilfinger

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 09: Tony Carr #10 of the Penn State Nittany Lions puts up a shot against Kyle Ahrens #0 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half during the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at Verizon Center on March 9, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 09: Tony Carr #10 of the Penn State Nittany Lions puts up a shot against Kyle Ahrens #0 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half during the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at Verizon Center on March 9, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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Penn State basketball needs a solid week to keep its hopes of a big postseason tournament alive. 

As Tony Carr’s game-winning jumper swished through the cords at the Bryce Jordan Center on Friday, Penn State basketball fans breathed a little sigh of relief, knowing that the team’s slender NCAA Tournament chances live to see another day.

The Nittany Lions are 3-3 in Big Ten play and tied with Indiana for fifth in the conference.

Penn State stands at 13-6 for the season, a campaign that has provided a number of heartbreaking defeats in games where the Nittany Lions were favored, including one point losses to Wisconsin and Rider at home.

With very little margin for error left, Penn State will seek two important conference victories this week and try to build some momentum as the Big Ten season heats up. The Nittany Lions will host Minnesota on Monday before hitting the road for a date with Northwestern on Friday.

This is a team that could certainly use a boost to their tournament resume.

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The best win all year for Penn State was either a road win at Iowa or a home victory over Northwestern earlier this month. It doesn’t take a bracketologist to determine that just the strength of those wins alone isn’t going to get the Nittany Lions back into tournament contention.

However, there are certainly opportunities to gain a few quality wins in Big Ten conference play that would make the selection committee take notice.

The Nittany Lions will travel to Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan State before the end of the month. Penn State will also host the Buckeyes in February and travel to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on No. 5 Purdue.

These are all opportunities for signature victories that would not only get the attention of Joe Lunardi, but also the selection committee.

But, before Penn State can even think about signature road victories over ranked teams, the Nittany Lions must take care of business this week against a fellow bubble hopeful (Minnesota), and a team that they should be able to handle despite being away from home (Northwestern).

At this stage in the college basketball season, the only thing that the players, coaches and fans can do is take things one week at a time. After all, one week is all it takes to turn around an entire season.

The question remains to if Penn State can reverse its fortunes and salvage a season that began with postseason expectations.

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