Penn State Basketball is … Favored over 5th place Purdue: How to watch

Penn State Basketball is favored in a key Big Ten matchup Friday night against Purdue at the Bryce Jordan Center

The Nittany Lions are a one-point favorite hosting the fifth place team in the conference, the Purdue Boilermakers, tonight at 7:00 pm on Fox Sports 1 or the Fox Sports App.

Tale of the Tape

KenPom: Purdue 20, Penn State 35

NET Rankings: Purdue 26, Penn State 41

Conference Standings: Purdue 5th place (10-6, 15-8 overall), Penn State 12th Place (5-11, 8-12 overall)

Vegas Line: opened at Purdue -1, rose to Purdue -1.5, but overnight moved to Penn State -1

Last time out:  Purdue routed the Cornhuskers in Nebraska 75-58 on Saturday; Penn State also won at Nebraska 86-83 on Tuesday

Penn State Basketball fell to Purdue in their first game coming out of their COVID-19 pause 80-72 in West Lafayette.  Penn State Basketball didn’t really play that badly, Purdue was simply the better team.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Penn State Basketball had a second half lead, but was unable to hold onto it.  This was the game where Jim Ferry got the “odd” technical and was then fined.  Purdue was incredibly balanced with all 5 starters getting in double figures.   Harrar went for 14 points and 14 rebounds against on the best bigs in the conference, Travion Williams but even with Myreon Jones’ 23, Penn State fell short.

If (if if if if if if) Penn State finds a way to win this one, the Lions could find themselves making a serious late-season run at the bubble. Beating Purdue alone may not be enough to get back into ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s “Next Four Out,” but it would set the table for a very interesting final week of the regular season.  And when Jon Rothstein says it’s the best game of the night, in the nation, AND Vegas says you’re favorite, well, time to get our hopes up!

All part of the #climb.