Penn State’s first two games of the Big Ten season were characterized by a lack of activity from role players. The Big Three of Talor Battle, Jeff Brooks, and David Jackson carried almost the entire scoring load in a win against Indiana and a tough loss to Michigan. Help came in the form of redshirt freshman Jermaine Marshall on Wednesday night, but it was still not enough to keep the #10 Boilermakers of Purdue from defeating the Nittany Lions 83-68 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Marshall scored a career-high 18 points in his first significant action of the season, helping Penn State stay close in the first half of play. Purdue went into the half with a 31-27 lead and went on an 11-4 run to start the second half and drown out any hopes of a Nittany Lion upset.

The stars of the court struggled offensively. Battle and Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore both had rough nights. Battle scored 18 points, but was 6-22 from the field as the Boilermaker defense smothered him all night and forced him to take many off-balance shots. Moore was held to just four points, but running mates Ryne Smith and JuJuan Johnson added 20 points and 15 points and 15 rebounds, respectively.

The Nittany Lions (8-6 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) will take another shot at a ranked opponent on Saturday as #19 Michigan State comes to the BJC for a 1:00 p.m. tip.

Cleaning the Glass

• Jeff Brooks recorded his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
• Andrew Jones had a strong first half with six points and five rebounds, but added nothing to the score in the second half.
• Tim Frazier’s eight assists were a career-high.
• Saturday’s game is free to those with student tickets and Andrew Jones growth charts will be given away.