Big wins and personal milestones highlighted a great weekend for Penn State Athletics.
What was billed as a winnable game for Penn State turned into a blowout as the Northwestern Wildcats (10-6, 1-2 Big Ten) blew past the hapless Nittany Lions for the 70-54 win. The game was not even as “close” as the final score indicated.
Just two weeks ago, Penn State was trailing Kentucky and rival Nebraska in a vote for the EA Sports NCAA Football 14 cover. Instead of enshrining just one player on the cover as they have in past years, EA will be putting an entire university's football team on the 2014 cover. 32 teams have endured the first round of voting to move on, and EA is again asking for fans of each remaining school to participate in a vote, asking, "Which school do you want to be on the cover of the next NCAA Football?"
Just three days after being demolished at home by Indiana, one of the best teams in the country, Penn State (8-6, 0-2 Big Ten) will look to avoid an 0-3 start in the Big Ten as they host Northwestern (9-6, 0-2 Big Ten) at 8 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center. The game will feature dollar hot dogs and free snapback hats for students.
Brandon Taylor's three pointer less than two minutes into the contest gave Penn State a 3-2 lead, but Taylor would not make another three point shot the rest of the night, and his team would never hold the lead again as the Nittany Lions (8-6, 0-2) fell to the Hoosiers (14-1, 2-0) 74-51.
The Penn State Lady Lions continued their impressive early season play on Sunday, dominating both sides of the ball en route to a 76-55 victory at Michigan State. Penn State was led by Maryland transfer Dara Taylor, who scored a career high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting while also adding three rebounds, four assists and three steals. Taylor was one of four Lady Lions to register double figures in scoring on the afternoon as the Lady Lions shot 51.8%.