Washington and Penn State are on the bubble.
Not for the NCAA Tournament, but the Big Ten tourney.
The Huskies (12-12, 3-10) and Nittany Lions (13-12, 3-11) are in 17th and 18th place, respectively, in the 18-team conference heading into Saturday’s matchup in University Park, Pa.
Only the top 15 teams in the league standings will head to the Big Ten tourney next month in Indianapolis.
The Huskies won two of three games to move out of the cellar before a 93-69 loss at Ohio State on Wednesday.
“They exploited everything,” Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle said. “Our guards didn’t guard very well. Their guards did whatever they (wanted). They really drove downhill. They got us in foul trouble early in the first four minutes. … Just with the aggressiveness and the pace they were playing at, we didn’t respond to it.”
Tyler Harris, DJ Davis and Zoom Diallo each scored 14 points for the Huskies. Great Osobor, their leading scorer with 15.3 points per game, was limited to eight.
Washington committed 10 of its 14 turnovers in the first half in falling behind 51-36.
“We were a little sloppy with the basketball,” Sprinkle said. “We missed a couple of layups, too. When you’re on the road, you can’t miss those layups because those layups turn into layups or 3s on the other end.”
The Nittany Lions have lost six consecutive games and 10 of their past 11, including a 92-67 road defeat against Southern California on Tuesday.
“When things aren’t going your way, you can give in to the noise and or you can … try to get a singular focus on basketball,” Nittany Lions coach Mike Rhoades said. “And that’s really hard.
“… You just got to get a singular focus of just, ‘All right, I’m going to work today to be the best player I can be today to contribute to my team. I’m going to have a great practice for our team today to push it in the right direction.'”
Ace Baldwin Jr. leads Penn State with 13.8 points per game. Yanic Konan Niederhauser, a 7-footer who’s third with 12.3 points and leads the team with 6.0 rebounds, returned from an ankle injury against USC but managed just three points and two rebounds in about 12 minutes before fouling out.
–Field Level Media
