Forgive the terrible pun, but Penn State sliced up the Northwestern defense last night in a 66-52 road win. We like to get into a lot of different numbers here, but this game can be summed up with this chart of Penn State shots:

Northwestern got killed by giving up dunks and layups, plain and simple. Driven by those easy shots, Penn State made 69 percent of their twos, which compensated for a slightly high turnover rate and some poor perimeter shooting. Sure, the Wildcat defense could have been worse--they did hold Penn State to a lower efficiency than Wisconsin just did--but there were still too many breakdowns.

The normally efficient Northwestern offense was nowhere to be found, as the Wildcats shot 25 percent on threes and scored 0.91 points per possession. Penn State seemingly has Northwestern's offense figured out, as the Wildcats posted just 93 points over 116 possessions in their two matchups this season (0.78 points per trip). The Nittany Lions have held non-Northwestern Big Ten opponents under a point per trip just three times this season, and they did it to the Wildcats twice.

Jeff Brooks had a pretty line of 20 points (10 shots), 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 turnover. Tim Frazier posted 10 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists, and just 2 turnovers--probably his finest game in a Penn State uniform.

Michael Thompson led Northwestern with 22 points on 16 shots, while John Shurna and Drew Crawford combined for 21 points on 19 shots.

With the road win, Penn State keeps their slim at-large hopes alive, setting up a huge home game against Ohio State on Tuesday. It will be Senior Night for Talor Battle, Jeff Brooks, David Jackson, and Andrew Jones, with a shot at the NCAA Tournament on the line. If Penn State can pull that one off, get a win at Minnesota, and win a game in the Big Ten Tournament, they just might sneak into the NCAA Tournament with an 18-13 (10-8) record. That would be a heck of a story for a senior class that has endured a lot of losing (NIT championship notwithstanding).

This weekend brings some important bubble battles, including Michigan at Minnesota (3:30pm CT Saturday, BTN). The loser of that game hits 10 conference losses and probably has their bubble burst, while the winner lives on to fight another day. Illinois faces a must-win home game against Iowa (6pm CT Saturday, BTN), while Purdue takes a tough road trip to resurgent Michigan State (12pm CT Sunday, ESPN). We are merely 16 days from Selection Sunday, and the fate of many a season will be determined in these precious two weeks.

- Posted by Mike Portscheller