The Penn State Nittany Lions (18-15, 4-14 Big Ten) tipped off against the Iowa Hawkeyes (21-11, 12-6 Big Ten) at 2:25 PM EST in hopes of an upset to advance in the Big Ten Tournament. The game took place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. 

Iowa took a 27-19 lead after the first half. They seemed to be pulling away, but not until the Nittany Lions stormed back early in the second half. They quickly made it a two-point game with 15 minutes left before taking a two-point lead with 11 minutes and five seconds left. 

Eventually, an and-one late from Ross Travis in the game made it a five-point game and then D.J. Newbill had a monster dunk with 19 seconds left to make it a seven-point game to put the nail in the coffin. 

The Nittany Lions hit 70.8 percent of their free throws to propel themselves to victory. They also went 6-for-15 from deep, thanks to Newbill, who went 2-for-3 from three-point range. Newbill had 18 points and six rebounds. Travis went 6-for-9 from the field and scored 17 points.

Brandon Taylor was the only player who struggled for Penn State. He went 1-for-5 and was really the only player to struggle. However, Shep Garner went 1-for-6, but connected on three free throws. 

Once again, Aaron White was a leader for Iowa. He went 5-for-13 from the field and 10-for-12 from the free-throw line. At the end of the game, he had 21 points and 13 rebounds. Jerrod Uthoff went 5-for-14, but 1-for-6 from the three-point line. There were no other scorers with more than seven points. 

The aspect where Iowa struggled was from the three-point line. They went 3-for-15 from downtown. That is 20 percent and was not good enough for the Hawkeyes. Uthoff, White and Peter Jok were the only three players that connected from deep. 

One area where the Hawkeyes hit from was at the free-throw line. They went 25-f0r-31, which is 80.6 percent. The Hawkeyes won the rebounding, 48-to-34. It was quite odd that Iowa lost, but it was the poor three-point percentage that really killed them that afternoon. 

Penn State will move on to play the Purdue Boilermakers in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament. 

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About the author
Evan Petzold
Evan Petzold is a Detroit-based journalist with expertise in covering the Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings. A member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) and Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association (DBSA), he brings a unique skill set in reporting and broadcasting to the table.