9. April 3: Penn State 69, Baylor 63
Yes, Penn State’s on this list. Why? Because winning the NIT put the Nittany Lions on the national map. Madison Square Garden was hit with a springtime white-out as 36 busloads of students made the trip from State College for the championship game. Even Joe Paterno came to his native New York City for the occasion….
7. March 6: Penn State 66, Illinois 64
Yes, the Nittany Lions are on here twice. The shot that won this game wasn’t an absolute buzzer-beater, but it was pretty close. Talor Battle’s layup after he dashed the length of the court hit the backboard, the front of the rim and the back of the rim before bouncing in with 0.3 seconds left on the clock.
It wasn’t enough to get Penn State to the NCAA Tournament, but it was still a tremendous finish.
via The top 10 local college basketball games of 2009 | Philly | 12/24/2009.