With the tip-off for yesterday’s game against Temple imminent, Talor Battle, Penn State’s all-Big Ten Conference guard, looked up at the small cluster of Nittany Lions fans in the upper reaches of the Liacouras Center and acknowledged them for escaping the central Pennsylvania snow to support his team.
Little did Battle know he was about to get plowed under by Temple’s sticky defense, a major reason the Owls (6-2) edged Penn State, 45-42, in a quirky, grind-it-out duel in which there was no shooting foul until midway through the second half.
The Owls’ awareness of the kind of damage Battle can cause was heightened when the skinny, 6-foot junior torched Virginia for 28 points Monday. In the second half. He finished the Virginia game with 32, raising his season average to 20.1 points a game.
The decision Temple coach Fran Dunphy had to make was when to attach Ryan Brooks to Battle. Brooks is the Owls’ top defender, but he’s also their leading scorer.
“There’s a side to Ryan Brooks he’s still figuring out,” Dunphy said. “He’s trying to be the best defensive player, knowing he is our best perimeter guy, and then trying to figure out how to be our leading scorer as well. It’s not an easy thing to do.” …
Read it all: Temple stops Penn St. in defensive battle | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/06/2009.