The title of this story is surprisingly not a misprint, nor is it a halftime update. After 40 minutes of basketball, the final score between Penn State and Wisconsin read 36-33 in favor of the Nittany Lions. PSU is moving on to the semifinals to play Michigan State, which beat Purdue by scoring 37 points in each half earlier on Friday.
As the score suggests, this was just a downright ugly game between PSU and Wisconsin. There's really no other way to describe it. Penn State opened the game with a 14-0 run, proceeded to lead 18-2 at one point and ended up holding only a 20-16 advantage at halftime. The second half was more of the same, as neither team could make shots. The end result was the ridiculous 36-33 final score.
Not a single Penn State player scored in double digits in this game. Talor Battle scored nine points, and the four other starters had eight, seven, six and six points. The two players that came off the bench went scoreless.
For Wisconsin, Jordan Taylor had 16 points and Jon Leuer scored 10. Keaton Nankivil had three points, and Ryan Evans and Mike Bruesewitz each had two. Nobody else scored for Wisconsin.
Despite the ugliness, a win is a win, and for Penn State it means advancing to the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten tournament. In the bottom half of the bracket, the Nittany Lions will take on Michigan State for a chance to play in the championship game on Sunday. Here is a look at the updated Big Ten tournament bracket:
No. 1 Ohio State (beat Northwestern, 67-61 in OT, in quarterfinals) vs. No. 4 Michigan (beat Illinois, 60-55, in quarterfinals)
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No. 7 Michigan State (beat Purdue, 74-56, in quarterfinals) vs. No. 6 Penn State (beat Wisconsin, 36-33, in quarterfinals)
For more on the 2011 Big Ten tournament, check out SB Nation Detroit's StoryStream.