Wisconsin grinds out 54-44 victory over Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Sunday was a banner day for Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, and the good times started even before his Badgers’ clamped down on Penn State.

A native of the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Ryan beamed when he saw the World Series trophy won by his beloved Phillies, which was on display on the Jordan Center concourse.

His players gave him much to smile about, too. Wisconsin’s harassing defense held Penn State to 0-of-14 shooting from 3-point range and Marcus Landry scored 13 points in a grinding, 54-44 victory.

“To think that Penn State would be nice enough to bring the trophy in for this Chester native,” Ryan joked with a sly grin. “I had my towel from the [baseball] playoffs.”

Jon Leuer added 12 points, while fellow starting forward Joe Krabbenhoft had 10 points and a team-high seven boards for Wisconsin (14-9, 5-6 Big Ten).

Playing with trademark toughness and a swarming defense, Wisconsin limited Penn State’s Talor Battle to 10 points, more than eight below his Big Ten-leading scoring average. Battle shot 4-for-15, including six misses from 3-point range.

Stanley Pringle, the other half of the Nittany Lions’ quick guard duo, had a team-high 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including 0-of-3 from 3.

“Pretty much just trying to stick to our rules and doing whatever we can to stop them,” Wisconsin reserve guard Jordan Taylor said when asked why his team was successful against Pringle and Battle.

And those rules are?

“I don’t want to give away any secrets or anything like that,” Taylor said. “Just basic defense. We do what coach tells us today.”

The Nittany Lions (17-7, 6-5) have lost two straight since upsetting Michigan State last week, and Battle and Pringle haven’t played well since.

On Sunday, Wisconsin had an answer for forward Jamelle Cornley, too, the third member of Penn State’s high-scoring trio. Cornley had nine rebounds but scored just four on 2-of-7 shooting after having averaged 20.8 over his last six games.