The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, December 10, 2010, Image 9
9 I Friday, Dec. 10, 2010 Oklahoma provides tough test for Lions By Jake Kaplan COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER The Oklahoma women’s volley ball team is accustomed to facing some of the nation's top teams it’s in the Big 12 with perennial national championship con If you go Women’s volleyball vs. Oklahoma When: 7 p.m. Where: Rec Hall Senior forward Billy Oliver (35) shields a defender during the Lions' 66-52 exhibition win vs. East Stroudsburg University in October. Oliver overco By Alex Angert COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Laura Oliver' could feel Andrea Jackson's pain. As a hush swept through the Bryce Jordan Center during Saturday's game MEN'S against BASKETBALL Duquesne. Oliver . and Jackson the mothers of Penn State basket ball forwards Billv and D.J.. Fifth-year senior leading Lions in final season Tom Ruane/Collegian Brown (left) attempts a spike vs. Niagara last weekend in Rec Hall. NBA Los Angeles Lakers at Chicago 8 p.m., ESPN Q: Which NFL team did Auburn quar terback Cameron Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, play for? Thursday's answer: Florida coach Urban Meyer attended the University of Cincinnati. RTS tenders Nebraska and Texas. That is just one of the reasons Penn State coach Russ Rose knows his fourth- seeded Nittany Lions are in for a WOMEN’S tough match VOLLEYBALL tonight. No. 8 Penn State (28-5) hosts Oklahoma (23- 10) at 7 p.m. in the NCAA Regional Semi-Finals at Rec Hall. The win ner will face either 12th-seeded Duke (26-6) or Missouri (22-10) at 6:30 Saturday night with a trip to Thursday’s Final Fbur in Kansas City, Mo., on the line. respectively sat next to each other and watched as Andrea's son laid on the floor in pain. Watching her son's teammate struggle to get up, flashbacks began to appear right in front of Mrs. Oliver's eyes. "I was frantic when D.J. went down in that game because I knew what was probably going through his head and what was going through his mom’s head, who was sitting right next to me," Mrs. Oliver said. "My heart went 1 ' Frosh Sullinger drops 40 Jared Sullinger set an Ohio State fresh man record with 40 points, leading the sec ond-ranked Buckeyes back from a nine point second-half deficit to beat lUPUI 75- 64 on Thursday night. The 6-foot-9 Columbus native hit 12 of 17 shots from the field and 16 of 23 free throws both of which were also records and had 13 rebounds as the Buckeyes (7-0) escaped on a night when the pesky Jaguars (4-6) shot 51 percent from the field and con stantly applied pressure. William Buford added 14 points and Jon Diebler 13 for the Buckeyes, who looked rusty at times after a nine-day layoff. Alex Young had 20 points. “They do a number of things that hopefully we’ll be able to con tend with,” Rose said in a press conference Thursday evening. “We know that every match has a different personality and we re not sure exactly which direction this one is going to go. But were going to have to play well if we have hopes of advancing." See OKLAHOMA Page 12. For up-to-the-minute cover age on the regional games in Rec Flail this weekend: twitter.com/Collegian_WVß g head out to her because I was like. Oh. man. I’ve been there.' " In fact, she has been there plen ty of times in the past. And little did she know then that she would be back there with in the hour. At the start of the second half, her son was hit in the head by Jeff Brooks' knee, causing Oliver to sit out the rest of the game on the bench with a headache. To most, a sip of water and two Advils would have done the trick. Series Note: This is the third of a three-part series high lighting the senior co-cap tains of the women's volley ball team. By Ryan Loy COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Blair Brown ended her Penn State career, alongside Megan Hodge and Alisha Glass, as the core players who helped the pro gram to three consecutive nation al titles and 102 straight wins. At least, that’s how it could have happened. Instead, Brown redshirted her freshman season in 2006 and is S :APi Ariel Scott (1) goes for a kill injuries But not for Billv Headaches to Oliver can be much more worrisome after he was forced to redshirt the past two seasons after suffering two concussions and unrelated migraines during his freshman and sophomore year. Finally healthy and the first Lion off the bench this season, it appeared for a brief time Saturday that Oliver's return to the court was back in jeopardy. See OLIVER. Page 12. now a senior co-captain for the 2010 Nittanv Lions attempting to help her adoptive class capture an unparalleled fourth straight NCAA championship. As far back as she can remem ber. Brown has had a key attrib ute for playing volleyball: height. Early in her childhood, Brown said her height helped save a cat from a tree, but as she grew, it became a tool for athletics. After playing a variety of sports as a child, she focused on volleyball and track in high school. When she came to Penn State, she had the size and ability to play, but the opposite hitter said redshirting was the right thing to do. KG leads Celts past 76ers Kevin Garnett banked in a shot off an alley-oop pass with 1.4 seconds left to give the Boston Celtics their ninth straight vic tory, 102-101 over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. After Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala drove for a hook shot with 6.6 seconds left to give Philadelphia a 101-100 lead, Rajon Rondo flipped a long pass to Garnett for the winner. Garnett then raced to midcourt to inter cept the 76ers' inbounds pass. Ray Allen led Eastern Conference-lead ing Boston with 23 points, Rondo had 19 points and 14 assists, Glen Davis added 16 points, and Garnett finished with 14. Jodie Meeks led Philadelphia with 19 points, and Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young had 16 each. See BROWN, Page 12. OUR THOUGHTS Lee deal could decide East The Red Sox have struck deals with Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. And suddenly, the American League East title could come down to one man who hasn't signed yet: Cliff Lee. The New York Yankees played chicken with the Sox and the Sox won. The Big Apple team is now in the hot seat Lee’s potentially monster deal might be what is going to decide the East. Yankees Chairman Hal Steinbrenner and G.M. Brian Cashman had better con sider what this deal means. If the Yankees don’t get Lee, the Red Sox will enter 2011 as the team to beat in the division. The Daily Collegian Lions land ISIPs Long By Brandt Gelman COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER With the success Penn State’s freshman class is having this season, the team’s future seems to be a bright one. After lowa State Sports Information WRESTLING released a statement Wednesday say ing Andrew Long, a former wrestler, intend ed to transfer to Penn State, the future may have Long gotten brighter The lowa State athletic department had not returned a call seeking confirmation, and the Penn State athletic depart ment had not responded to an e mail regarding the situation as of press time. Long was the 125-pound run ner-up at the NCAA champi onships last March, but was dis missed from lowa State in June for violating team rules. He was arrested twice while on lowa State's wrestling team, most recently in April for pos session of a fake ID. Both offens es were alcohol-related. "The team gave Long a series of steps to accomplish to rejoin the team," lowa State coach Kevin Jackson said in the release. "During that process. Andrew decided that he could best address those issues in a place where he would be start ing over. See LONG. Page 12. ACC’s Hokies provide challenge By Jared Shanker COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Before the season started, one glance at Penn State's noncon ference schedule was enough to see that three games could end up defining the Nittany Lions' season. A road game at Ole Miss, a home game against Maryland and MEN’S finally a road BASKETBALL date at Virginia - - Tech immedi- ately stood out as earlv-season tests for the Lions. Well, through the first two games, the Lions are 0-2 with Virginia Tech remaining. A win at Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. Sunday in Blacksburg, Va. will go a long way come March for the Lions as they build their case for the selection committee. “It’s a huge resume builder for us, we know that,” forward Billy Oliver said. “These are the games you look back at come March, that we went to Virginia Tech and won." See HOKIES, Page 12. ' *4* f . jS