Pivotal sequence lifts Nittany Lions past Hawkeyes

CHICAGO - Iowa junior Jarrod Uthoff had the look and had the shot. It just didn't go down.

With the Hawkeyes trailing Penn State by two with the ball and 59 seconds left, Uthoff was open from the left wing. From about 17 feet - roughly the same distance from which he sank a game-winner two months ago at Minnesota - Uthoff took his shot. He missed, and Penn State's Jordan Dickerson grabbed the rebound. That was as close as Iowa would get late in a 67-58 loss in a Big Ten Tournament second-round game at the United Center.

'I can't believe I missed it,” said Uthoff, who scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. 'I thought it was good. It came out my hand clean, and I liked the fadeaway. A lot of times on my jump shot, it's normally good. Just missed it.”

'Good shot,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'He usually makes that shot. It's 17 (feet), he made some shots. He was one of the few guys who was actually making some shots, he and (Aaron) Whitey.”

While Iowa missed its opportunity to tie the score, Penn State advance based on its next possession. After Dickerson's rebound, Iowa twice trapped Nittany Lion guards, forcing Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers to call timeouts. But with 30.4 seconds left, Penn State's Ross Travis drove the baseline and scored while drawing contact from Iowa center Gabe Olaseni. Travis converted the free throw to put Penn State up five.

Iowa concentrated its defense on Nittany Lions guard D.J. Newbill, the Big Ten's scoring leader. That left Travis open for the game-changing three-point play with five seconds left on the shot clock.

'We doubled D.J. so (Travis) ended up with some space,” McCaffery said. 'He drove it. We should have fouled him. We should have fouled him early.”

'I just saw the shot clock winding down, and the ball was in my hands, so I just had to baseline it to make the play,” said Travis, who scored 17 points. 'It went in, I made the free throw, and it was a big moment in the game.”

Travis' play may have given the 13th-seeded Nittany Lions a fighting chance at a postseason tournament. Penn State improves to 18-15 after a tough 4-14 stretch in league play. The Nittany Lions beat Nebraska on Wednesday and faces fourth-seeded Purdue on Friday.

'For a senior to step up like that knowing that the shot clock is going down ...,” Penn State Coach Patrick Chambers said, adding it 'was pivotal.”

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