Healthy Penney back to old self
Badger
Herald
by Ben Robinson,
Associate sports editor
January 28, 2002
The past couple weeks, Kirk
Penney has been battling the flu. The junior guard sat out of practice before
the Minnesota game on Jan. 16 and had struggled in the Badgers' two most recent
games against Illinois and Purdue.
Against Minnesota, Penney scored
a game-high 19 points, but was one of six from three-point range. In
Wisconsin's win over the Boilermakers, Penney, who leads the team in scoring
with 14.1 points per game, scored only nine points on three of seven shooting.
Against Illinois last Wednesday,
Penney, who was often covered by Illini star Frank Williams, was limited to
five points, and failed to get to the free-throw line.
Then, against Penn State on
Saturday, Penney proved why he is the Badgers' premier player. The 6-foot-5
Penney, who may have lost a few pounds from his 205-pound frame during his bout
with the flu, appeared as if he had regained his vitality as well as his
shooting touch against the Nittany Lions on Saturday, shooting 8-13 from the
field and also grabbing six rebounds.
In the closing minutes of
the first half, Penney, who used to be considered mainly a shooting threat,
proved just how complete his game is. With 4:14 left in the first half, the
junior entered a perfect feed to Mike Wilkinson under the basket, and Wilkinson
converted the easy bucket.
With 2:12 left in the half,
Penney received the ball in the post, threw an array of moves to get his
defender in the air, and put in the layup. He then came off a screen to hit a
15-foot jumper with 1:18 left in the half.
The next time down Penney
hit the floor to collect a rebound off a Brandon Watkins miss and, with no one
to pass the ball to, alertly called a timeout. After Penney's rebound, the
Badgers missed two long-range attempts while Jamal Tate made a three-pointer
with 18 seconds remaining in the half.
Despite these misses,
Penney's efforts helped keep the Badgers' lead over the Lions at 12 points at
halftime, as the teams went into the locker room with the Badgers leading
32-20. Penn State was never able to overcome the deficit in the second half,
and once again, Penney played a key role in holding off the Lions.
After the Lions went on a
21-8 run to cut the Wisconsin lead to four, Devin Harris hit two free throws
and Travon Davis hit one to put the Badger lead at 53-46. On the Badgers' next
possession, Penney knocked down a huge jumper, igniting the crowd and giving
the Badgers a 55-46 lead.
Finally, with 5:19 left in
the game, Penney once again dove for a loose ball (this time an offensive
rebound), flew to the floor and called a timeout. The Badgers then held off the
Lions for the rest of the game, allowing them to cut the lead to three but
forcing Tyler Smith to take a bad shot as time expired to seal the 66-63
victory.
Back Home: In his return to
his home state, Penn State guard Sharif Chambliss struggled initially. In the
first half, Chambliss, who leads the Lions with 14.5 points per game, was only
one of four from the field. The 6-foot-1 Chambliss, who leads the Big Ten with
3.8 three-pointers made per game, missed both of his three-point attempts in
the half and only scored five points in the frame.
In the second half,
however, the sweet-shooting Chambliss heated up, and almost shot the Lions back
into the game. He was three of four from the field in the half, and hit two of
three treys.
Chambliss was fouled by
Devin Harris while attempting a three with 5:42 remaining, and he hit two of
his three free throws. With 3:02 left in the game, Chambliss hit a
three-pointer to cut the Badger lead to nine.
With 27 seconds remaining
in the game, Chambliss intercepted a Kirk Penney lob pass, raced down the court
and found his backcourt mate Brandon Watkins wide open on the wing for a deep
three that made the game 64-63.
It would have been fitting,
with the score 66-63, for the Racine native and three-point specialist
Chambliss to get the final attempt against Wisconsin, but it was not to be.
After two free throws from
Travon Davis, Penn State appeared to be trying to get the ball to Chambliss for
the last shot, but the Badgers' tough defense wouldn't allow him to get open.
Watkins was forced to get the ball to Tyler Smith, who missed a three at the
buzzer.