Battle helps Penn State upset No. 14 Purdue

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/07/2009 - University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Talor Battle scored 21 points, dished out nine assists and grabbed five rebounds, as Penn State notched one of its biggest victories in the Ed DeChellis era, downing undermanned and 14th-ranked Purdue, 67-64, at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Battle's backcourt mate Stanley Pringle added 18 points, while Jamelle Cornley and Danny Morrissey collected 10 points apiece for the Nittany Lions (13-3, 2-1 Big Ten), who have won three straight home games against ranked teams.

Andrew Jones grabbed 11 rebounds -- eight on the offensive end -- to highlight the Nittany Lions' 41-27 edge on the backboards, including a 22-6 edge in the offensive rebound department.

The rebounding advantage illustrated the absence of Purdue's All Big Ten star Robbie Hummel, whose 13.8 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds were missing due to a back injury.

E'Twaun Moore led Purdue (11-4, 0-2) with 21 points, Namanja Calasan added 11 points and five rebounds and Lewis Jackson collected 10 points and dished out five assists.

Jones showed his presence early as Penn State got multiple opportunities on several offensive trips and began the contest with an eye-opening 14-0 edge.

A jumper by Cornley, a bucket by Pringle and a three from Pringle capped the early burst. Purdue went over five minutes until its first basket, but Penn State maintained its 14-point edge, 31-17, on a three-point play by Battle.

The Boilermakers cut the deficit to six points several times in the first half, but Penn State still held a 41-33 lead at the half.

Moore's jumper cut the deficit to 46-45 early in the second half, and the Boilermakers took their first advantage of the game at 50-49 on Moore's bucket with 11:54 to go.

Purdue even held a 55-51 edge before Morrissey's three and Battle's free throw tied the contest at 55-55. The Boilermakers went approximately eight minutes without a field goal, and Penn State turned the 55-51 deficit into a 64-55 lead thanks to a friendly homecourt roll on Morrissey's three-pointer with just over three minutes remaining.

The Nittany Lions held on for the victory from there.

Game Notes

Penn State made just 38.7 percent of its shots, compared to 45.8 percent shooting from the Boilermakers...Purdue still leads the all-time series, 20-10...DeChellis, the head coach of the Nittany Lions, went to a zone defense for part of Purdue's shooting struggles in the second half.

Wwaskjeeves NCAA Basketball Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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