GAME NOTES: Having survived their first test of the 2015 Big Ten Conference Tournament, the 13th-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions square off with the fifth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes in the quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.

Penn State outlasted No. 12 seed Nebraska in Wednesday's opening round, 68-65, and the team has now won two in a row on the heels of the six-game slide. The Nittany Lions improved their record in the Big Ten Tournament to 10-17, as they try to reach their second championship game -- the first resulting in a 71-60 loss to Ohio State in 2011.

Iowa, which is playing its first game in the tournament after receiving a bye in the first round, quietly went about its business this season, winning 21 games. The Hawkeyes have won six straight decisions and eight of their last 10 overall, and they have a pair of Big Ten Tournament titles to their credit, the last coming in 2006. Iowa is an even 15-15 all-time in the event.

Iowa owns a 27-13 series advantage against Penn State. The Hawkeyes have won seven of the last nine meetings, including the last four. Iowa won this season's only encounters on the road, 81-77, in overtime on Feb. 28.

Penn State nearly squandered a double-digit lead in the second half of Thursday's game against Nebraska, but it held on for the narrow win. D.J, Newbill, the Big Ten's leading scorer with an average in excess of 20 ppg, scored 26 points and Shep Garner added 19 more for the Nittany Lions, who shot just 41.8 percent from the floor, but were nearly as effective from 3-point range (.409). They converted only 13-of-22 free throws, but held the Cornhuskers to 30.2 percent field goal efficiency while forcing 14 turnovers. PSU was hammered on the glass, 51-34, and outscored in second-chance points, 20-9.

Iowa enters the postseason with only two players averaging double figures in the scoring column, led by Aaron White with 15.9 ppg. White also spearheads the team's rebounding effort with 7.4 rpg, and he gets help from Jarrod Uthoff who has a line consisting of 12.2 points and 6.3 caroms per contest. The Hawkeyes are putting up 69.8 ppg thanks to a 74.3 percent showing from the charity stripe. Their defensive performance results in foes knocking down just 39.2 percent of their total shots, while committing close to 13 miscues per outing. Iowa's Gabriel Olaseni (8.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 45 blocked shots) was named the Big Ten's Sixth Man of the Year.

If Newbill gets going the Lions will be a tough out. That said, expect the Hawkeyes to move on as they put the clamps on the rest of the PSU roster and put forth a balanced scoring attack of their own.