ESPN.com - NCB - Nittany Lions roar in face of pressure

The Nittany Lions already had the weight of the world on them in trying to save their season and NCAA Tournament chances, let alone help coach Jerry Dunn stave off any talk of his job being in jeopardy. Penn State had to do something to distinguish itself in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee watching the game in Indianapolis.

Had Penn State found out any of those other things -- Hawaii beat Fresno State in the semifinals to force two teams to come from the WAC, UMass beat St. Joe's in the semis to likely put three teams out of the A-10, Georgia Tech beat Virginia for a third time to probably get the Yellow Jackets in from of the ACC or just knowing that Baylor and Pitt were alive in the Big 12 and Big East tournaments -- then the Nittany Lions could have froze.

"Good thing we didn't hear that or we would have been tense," Penn State guard Jon Crispin said. "I knew we had to win."

Penn State shocked the Big Ten tournament by upsetting second-seeded and third-ranked Michigan State 65-63 in the quarterfinals at the United Center on Friday.

Beating the Spartans legitimized the Nittany Lions' at-large candidacy – if they don't go on to win the Big Ten's automatic berth this weekend – after losing at Northwestern and blowing a 20-point halftime lead to Ohio State last Saturday.

The Nittany Lions' record (19-10, 7-9 in the Big Ten) is now complete, with wins over the top three Big Ten teams in Illinois, Michigan State and Ohio State during the season to add to non-conference wins over tournament-bound teams Kentucky, Princeton and possibly Hofstra.

Penn State made its life even more difficult by surviving on a last-second shot to beat Michigan in the first round Thursday.

"We beat Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan State and Michigan State was the biggest test because we don't matchup against them," Jon Crispin said. "We played tough defense and went after them."

Penn State tried a few things too, switching to a zone at times to confuse the Spartans. But it came down to making plays and the Nittany Lions answered every Spartan charge.

Titus Ivory hit a 3-pointer to give the Nittany Lions a one-point lead with 1:27 left. After Michigan State's Andre Hutson hit two free throws, senior Joe Crispin drove and got fouled for two free throws for a one-point lead. Crispin then hit a hurling, fadeaway 3-pointer at the top of the key as the shot clock was winding down with 21.6 seconds left for a 63-59 lead.

"Redemption," Joe Crispin said. "Right when I hit it I thought about how badly I played against Ohio State. I didn't hit the big shots in the second half. I don't know how I made it; it was a crazy shot."

Beating Michigan State was the last mountain to climb for the Nittany Lions. They played the Spartans tightly in two games earlier this season, but lost both.

"We just ran out of gas and played too fast," Joe Crispin said. "But the way we played today in slowing it down (and using a zone), I could have played all day."

Dunn said he knew Penn State had to beat Michigan to even get a sniff from the tournament. Beating Michigan State wasn't a must, or at least he didn't know it would be until after the game.

But Dunn had to take chances. He said last week that he wouldn't foul with a three-point lead after getting burned for not doing it against Indiana (a loss on a 3-pointer that tied a game eventually won in overtime by the Hoosiers), and then he nearly got toasted at Iowa when he told his team to foul. The Nittany Lions fouled but on a 3-pointer at Iowa, but the Hawkeyes' Brody Boyd missed one of three shots, preventing his team from tying the game.

Dunn said the difference was that there was only five seconds left on the clock when he instructed his players to foul Friday. They did so with 1.5 seconds left, meaning only a tip-in would win it off a miss.

Michigan State's Marcus Taylor made one but missed the second purposely. Dunn was so scattered by the importance of this win that he didn't hesitate when Jon Crispin pulled himself out of the game to get seldom-used Ndu Egekeze (six minutes) in the game for the rebound. Egekeze got the board – his second of the game – off the Taylor miss to preserve the win.

"We needed another rebounder in there," Jon Crispin said.

Dunn chuckled when the story was recounted in the locker room. He knew the zany Jon Crispin did the right thing in the heat of the moment. It might have helped ease any attention on Dunn's job status. Jon said the team was aware of his contract being up but didn't want to talk about it. Joe Crispin said there was tension.

"There's no question that this is good," Dunn said. "I love these guys to death. They've given me everything they've got."

And that just might be enough to get into the NCAA Tournament.

"I don't want them (the selection committee) to have any reason not to take us," Joe Crispin said. "I want this to be done, for us to be in, and that's it."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

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