A visit by former coach Gene Keady surprised Purdue a lot more than visiting Penn State's switching zone defense.

The Boilermakers were prepared for the zone; they just couldn't hit over it or get the ball inside around it. And when a shot bounced off the rim or the backboard, the Nittany Lions always seemed to be in position for the rebound in their 69-61 victory yesterday.

"We challenged their shooters pretty well," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said.

"That's what the zone does," he said. "It's hard getting the post guys the ball against the zone at times. We try to work on it pretty hard. Sometimes the perimeter guys have beaten us, but we really haven't had any post guys beat us in the zone."

Travis Parker scored 21 points and Penn State used a barrage of 3-point baskets and a 41-36 edge in rebounds to beat the Boilermakers. Geary Claxton and freshman Jamelle Cornley had career highs in rebounds with 15 and 13, respectively.

"Our guys did a pretty good job against the zone," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "They knew how to attack the zone; they just didn't hit the shots."

The Nittany Lions (13-11, 5-8) scored four of their first six baskets on 3-pointers, and Parker added one long-range basket and Ben Luber hit two more during a 13-2 run midway through the period.

The last lead for Purdue (9-15, 3-10) was at 29-28 late in the first half on a basket by Matt Kiefer. But Penn State pulled ahead, 34-29, at the break and slowly widened the lead at the start of the final period.

Other games

Ohio State 61, Northwestern 52: The Buckeyes' (19-4, 8-4) Terence Dials had 14 points and 15 rebounds in No. 12 Ohio State's victory against Northwestern (12-12, 4-8). The Buckeyes won for the 12th consecutive time against the Wildcats.

Michigan State 90, Michigan 71: Shannon Brown scored 26 points and No. 16 Michigan State (19-7, 7-5), remained unbeaten at home with a victory against Michigan (17-7, 7-6).

Minnesota 74, Iowa 61: Vincent Grier scored 18 points to lead Minnesota (13-10, 4-8) to its third consecutive home victory against a ranked team, No. 18 Iowa (20-7, 9-4).