B1G is Brutal: Penn State Basketball falls to No. 18 Illinois
By Evan Smith
Penn State Basketball got off to a strong start but fell 98 – 81 to #18 Illinois at the empty Bryce Jordan Center.
As the Big Ten Network announcers loved reminding us, Penn State Basketball led 19-4 to start the game Wednesday night, behind the hot shooting mostly of Myreon Jones. Penn State was unable to stop Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn in the first half, who finished 7-7 from the field.
Penn State Basketball didn’t stop the Illini in the paint all night with John Harrar in foul trouble. Ferry tried some Tsimbila again but he looked the part of a wide-eyed freshman on both ends of the court. The Lions went into the half tied 43-43 but the end result seemed known even at that point, instead the Nittany Lions fell 98-81.
Illinois continued using Cockburn (23 points, 6 rebounds) and Bezhanishvilli (8 points) in the paint but Penn State truly had no answer for potential lottery pick Ayo Dosunmu who finished with 30 points on just 18 shots in the paint. Penn State offensively hung around as best as possible, but were simply decimated on the defensive end.
The biggest discrepancy in this game was from the free throw line. Certainly, the Fighting Illini attempted more shots from inside the paint compared to the jump shooting Nittany Lions, but Illinois finsiedh with 28 free throws compared to the Lions…7. Ouch.