City of Basketball Love

Vincent Lungaro (@VinceLungaro)
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Coming off an upset win over No. 21 Maryland on Tuesday, Penn State built off of the momentum from that showing with a 83-70 road win at Illinois Saturday from the State Farm Center.

At First…

The first 15 minutes saw a back and forth affair, with neither team able to pull away from the other. Payton Banks, coming off a poor performance in Tuesday’s win over the Terrapins, was the main man in the first half for Penn State with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Tied at 27 with 4:35 left in the first half, the Nittany Lions went on a 12-2 run to go into halftime on top 41-29.

Turning Point…

Penn State had built a 19-point second half lead, before a 14-0 run from the Fighting Illini cut the deficit to five with under 5:00 to play on a Tracey Abrams three. The next two offensive possessions for the Nittany Lions proved the youthful squad had learned from blown leads of the past. An and-1 off the glass converted by Banks was followed by an and-1 finish by Lamar Stevens to push the lead back to double digits. Penn State was able to see out its second straight win from that point forward.

Standout Stars…

Banks scored zero points the last time out, but responded with a game-high 24-point effort on Saturday. The Orange, California native was 8-of-12 from the field, including three treys. It was also another strong day for former Roman Catholic and now Penn State duo Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens. Carr poured in 19 points, while Stevens added 21 points and five rebounds.

Malcolm Hill led the Fighting Illini as he has for most of the season, putting up 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Noteworthy Numbers…

57: Shooting hasn’t been Penn State’s forte this season, but that changed mightily on Saturday. The Nittany Lions shot 57 percent from the field and were 7-of-16 from three. At the midway point in the second half they were up to 70 percent shooting in the half.

2009: The last time Penn State defeated Illinois in Champaign was a 38-33 defensive struggle on Feb. 18, 2009. 11 points from Talor Battle was enough to give the Nittany Lions the upset road win over the then-No. 18 Fighting Illini.

Up Next…

Penn State (14-12, 6-7 Big Ten) at Nebraska (10-14, 4-8 Big Ten) -- Tue. Feb. 14, 9:00 PM

Illinois (14-12, 4-9 Big Ten) at Iowa (14-11, 6-6 Big Ten) -- Sat. Feb. 18, 2:00 PM