Illinois basketball welcomed the Penn State Nittany Lions to the State Farm Center on Thursday night.
It was a must-win game for the Illini if they want any chance of becoming co-Big Ten champions with Wisconsin. Illinois didn’t seem to come out with a ton of intensity and may have been looking ahead to the Iowa game.
Penn State held a one-point lead heading into halftime. However, it wasn’t enough as the Illini hit some big shots and big free throws down the stretch closing the game out and winning 60-55.
Here are the grades from the Illinois basketball win over Penn State
Offense: C
The Illini offense was not very good in this one. Penn State did what they do best, and that is slowing the game down and mucking it up.
Penn State forced the Illini into almost no transition offense as there were only five fastbreak points in the entire game. They also held Illinois to just 36% shooting.
The Illinois offense was led by no other than Da’Monte Williams. The fifth-year senior led the Illini with 14 points. It was great to see Williams finally hit some shots from distance, as he hit four three-pointers. He came into this game shooting only 30% from behind the three-point arc, and he went 4-of-10 from distance.
Kofi Cockburn was also quiet in this one, only scoring 11 points on seven shot attempts. The Nittany Lions did a good job blitzing Kofi and were daring Williams and Jacob Grandison to shoot it from deep. Grandison hit a big three-pointer late in the game to give the Illini a three point lead. He would finish with eight points. Trent Fraizer added ten points as well.
Defense: B-
The Illini defense hasn’t been great as of late, and they were just okay against Penn State. They held the Nittany Lions to only 55 points on 41% shooting and forced them into 12 turnovers. Jalen Pickett was a problem all night for Illini as he scored 18 points.
There has been a recurring theme in the last few games in which bigger guards are killing the Illini in the pick and roll. In the previous two games, they gave up 25 points to DeVante’ Jones and 31 points to Malaki Branham. That is definitely something to keep an eye on as we get closer to tournament time.
Overall: C+
The Illini need more from Coleman Hawkins and Andre Curbelo, both of whom had been playing solidly over the last few games. Those two combined for 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field.
This was not a pretty win by the Illini, as I felt they played down to Penn State. Illinois will have to bring far more intensity on Sunday as they take on Iowa at the State Farm Center at 6:30 p.m. CT. Wisconsin plays Nebraska earlier that day, so we will know if the Illini have a chance at a share of the Big Ten.