Penn State’s offense was on full display at The Bryce Jordan Center on Tuesday night. They used their hot shooting night to beat Illinois 93-81.
This victory put a stop to the four-game losing streak Penn State had coming into the evening. The story of the game was [autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag].
After the loss to Maryland over the weekend, coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] put the spotlight on Pickett.
Frustrated with the lack of foul calls Pickett has been receiving, Shrewsberry said, “That kid is one of the best players in our league. He’s being treated unfairly.”
Pickett was red-hot in the first half. He looked to attack and get himself involved in the offense early.
He finished the first half with 24 points, shooting 10 of 12 from the floor and 4 of 6 from three.
Pickett also scored his 2,000th career point in the first half after hitting a three. This is a major milestone for the senior guard who is in his second season at Penn State.
The rest of the team followed their senior guard’s performance. Penn State shot 56% in the first half from both the field and three-point land.
After trailing at halftime in all four of their previous games, the Nittany Lions took a 53-40 lead into the locker room.
The hot shooting continued for Penn State.
Pickett finished with 41 points, shooting 15-20 from the field and 5-9 from three. This set the Bryce Jordan Center record for most points scored in a single game.
He also became the third men’s player to score 40 points in a game for Penn State, joining Gene Harris and Jesse Arnelle.
Guard [autotag]Seth Lundy[/autotag] added 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman guard [autotag]Kanye Clary[/autotag] continued his run of good play adding 12 points on 50% shooting.
The team finished the game shooting 57.9% from the field and 42.9% from three point range.
This was the response they needed at home, hosting Illinois who came into the game 8-2 in their last 10 games.
Senior guard [autotag]Terrence Shannon Jr.[/autotag] was the game’s second leading scorer with 20 points. The Illini also had four others in double digits, including starting forwards [autotag]Coleman Hawkins[/autotag] with 12 points, [autotag]Matthew Mayer[/autotag] with 11 points and guard [autotag]Jayden Epps[/autotag] with 12 points.
Penn State goes on the road for their next game. They will face Minnesota, Saturday night at 9 pm eastern on Big Ten Network.
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