Penn State advances and prepares for a matchup with Northwestern.
What a game!
In a tournament that had seen the lower-seeded teams win all four games prior to Penn State tipping off, that could have been looked at as either a good or bad omen.
The 10th-seeded Nittany Lions faced the seventh-seeded Illini, who they had beaten twice this season. Coming into the game, the old adage that it’s hard to beat a team three times was prevalent.
That was put to bed Thursday night with Penn State winning 79-76 to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament for the second straight season.
As expected in a trilogy, the game was tight to start. During the first ten minutes of the game, there were four lead changes and two ties. That would be a theme throughout the game.
However, the ten-minute mark was when Penn State started to separate in the first half.
After leading 17-14, they held Illinois to six points over the next six minutes. With five and a half minutes remaining in the first half, Penn State held a nine point lead.
Then, it was Illinois’ turn to make their run.
Penn State was held to two points for the remainder of the first half. The Illini cut the lead to 31-30 at halftime.
The second half had the makings of an all-time Big Ten Tournament game.
Two minutes in, it was tied 34-34 and it was game on from there. The second half saw 12 lead changes and four ties.
Penn State looked like they were in big trouble at times. Playing in front of a pro-Illinois crowd in Chicago, the stadium erupted when the Illini took a 40-46 lead at the 14:18 mark.
It was all grit from the Nittany Lions as they battled back. [autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag], who had a quiet scoring night, finished their 7-0 run to put Penn State back up 47-46.
From that point, it was a back and forth affair. Each team took the lead and then gave it up the next possession.
At the 6:30 mark, Pickett made a layup that put Penn State up for good. They never relinquished the lead for the rest of the game.
There was just enough separation that kept Illinois at arms length. This was punctuated by [autotag]Andrew Funk[/autotag]’s dagger three to put Penn State up eight with just under four minutes remaining.
Funk was sensational. He was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points, 18 of them coming from his six three-pointers.
In a night that Pickett was quiet scoring the ball, seniors [autotag]Camren Wynter[/autotag] and [autotag]Seth Lundy[/autotag] stepped up scoring 18 and 17 points respectively. Lundy finished with a double-double adding 10 rebounds.
Down the stretch, Penn State made things interesting when they couldn’t quite completely shut the door by missing multiple three throws.
But what’s a Penn State basketball game without some drama?
Illinois clawed their way back into the game, but their effort came up just short. Senior guard [autotag]Terrence Shannon Jr.[/autotag] was the Illini’s leading scorer with 19 points. Junior forward [autotag]Coleman Hawkins[/autotag] was a problem for Penn State all night and finished the game with 17 points.
This was a huge win for the Nittany Lions. It all but assures they’ve punched their ticket into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.
But this team isn’t thinking about that right now.
They are still playing in the Big Ten Tournament and face a Northwestern team on Friday that they just beat.
That game is expected to tip off at 6:30 pm ET on Big Ten Network.
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