Written by
The Sports Network
University Park, PA (Sports Network) - Off to an ugly start in Big Ten
Conference play, the Penn State Nittany Lions now have to deal with the
arrival of 22nd-ranked Illinois to Happy Valley tonight.
Outside of a 65-45 thumping of Purdue a couple weeks ago, the conference slate
has not worked out for the Nittany Lions who have dropped their other five
league bouts. On Sunday afternoon, PSU hosted Minnesota and was handed an
80-66 setback by the Golden Gophers, the third straight loss for the Nittany
Lions who had shown some promise early on in 2011-12 when they opened with
five wins in six opportunities.
As for the Fighting Illini, they are at the other end of the Big Ten standings
with fours wins against just a single loss, which came against the
Boilermakers as a matter of fact. Since the defeat versus Purdue, Illinois has
rattled off three consecutive wins, the most recent of those coming against
Ohio State, ranked fifth in the nation at the time, a week ago Tuesday in a
79-74 final.
Dating back to 1942 when the teams met for the very first time in New Orleans,
the all-time series favors Illinois by a count of 24-12 after the Illini
posted a 68-51 win in the most recent meeting last February.
Against Ohio State the Illini turned the ball over 18 times, cleared just
five offensive rebounds and 27 boards overall, but all of that was forgotten
thanks to an incredible 60.0 percent shooting from the field and 11-of-18
accuracy beyond the arc for the hosts at Assembly Hall. Brandon Paul towered
above everyone as he poured in a staggering 43 points, hitting 8-of-10 out on
the perimeter and 11-of-15 shots from the floor overall, not to mention
accounting for eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Fellow starters Meyers
Leonard (14 points), D.J. Richardson (10) and Joseph Bertrand (10) also scored
in double figures, but it was clearly a night that belonged to Paul as he
scored the third-most points in school history. Paul, who scored the final 15
points for Illinois in the matchup and was named the Big Ten Conference Player
of the Week for his efforts, is now averaging 13.8 ppg on the season, but more
importantly 20.4 ppg against league foes. Richardson is responsible for 13.0
ppg overall as is Leonard, the latter pulling down almost eight rebounds per
game to pace the group in that department.
The Nittany Lions shot just 30.0 percent from the floor for the entire game
against Minnesota and for the most part, the starters were to blame as they
combined to make just 11-of-40 from the field in the outing. Off the bench,
Cammeron Woodyard tallied a team-best 22 points as he converted 6-of-14 from
the floor and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free-throw line, followed by Tim Frazier
and Jermaine Marshall with 20 and 12 points, respectively. Frazier, who handed
out five assists and made four steals, connected on only 5-of-15 from the
floor yet he is still the leading scorer overall for the Nittany Lions with
his 18.2 ppg. Add to that 5.2 rpg, 125 assists and 47 steals and Frazier is
one of a rare breed who leads his team in all of those categories this late in
the season. Marshall checks in with 10.1 ppg which means the two of them
account for almost half of the unit's 63.8 ppg thus far. As a whole, the Lions
are now shooting only 38.8 percent from the field and 30.9 percent behind the
three-point line.
The Sports Network