Illinois vs. Penn State
1 pm
TV: Big Ten Network
Penn State held off a second-half rally by the Illini to beat them two weeks ago in State College, 71-67. Since then Illinois has looked awful, just regular bad, and then actually good like a cohesive basketball team. So, previewing this game against Penn State is like “second verse, I have no idea how it relates to the first.”
The Nittany Lions are improved from past iterations, but still not far removed from their past. The only reason they’re not the perpetual punching bag of the Big Ten is because Rutgers took the throne as king of turd mountain (and Illinois is taking some heat off them this year, too). Some of the PSU guys can really play, like Tony Carr and his 12.3 points and 2.5 assists per game, for instance, but they’ve got no top tier talent and very little depth.
As we’ve seen, though, the Nittany Lions have what it takes to beat Illinois this year — or at least enough to beat the Illini on a bad night. Predicting good nights and bad nights for Illinois is a fool’s errand, however. I certainly did not expect half the effort from Illinois as they put forth in Tuesday’s 68-61 win over Northwestern. Which echoes what everyone’s been saying about the Illini all year: The talent is there, but the execution is questionable.
My prediction: New volleyball coach Chris Tamas will be at the game and basketball of some sort or another will be played