Published Feb 21, 2024
Penn State set to host No. 12 Illinois on Wednesday night in Rec Hall
Dub Jellison  •  Happy Valley Insider
Staff Writer
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@dubjellison

The Penn State Nittany Lions have cooked up some upset magic already this season and will look to do so again as No. 12 Illinois comes to town for a Big Ten battle on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. But it won't be just any other game for the Nittany Lions as they'll face off against the Illini in Rec Hall.

Penn State has dropped three straight since defeating Iowa on February 8th. Mike Rhoades has also had to deal with some extra curricular activities with leading scorer Kanye Clary being dismissed from the program this week after having been in and out of the lineup for weeks. The Nittany Lions are 12-14 on the season and 6-9 during Big Ten play.

Illinois on the other hand had enjoyed another stellar campaign in Champaign, at 19-6 overall and 10-4 in the conference, which is good for second place. The Illini have also won five of their last six heading into Wednesday's game.

Happy Valley Insider gets you primed for the matchup in Happy Valley this evening.

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WHERE, WHEN, HOW TO WATCH

WHEN: February 21st, 2024 - 6:30 p.m. ET

WHERE: Rec Hall (6,502) -- State College, Pennsylvania

SPREAD: Illinois -8 / 157 over/under

TV/STREAM: BTN

Radio: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)

STAT COMPARISON

STAT COMPARISON
OFF EFF = Offensive Efficiency / DEF EFF = Defensive EFF
Penn StateSTATIllinois

74.8 (156)

PS/G

83.1 (20)

73.3 (227)

PA/G

70.7 (144)

43.8% (232)

FG%

46.4% (84)

51.3% (143)

2P%

54.4% (39)

32.7% (229)

3P%

34.2% (153)

74.2% (87)

FT%

74.2% (85)

34.2 (345)

REB/G

45.6 (5)

9.42 (257)

O-REB/G

12.8 (28)

1.09 (184)

AST/TO RATIO

1.19 (132)

69.9 (64)

TEMPO

69.9 (65)

1.108 (95)

OFF EFF

1.231 (5)

1.025 (104)

DEF EFF

0.992 (48)

RANKINGS COMPARISON

RANKINGS COMPARISON
TEAMKenPomESPN BPIHaslamNETAverage

Penn State

95

102

82

99

94.5

Illinois

9

10

10

12

10.25

See the full rankings.

-- KenPom
-- NET
-- ESPN BPI
-- Haslam

Who is Penn State's projected starting five?

PENN STATE PROJECTED STARTERS
PositionPlayerPointsReboundsAssists

G

14.0

2.2

5.3

G

7.1

2.0

0.7

F

7.9

3.5

1.0

F

8.2

4.0

1.5

C

9.0

7.6

0.5

Who is Illinois' projected starting five?

Illinois Projected Starters
PositionPlayerPointsReboundsAssists

G

21.4

4.0

2.4

G

15.6

4.8

3.4

F

6.8

5.4

2.3

F

12.4

6.2

2.8

F

10.6

7.2

0.2

Penn State vs Illinois Four Factors

FOUR FACTORS
TEAMEff. FG%Turnover %Off. Reb %FT RATE

Penn State

50.4%

15.7%

26.4

34.4

Illinois

53.2%

15.4%

35.6

35.7