{"id":102365,"date":"2023-03-10T16:21:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T22:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=102365"},"modified":"2023-03-10T16:21:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T22:21:24","slug":"big-ten-tournament-penn-state-silences-united-center-crowd-knocks-off-illinois-in-second-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/big-ten-tournament-penn-state-silences-united-center-crowd-knocks-off-illinois-in-second-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Ten Tournament: Penn State silences United Center crowd, knocks off Illinois in second round"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Drew Steiner
\n<\/strong>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

The boisterous, orange-filled United Center was silenced Thursday as the No. 7 seed Illinois Fighting Illini were knocked out of the Big Ten tournament by the No. 10 seed Penn State Nittany Lions, 79-76.<\/p>\n

The Nittany Lions played much of the game with a smaller lineup, with the tallest player on the floor at most times being 6-foot-6 senior Seth Lundy. This brought a tough task on the defensive end as Illinois\u2019 starting lineup featured 6-foot-9 redshirt sophomore Dain Dainja and 6-foot-10 junior Coleman Hawkins.<\/p>\n

Lundy said this lineup is something the team is used to, and the group knows they must not only step up to the defensive challenge, but also take advantage of it on the offensive end as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had that (smaller) lineup for two years now,\u201d Lundy said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been using the lineup for so long that we accept the challenge every single time. When a team is playing bigger than us, we use it to our advantage on the offensive end as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Completing the three-game season sweep of Illinois, Penn State\u2019s smaller lineup did take advantage of their quickness and outshot their way to the Big Ten quarterfinals, shooting 52% from the field compared with the Illini\u2019s 45%.<\/p>\n

Clutch 3-point shooting in key spots of the contest allowed the Nittany Lions to pull away at the end of the game. Fifth-year senior Andrew Funk, the Big Ten 3-point percentage leader, drained six of the Nittany Lions eight threes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just stuck together,\u201d said Funk, a transfer from Bucknell. \u201cWe have a veteran group of guys that we have closed out a lot of games with. Trusting my teammates to make plays and make shots led to us bearing down on defense as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry told his team at the morning shootaround that a game of this stature is nothing new to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a single-elimination tournament, and I told the group that we have been playing single- elimination basketball for about three weeks,\u201d Shrewsberry said. \u201cEvery single game has mattered, every single game has been really important and they\u2019ve answered the bell every single time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nittany Lions are right back in the underdog seat as they will take on the No. 2 seed hometown Northwestern Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. Friday in a quarterfinal showdown.<\/p>\n

Drew Steiner is a sports media graduate student at Medill. You can contact him on\u00a0LinkedIn.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Drew Steiner Medill Reports The boisterous, orange-filled United Center was silenced Thursday as the No. 7 seed Illinois Fighting Illini were knocked out of the Big Ten tournament by the No. 10 seed Penn State Nittany Lions, 79-76. The Nittany Lions played much of the game with a smaller lineup, with the tallest player […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":882,"featured_media":102366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5251,31,5339],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago","category-sports","category-winter-2023"],"yoast_head":"\nBig Ten Tournament: Penn State silences United Center crowd, knocks off Illinois in second round - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/big-ten-tournament-penn-state-silences-united-center-crowd-knocks-off-illinois-in-second-round\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Big Ten Tournament: Penn State silences United Center crowd, knocks off Illinois in second round - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Drew Steiner Medill Reports The boisterous, orange-filled United Center was silenced Thursday as the No. 7 seed Illinois Fighting Illini were knocked out of the Big Ten tournament by the No. 10 seed Penn State Nittany Lions, 79-76. 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