Illinois-Penn State notebook

To hear the postgame locker-room show, click here.
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Penn State coach Ed DeChellis probably said it best after his Nittany Lions escaped Champaign with an ugly 38-33 win against Illinois on Wednesday night.

"We set this (game) back a few years. (James) Naismith probably rolled over several times," the Penn State coach said.

Nothing offensively seemed to work for either team as the Illini and Nittany Lions combined to set several Assembly Hall records for offensive futility.

Penn State's 38 points was the lowest winning score in the building's history. The 71 combined points set a new mark, as did the 29 percent the two teams combined to shoot.

Illinois' 33 points broke the previous low of 44. And Penn State's 13 field goals tied a record for the fewest by an Illini opponent. Northwestern did that most recently last season.

"I just kept searching for an offense," DeChellis said. "I got this sheet in my pocket with about 35 plays on it and none of them were really any good. We just went high ball screen, put the ball in 12's (Talor Battle) hands and let him do something with it because nothing else was really flowing, was really working."

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From the opening tip, Illinois looked like it would struggle throughout the night on the offensive end. The Illini missed their first seven shots en route to a 15-for-50 (30 percent) effort.

"There's not much to say, to be honest," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "Neither one of us had an offensive display you'd expect to see this time of year. I hope some of it was their defense and our defense."

Penn State held Illinois to a season-low 15 points in the first half. That was one point fewer than Illinois scored in a 59-36 loss last month at Minnesota.

"We missed some early, some good looks. We had good looks, we just didn't knock them down. They played good defense, and I think it's a combination of both," said Trent Meacham, who along with Chester Frazier scored a team-high seven points. "They played good defense all night and we also missed some shots that we usually make, so it was a combination of both."

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Penn State's Jamelle Cornley said after the game he loves playing in the Assembly Hall. Who can argue with that? The senior is 3-0 in Champaign. He helped end Illinois' 10-game winning streak at the Assembly Hall on Wednesday, and as a freshman in 2006 he and the Nittany Lions ended Illinois' 33-game winning streak in Champaign.

"Three-and-oh at Assembly Hall, I don't know how many people can say that," Cornley said.

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Cornley got the win, but his numbers were well off from what he's been putting up much of the season. Cornley, who entered the game averaging 15 points, was held to five Wednesday.

Illinois used a combination of defenses to slow the forward, double-teaming him in the post with a combination of Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale and Dominique Keller.

"The last couple games that's been the story. Everybody's been making sure they give me different looks and try to double down on me," Cornley said. "Coach Bruce Weber put in another game plan to try to take the ball out of my hands. It was very effective. We still came out with the win, and that's all I really care about."

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Illinois didn't make a free throw Wednesday, In fact, Illinois didn't attempt a free throw. It was the first time in Assembly Hall history that Illinois hadn't attempted a free throw.

The previous low was five, three times, most recently against Western Illinois in 2002.

"We didn't take advantage of Tisdale inside, that's probably my fault. But we didn't get to the rack, we shot a lot of threes and we weren't hitting," Frazier said. "When things go like that, you got to find a way to get layups and get to the free throw line and we didn't do it."

Getting to the line has been a problem lately for Illinois. In a win Sunday at Indiana, the Illini shot eight freebies, six of them coming in the game's closing minutes as Indiana tried to mount a comeback.

"We didn't go strong to the basket. We didn't get it inside enough," Weber said. "Tis was the only one to score down the stretch. A couple of the timeouts we said just get it inside and we didn't do a good job with that."

Penn State, which finished the game on an 18-4 run, made 9 of 11 from the free throw line.

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With less than a minute to go and Penn State leading by three, the Illini were trying to set up a play to get a three-pointer. But the Nittany Lions had only committed two fouls to that point and began to foul immediately to prevent the Illini from setting up any kind of play to potentially tie the game.

"It's smart basketball. You're trying to get a quick three. I was surprised they didn't foul again, to be honest," Weber said. "I thought they had one more, but maybe I was wrong. Smart basketball on their part not to let us get a shot up."

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It wasn't all bad for the Illini on Wednesday. They did play pretty good defense overall, holding Penn State to a season-low 38 points.

Battle, who's leading the Big Ten in scoring at 17.9 points per game, didn't record his first points until 30 minutes had passed. Battle finished with 11.

"Battle's a tough player. He's going to score some points," said Frazier, who guarded Battle on Wednesday. "Just stay in front of him, limit his three-point shot and try to stay in front of him. He beat me a few times off the ball screen, but I did my best."

Stanley Pringle, Penn State's other top offensive weapon, was held to two points.

"I think they did a good job on their defensive end making sure we had contested shots and disrupted our rhythm on the offensive end," Cornley said. "We just have to make sure we go out, execute and continue to play hard on the defensive end."

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Weber is typically animated from the bench, yelling out plays and encouraging his guys to move or guard. And he did plenty of that Wednesday. But the Illinois coach showed a bit more emotion on the sideline than usual against Penn State, pumping his fist after big plays and encouraging the fans to make some noise.

"He was trying to fire us up. We came out a little flat, didn't have much emotion. We came out in the second half a little more, but obviously didn't get the job done," said Tisdale, who tied a career high with 10 rebounds. "It's good; you know he's behind you and wants you to play well. We just need to play better."

At one point in the second half, Frazier had to grab Weber and pull him back off the floor while disputing a call.

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Guys like Keller and Calvin Brock have provided energy for the Illini off the bench most of the season, but like everyone else Wednesday, even they couldn't create a spark.

"In hindsight you look at the bench, maybe you should have used Dominique a little more. He didn't seem real in sync," Weber said. "Calvin was 0 for 3 and three turnovers. Alex (Legion) misses his first three shots, they didn't give us a whole lot of confidence to play them.

"Jeffrey (Jordan), I thought, did a nice job again, maybe in hindsight you mix it up a little bit, try and get a spark from one of those guys and they have given us a nice spark all year."

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After the Indiana game, Weber revealed that Demetri McCamey had been a bit under the weather. And after Wednesday's game, he said McCamey hadn't shown much improvement healthwise.

The sophomore point guard had five points and two assists in 27 minutes.

"He threw up at halftime, somebody told me, at least someone told me that," Weber said. "I thought he was better. He got a couple quick fouls, that didn't help us and then I just don't think he has the energy he needed."

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Perhaps fatigue played a role in Illinois' dismal showing against Penn State. The Illini have today off, but before that they hadn't had a day off since Feb. 9.

"I said to the coaches today, 'It'll be interesting how we play,' " Weber said. "I could have never anticipated this."

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Most of the Illini watched Purdue knock off Michigan State on Tuesday night, which put Illinois in prime position to make a move on the Spartans for the Big Ten title. But after Wednesday's loss, Illinois still has some work to do to catch the Spartans.

"Everybody pretty much watched it, hoping Purdue could pull one out. They did a good job and handled business. We just couldn't take care of ours," Jordan said. "We just got to come back and take care of business with these next couple teams. All these teams are playing well so we just got to keep taking it one game at a time and not look ahead."

Said Weber: "It's going to be tough for us right now. We've got to worry about ourself, get the next one. That's what we talked about before the game, focus on one game at a time, concentration and focus for this game. I don't know if we're looking ahead or too giddy, maybe a little overconfident playing at home coming off the road.I'm not sure, but we didn't have the right mental approach."

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Newly appointed Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn was in town Wednesday and attended the Illini game. Quinn, who took over for the impeached Rod Blagojevich on Jan. 29, wore an orange Illinois sweatshirt to the Assembly Hall.

Quinn received his law degree at Northwestern but is an Illinois backer.

"It's the state school," he said. "They've really played so well this year. It's a team, it's an unsung-hero team and you really need to have that. I think the only way you go far in the tournament is to have that kind of team effort."

It was the first time an Illinois governor had attended an Illinois sporting event since Blagojevich attended a Final Four game in 2005.

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