Comical errors end in tragedy for Lions

When little boys play badly, they get spanked. Last night in the Bryce Jordan Center the Penn State basketball team got spanked.

And Penn State coach Jerry Dunn had few kind words to soothe the stinging, too.

"I thought that was an embarrassment," he said. "They played like men. We played like boys."

Illinois Kiwane Garris delivered the most punishing blows by scoring a game high 27 points, and shooting 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

The game was a comedy of errors for the Lions as their 23 turnovers led to 35 points for the Illini. The comedy part came from the way the Lions committed the turnovers. If they got a steal, they would promptly give it right back. Or Illinois would steal the ball, Penn State would get it back, and then turn it right back over again.

Not helping the Penn State cause was the fact that leading scorer Pete Lisicky was held to six points the entire night, a season low for him.

But the Lions poor play from the outset of the game did not help either. To start, the Illini jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Then three straight Calvin Booth dunks reeled the Lions back in and tied the game with just over four minutes gone by.

"Early on we got confidence in what we were doing," Illinois coach Lon Kruger said. "We got off to a very good start."

And the good Illini start turned into a great Illini first-half ending. With the Lions playing lethargically, the Illini built a 19-7 lead with just over nine minutes left in the first half, and it grew from there. By halftime the lead had grown to 46-25, and the game seemed all but over.

And in the second half the Illini continued to roll. The Lions got their lead down to 19 points about a minute into the game, but it did little good.

A Chris Gandy 3-pointer, two Kevin Turner jumper's and a Matt Heldman 3-pointer later and the game was all but over, as Illinois had built a 25-point lead. And the worst part for the Lions was that there was still 16:19 still left to play in the game.

For the Lions, at least on paper there were several bright spots. Jarrett Stephens scored 18 points. Ryan Bailey and Calvin Booth each had 12.

But through the eyes of Dunn there was little about his team play that he found encouraging.

"We have to sit down and find six or seven guys that want to go out and play," he said.

But as his team will soon find out, sitting down after a spanking can be tough.