Saturday's Penn State men's basketball game against Illinois epitomized the Nittany Lions' past two months. Like most games this conference season, it was 40 minutes filled with mindless mistakes, missed opportunities and no breaks for the Lions.
Eight second-half Penn State turnovers did not help the Lions (10-17, 1-13 Big Ten) overcome the 16-point deficit they faced within ten minutes of the opening tip. Illinois (21-9, 9-6) never surrendered its lead and was aided by multiple Lion bloopers in the 68-50 victory.
The most vivid and painful example of Penn State's futility during its 13th straight loss -- the most since 1984 -- occurred late in the second half.
The Lions were staring at an easy three-on-none breakaway when junior guard Mike Walker fired a pass to a wide-open Brandon Hassell under the basket with no defenders within 30 feet. However, Hassell was not able to corral the pass, and the ball fell helplessly out of bounds, just as the once-promising season has escaped the Lions' grasp and shattered to pieces.
"You could say that play is the story of the season," said Walker, Penn State's leading scorer with 14 points. "We just haven't been able to figure it out this season."
Throughout the entire game, the Lions did not have an answer for Illinois' tenacious defense and muscle. The Illini outscored Penn State by 20 points in the paint and recorded 11 more rebounds. Illinois was led by the efforts of forwards Shaun Pruitt, with 20 points, and Warren Carter, who added 17 and six rebounds.
"We just wanted to focus on defense, and defense is toughness," Pruitt said. "So I guess you could say we wanted to out-physical and out-tough them."
The physical Illini play did not help the Lions' cause as Penn State was a painful victim of Murphy's Law. Every time Penn State mounted a comeback, a bad bounce or a missed rebound led to extra Illinois possessions and points.
"We make a little run and we get it to 10 or 12, then we miss an easy lay-up or a dunk," Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis said. "Those plays change the game. We just never made 'that play' tonight when we had a couple of opportunities to. It gets to be one thing after another, after another and your confidence just continues to slip."
However difficult that play was for the 12,034 blue and white faithful, both DeChellis and Illinois head coach Bruce Weber agreed that the apparent breaking point for the Lions occurred with about nine and a half minutes to play.
Penn State had just cut a 21-point lead to 15 and was applying pressure defense after a Walker three. The Illini broke the press and moved the ball down court. They missed two three-point attempts, but each time, Illinois guard Chester Frazier stormed the glass and grabbed two huge offensive rebounds.
The rebounds allowed the Illini to burn more than a minute off the clock and extend their lead, which signaled the end for the Lions.
"It was probably the back-breaker for them," Weber said. "It was a time when they started to get some momentum ... they seemed to have some energy; the crowd got into it. They were pressing us and then those rebounds really made a difference. Now you're running clock and if you score, then it really breaks their spirits."
While Frazier's rebounds were the decisive plays in Saturday's game, the true microcosm of Penn State's entire frustrating season was the botched fast break.
DeChellis was, as he has been all conference season, befuddled by the careless turnover. He added that no amount of coaching could make up for or correct some of the mistakes that have plagued this season.
"That [play] kind of typifies what's happened here to us," DeChellis said. "We've got two guys open, not one, but two and we can't make a wide open play, I don't have a drill for that."
Medical Notes
Saturday was Senior Day for guards Ben Luber and David 'Mooch' Jackson who were recognized for their years of work and dedication to the program. For Luber, however, the day was even less memorable. He made the start, but was subbed out less than five seconds into the game because of a tendon sprain suffered at Ohio State. DeChellis said Luber's wrist is now in a cast and the point guard is most likely done for the season . . . Sophomore forward Jamelle Cornley left the game with 5:30 to play because of a hip pointer. DeChellis said Cornley is pretty sore and will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
