Live from Assembly Hall

For the box score, click here.

To see what Eric Loy had to say after Wednesday's loss, click here.

CHAMPAIGN - If you're old school, take the video cassette and toss it. In case you recorded the game on a DVR, close your eyes and press delete.

Illinois or its fans want no documented evidence Wednesday's game ever happened.

In a sloppy cage match, Penn State made slightly more shots than No. 18 Illinois and won 38-33 at the Assembly Hall. The loss was the Illini's first at home in Big Ten play, and it might have knocked them from Big Ten title contention.

It was the fewest points scored by an Illinois team at the Assembly Hall. The previous record was on Jan. 6, 2007 (Ohio State 62, Illinois 44).

UI quarterback Juice Williams watched Wednesday's debacle from a courtside seat. And this was a football player's kind of game.

The halftime score: Penn State 17, Illinois 15. The halftime score of the Illinois-Penn State football game in September: Penn State 21, Illinois 14.

Illinois (21-6, 9-5 Big Ten) and Penn State (19-8, 8-6) combined for the fewest  points in a game at the Assembly Hall. The previous record was 85, managed by Illinois and Northwestern on Feb. 18, 2007.

Penn State guard Talor Battle, the league's leading scorer, hit a pair of free throws to give the visitors a three-point cushion with 16 seconds left. Illinois guard Demetri McCamey attempted a three-pointer to tie, but it fell short.

Trent Meacham and Chester Frazier had seven points apiece to lead the Illini in scoring. Battle finished with 11 for Penn State.

Penn State claimed its third straight win at the Assembly Hall. The Nittany Lions actually made fewer field goals than the Illini (13 to 15) but made 9 of 11 free throws to make up the difference. Illinois did not attempt a free throw.

7:45 left in regulation - Illinois 29, Penn State 22

- Mike Tisdale has eight rebounds, a career high in a Big Ten game. Mike Davis has nine boards, the fifth time in six games he's had at least nine rebounds.

- Bruce Weber is more animated than usual. No, that's not the right word. He's more fired up than usual. After Chester Frazier gave Illinois the lead, Weber responded with a fist pump. He welcomed the Illini into the huddle with rapid clapping. At one point, Marcus Jackson reports, Frazier came off the bench to hold back Weber, so he didn't go further onto the court.

- Marcus Jackson reports Penn State started the second half by missing 13 of 14 shots.

- Remember Demetri McCamey's buzzerbeater to complete the Northwestern comeback? Of course you do. He went the next 65 minutes, 47 seconds without a field goal. He just hit a big 3 - from the left corner - to give Illinois its largest lead of the game (29-20).

Check back in a few.

Klee

15:24 left in regulation - Penn State 19, Illinois 19

- A gaggle of reporters surrounded Gov. Pat Quinn after his halftime interview with Brian B. Here's what was said, as told to Marcus Jackson:

"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," he said of the Illini. "I think the only way you go far in the tournament is to have that kind of team effort."

- A Chester Frazier mini-run put Illinois back in front. Frazier and Mike Davis combined on a fast break to tie the score at 17. Then Frazier took it to the basket for a tough lay-in. The 19-17 lead was Illinois' first lead since 2-0 with 15:55 left in the first half.

- Demetri McCamey is in a mini-slump. He's gone three halves (two at Indiana, the first half tonight) without a field goal.

- Bruce P. checks in with an email: "What a brick-fest this is! This is just awful! How many have rattled out?! We have to find a way to win this root canal!"

- Can't say this very often. The Illinois-Penn State football game we covered at State College in September had more points at halftime than tonight's basketball game. The football guys combined for 35 points (21-14). The basketball guys combined for 32 (17-15).

Check back in a few.

Klee

Halftime - Penn State 17, Illinois 15

- Illini quarterback Juice Williams is attendance for his third Big Ten basketball game this season. He's sitting over behind the UI bench, next to the Tisdales.

- Jeff Jordan hit a big jumper, a fadeaway job, to pull Illinois within 15-13. That got the crowd going. I'd guess 14,000 in attendance. Maybe 15,000.

- Penn State's Jamelle Cornley looks more like a linebacker than a power forward. I asked him if he had considered football. He said he played two games in high school before sustaining an injury, and he figured his future was on the hardcourt, so he laced up the spikes.

"They're always trying to get me out there," Cornley said of the Penn State football guys. "I could do it if I really put my mind to it."

As for his weightlifting - on the bench - he said, "I can do around 370 (max). But we don't do a lot of power lifting. We have a chart that pretty much shows up. I can lift 185 (pounds) about 25 times or so."

- Weber has played nine guys in the first half and looked to Alex Legion early. Legion's shot was off (0-for-3), so we'll see if the coach goes back to the UK transfer. He spent several mornings in Ubben last week - a rarity for a player in the heart of the Big Ten season - working on his shot and conditioning.

- If you're wondering, the fewest points scored by an Illinois team in a half at the Assembly Hall is 12. The 1981-82 Illini managed just 12 points in a half against Purdue. Still, this has been ugly. Might have to watch Pac-10 highlights tonight to clear our basketball souls.

You guys should hope the NCAA selection committee didn't watch the Minnesota game or the first half tonight.

- Trent Meacham is the Illini's leading scorer with four points. Chris Babb and Andrew Jones each have four points for Penn State.

- Gov. Pat Quinn has made his way down to the Illini Sports Network radio booth for his halftime interview with Brian Barnhart. He's wearing an orange Illinois sweatshirt.

Check back in a few.

Klee

7:21 left in the first half - Penn State 13, Illinois 6

- HQ staff writer Marcus Jackson reports UI women's basketball junior Lacey Simpson is running stats for the sports information tonight. She just made a spin move on the Big Ten Network's Mike Hall, who is sideline reporting.

- Friend of the N-G Dan Grossman checks in via text message: "Ah, what better way to celebrate my birthday than a non-HD Big Ten Network broadcast."

Dr. Grossman turned 42 today. Happy birthday, Dan.

- With 10 minutes gone, the Illini were shooting 13 percent (2-for-15) from the field. Someone forgot to tell them they're not playing on the road. The Illini actually are defending well - Penn State has missed 12 of 17 shots (29 percent) - but can't hit the ocean. The UI guards are 1-for-12 from the floor.

- Bruce Weber is hollering, "Mooooove!" on offense.

- Mike Tisdale went with the lefty hook on the baseline. He joked with our Marcus Jackson that he's already informed the coaches he's not going to break out any new moves this season.

"I told Coach (Jay) Price, every time the post players do their moves, those are the only two I can do," Tisdale said of his hook shots. "I'm not going to do any turnaround jumpers or anything like that."

Check back in a few.

Klee

11:56 left in the first half - Penn State 5, Illinois 4

- With 12:04 left in the first half, Klee got an email from Shaun Pruitt. You can read more about his situation here.

Shaun tells me he's in Latvia, waiting to decide if that's where he wants to play. He wants to see if his new franchise is looking for a bruiser. We'll keep you updated on Pruitt's status.

- Illinois missed its first five shots. Thankfully for the Illini, Mike Davis had three rebounds and block in the first three minutes. And Penn State missed its first

- Didn't take long for Weber to plug in Calvin Brock. The fifth-year senior checked in for Trent Meacham with only three minutes gone. Brock moved to defend Stanley Pringle, who has given Illinois trouble in the past.

- Weber is looking for his 150th win as the coach at Illinois. He got win No. 250 (overall) against Purdue on Feb. 8.

- Former Illini head manager Jason Aguiar checks in via text message: "I need a Matto update."

Jason used to keep the Matto chart during his days on the Illini bench. UI managers Matt Scaletta and Mark Collins now are in charge of the Matto chart. We'll see what we can do Jason. Now get back to work.

- Penn State's Chris Babb could be a good one in a few years. The freshman hit a deep 3 to push the visitors ahead. The teams have combined to shoot 4-for-21 from the field. This won't be one for the Big Ten highlight reel.

Check back in a few.

Klee

Tipoff - Penn State (18-8, 7-6 Big Ten) at No. 18 Illinois (21-5, 9-4)

- Emailed question from Mitch in Barry: "Paul, Did D.J. Richardson or Brandon Paul make the McDonalds All-American team?"

Nope. Here are the rosters, announced about an hour ago. Dee Brown was the Illini's most recent All-American, and the program has had 12 in its history.

- Emailed comment from Tolono Illini: "Don't know if you'll get this while at the Hall, but we are on Maui today and bummed that we can't watch the Illini beat Penn State. We were lucky enough to see the past two games via CBS and ESPN. We'll be interested in your game commentary this afternoon (2 p.m. here). Thanks."

God bless you. Maui might be perfect. We'll do our best.

- Starting lineup for Illinois: Frazier, Meacham, McCamey, Davis and Tisdale. This is the 25th straight game Bruce Weber has gone with those 5.

- As pre-tipoff conversations go, Bruce Weber and Ed DeChellis just shared a long one. They're old friends.

- Lots of empty seats. I'd say there are about 13,000 people here at tipoff.

Check back in a few.

Klee

10 Minutes Until Tipoff - Penn State (18-8, 7-6 Big Ten) at No. 18 Illinois (21-5, 9-4)

- The difficult matchup for Illinois is Jamelle Cornley, a Penn State senior that has yet to lose at the Assembly Hall. Illinois has an answer, Mike Davis, though Mike D is not the big, burly type of forward that Cornley is. Still, Bruce Weber took the opportunity in practice Monday to really challenge Mike Davis to "be a player" against one of the better Big Ten forwards.

- Illinois is 10-0 when Mike Tisdale leads the team in scoring.

- Penn State needs to get on a roll to close the season if it wants to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001. The Nittany Lions didn't have a great nonconference season, evidenced by the fact their best nonconference win in December is at Georgia Tech (1-10 ACC).

Coach Ed DeChellis sounded as though he wouldn't change their schedule, though, because he figured the likes of Georgia Tech, Temple, Penn and Rhode Island wouldn't struggle and bring down the ol' RPI.

"I think what we tried to do and what most teams have done, we thought some teams would be better than they are," DeChellis said Monday. "We scheduled a couple teams that got to their conference finals last year and had pretty good records and had the majority of their guys coming back."

- It's Richard Semrau poster night here at the Assembly Hall. The crowd is filing in, and someone who was smoking a cigar just walked by.

Check back in a few.

Klee

15 Minutes Until Tipoff - Penn State (18-8, 7-6 Big Ten) at No. 18 Illinois (21-5, 9-4)

- The Illinois basketball managers are selling Livestrong-like bracelets at the game tonight. They'll be walking around with the bracelets during timeouts and at halftime. They go for $1, and all of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society, through Managers vs. Cancer.

- Excellent story on that subject penned by ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil today.

- Keep an eye on Talor Battle throughout the game - the Penn State sophomore would be on our All-Big Ten ballot if the voting was today - but definitely keep an eye on how he stars. Bubby went on a tear in their last game, scoring 19 points over the final 20:01 as Penn State snapped a three-game losing skid.

- Klee spent yesterday afternoon at Chicago Mount Carmel, where Illinois recruit Tracy Abrams goes to school. Much has been made of his potential influence on the other 2011 recruiting targets. I think he will have some influence, but a different kind of influence. He's not the kind of personality that will "recruit" for Illinois, by making phone calls or otherwise, but I think other prospects will want to play with him because of the kind of player he is: unselfish and talented and a point guard.

"I talk to Mike (Shaw) a lot. We're friends. I didn't really call him after I committed, but we've talked about it. We talk about a lot of stuff," Abrams told me. "I would like to have him with me (at Illinois) because he's a good player, not just because we're friends. I think it's going to be a while before he's making a decision. It's his decision, it's up to him. I'm not going to tell him (where to go). That's his decision."

- The Illini had a number of players on the court early tonight. They even beat the HQ to the Assembly Hall. Alex Legion, Trent Meacham, Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale all were on the court taking jumpers a good 2 hours before tipoff.

Check back in a few.

Klee

45 Minutes Until Tipoff - Penn State (18-8, 7-6 Big Ten) at No. 18 Illinois (21-5, 9-4)

Good evening everyone. HQ staff writer Paul Klee joining you from the Assembly Hall. Send your questions and observations and we'll get them posted on the HQ Live Report.

A few items...

- Gov. Pat Quinn will be in attendance tonight and you can hear the governor on the Illini Sports Network at halftime. I'm told it's the first time the state's governor has attended a UI sporting event since Rod Blagojevich attended a Final Four game in '05.

- Penn State has a pair of Big Ten road wins this season. It has never won three Big Ten road games in a season. Illinois would like to keep it that way.

- Klee's prediction: Click here.

- Rossow's prediction: Click here.

- The HQ online chat today: Click here. Good chat, thanks for the questions.

Check back in a few.

Klee (pklee@news-gazette.com)

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