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Jennifer Katsamantou/CDT Penn State player Geary Claxton, 5, left, scores in the second period with the help of Jason McDougald, 45 during a game opposing Penn State to Illinois on Wednesday February 16, 2005 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Centre Daily Times | 02/17/2005 | No. 1 Illinois breezes past Nittany Lions:

“UNIVERSITY PARK — This is basketball at its simplest, and its finest.

“Pass the ball around until the defense sags, then pass it again. Two, three, four more passes, then a wide-open shot. Play stifling defense that prevents your opponent from doing the same, steal the ball, and repeat.

“It’s not really that simple for No. 1 Illinois, which won its school-record 26th straight game Wednesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, breezing past overmatched Penn State 83-63.

“But it’s close.

“‘They’re the most unselfish team I’ve been around in a long, long time,’ Penn State men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis said. ‘They guard you, they don’t let you get in their stuff, they can score any way they want to.’ …”

ChicagoSports.com – Illini this year’s St. Joe’s, only better:

“THE VIEW FROM PENN STATE

BY GORDIE JONES.

Gordie Jones is a sports columnist for the Allentown Morning Call, a Tribune newspaper

“STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — If top-ranked Illinois was going to be ambushed, it wasn’t going to happen in a place where the program has been in full retreat for years.

“If college basketball’s version of a 5-by-94-foot relay was going to get knocked off stride, it wasn’t going to be by a Penn State squad that is, as usual, stumbling along.

“Your final Wednesday night in the Bryce Jordan Center was 83-63. And it was as clinical as it was predictable.

“‘Everybody can shoot,’ Nittany Lions coach Ed DeChellis said of the 26-0 Fighting Illini. ‘Everybody can score. Everybody can do everything.’

“Including share the ball.

“And run. Especially that.

“Speed-wise, Penn State point guard Mike Walker said, ‘They’re at a different level than any other team in the Big Ten. . . . They have you on your heels the whole game.’ …”

FightOnState.com:

“Penn State took its shot at undefeated and unbeaten Illinois at the Jordan Center Wednesday night. With a strong home crowd, a bubbly student section that poured into the upper deck and a jam-packed press row all looking on, the Nittany Lions promptly fired a blank, losing 83-63.

“‘We had nothing to lose tonight, we had everything to gain,’ said freshman forward Geary Claxton, who paced PSU with 19 points and six rebounds. ‘Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.’

“Any hope of this being a repeat of the last time No. 1 visited Happy Valley — Indiana’s thrilling double-overtime win at Rec Hall in 1993 — evaporated immediately, as the Illini opened with three uncontested shots and a 7-0 lead.

“With three smart, veteran guards and a pair of savvy big men, Illinois (26-0, 12-0 Big Ten) moves the ball as well as anyone in the nation. Not that it had to in this one. While State (7-17, 1-10) attempted several different defensive sets Wednesday – straight man and 1-3-1 zone included — there was no energy in any of them through the first 20 minutes. …”

Don’t expect wing-ding at Penn St.:

“Here’s a gauge of how much chance the locals are giving for an upset of the nation’s No. 1 college basketball team tonight in State College:

“A wing place opened last month called Wings Over Happy Valley. It is offering a free order of seven jumbo wings plus celery and bleu cheese to every fan who attends the Illinois game if the Penn State Nittany Lions pull this off.

“That’s a possible $4.95 times however many people show up at the Jordan Center tonight (10,000?) if somehow the Nits can upset the Illini. Considering about half the fans would actually show for the free wings, we’re talking realistically about $20,000 that would come directly out of franchisee Steve Moreira’s pocket. … “

FightOnState.com: Here Comes No. 1:

“Nittany Lions look to take it to another level against Illinois. It will mark Penn State’s first home game vs. the nation’s No. 1 team since 1993. …”

Penn State hosting No. 1 Illinois tonight:

“Penn State was humiliated by the No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers in a 105-57 road loss in 1993.

“Exactly a month later, the Hoosiers came into Rec Hall ranked No. 1 and ready to take on the Nittany Lions. But Penn State put up its most impressive fight of its 7-20 season before a controversial call left the Lions with a dramatic 88-84 loss.

“That’s the anecdote Penn State coach Ed DeChellis has been telling his 7-16 squad, which lost to No. 1 Illinois in Champaign, Ill., on Jan. 12 by 26 points. …”

Recruiting in Philly becomes priority:

“In the tri-state area, there are two hot spots for basketball talent. The obvious one is New York City, with its five boroughs and its famous streetball legacy. Penn State infiltrated The Big Apple two years ago with the signing of Bronx native and current Nittany Lions guard Marlon Smith.

“Even with the plethora of talent and the successful recruitment of Smith, New York is still a hard area to crack for a school with a low national prestige like Penn State, so the Lions’ recruiting staff has to look elsewhere for hidden gems.

“To find that place, Penn State only has to cast a glance 200 miles to the southeast for the other hotbed of basketball talent — Philadelphia, a city that has also produced some of the greatest and most recognizable players in the NBA. …”

Centre Daily Times | 02/16/2005 | PSU facing nation’s top basketball team tonight:

“It is absurd to think that one win could erase a three-year stretch of disappointment. It is wishful at best to think that a team that has struggled against the Big Ten’s worst could defeat the nation’s top-ranked team, one that so briskly disposed of it only a month ago.

“But oh, what a dream to have.

“To No. 1 Illinois, tonight’s 8 p.m. visit to the Bryce Jordan Center is little more than another Big Ten road test, another chance to build on what is so far the best season in school history. For Penn State, it is an opportunity to make a dismal season a memory.

“‘It would totally change everything around here,’ said Penn State freshman guard Mike Walker. ‘We try to stay upbeat, we try to stay positive, but sometimes it gets tough. If we beat a team like this, it can change your whole season around.’

“Weary and downtrodden after two hard losses last week, the Nittany Lions (7-16, 1-9 Big Ten) will try to pick up their spirits and their game and hand the Fighting Illini (25-0, 11-0) their first conference road loss since Jan. 24, 2004 at Wisconsin. …”

Centre Daily Times | 02/16/2005 | Nittany Lions nearly defeated last No. 1 to come to town:

“The No. 1 team in the country is expected to come into State College tonight and blow the Big Ten’s last-place team out of the water.

“Of course, the same was said 12 years and one week ago, right before Bob Knight and top-ranked Indiana barely escaped Rec Hall with an 88-84 win in double overtime.

“The parallels are striking for tonight’s Bryce Jordan Center bout between the Nittany Lions and top-ranked and undefeated Illinois. …”