The Illinois Fighting Illini will face the Penn State Nittany Lions on Tuesday 19th January 2021 at State Farm Center. The last time when the faced each-other, where the Illini won the game on Dec. 23 match up by 98-81. If you are wondering to watch the basketball action live of your favorite team and player, than you are at the right place.
With four or five potential pros on its roster and perhaps a couple of future NBA All-Stars, No. 22 Illinois was expected to challenge for the Big Ten Conference title back in November and potentially make a deep NCAA Tournament run
The Fighting Illini might still meet all of those lofty expectations, but they should probably consider playing with more urgency and toughness, beginning with Tuesday night’s visit from conference rival Penn State.
How to watch the game FREE live stream
Who: Penn State Nittany Lions (3-5) at Illinois Fighting Illini (9-5)
When: 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021
Where: State Farm Center
TV: Big Ten Network
Live stream: WATCH FREE HERE
Online radio stream: GoPSUSports
After sitting on an upset loss to Maryland for six days before Saturday’s late morning tip-off with No. 21 Ohio State, Illinois promptly fell behind 10-2 and 37-19 in the first half of an eventual 87-81 defeat in Champaign.
The loss dropped coach Brad Underwood’s team to 9-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference, and after the game, he sounded like a man who has seen enough.
Illinois waited too long to play against a solid team that looked more connected on both ends of the floor. It chopped the deficit to four several times in the final minute, but just didn’t come up with key stops.
Myreon Jones led Penn State with a career-high 23 points, while senior John Harrar enjoyed the best game of his career with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Harrar grabbed an incredible 10 offensive rebounds.
Jones leads four Nittany Lions in double figures with 15.4 ppg. Their modest record aside, Penn State owns one of the better road wins of the season with a 75-55 rout at No. 20 Virginia Tech, which is contending for the Atlantic Coast Conference lead.
Player to watch
Penn State needs consistent scoring on offense, and Jones is the best candidate to take the mantle as the team’s primary scorer. He scored 23 points Sunday against Purdue to lead the team and is Penn State’s most confident shooter. He’s willing to take shots from well beyond the arc and has shown the ability to make those looks.
While the misses can be ugly when he’s not on his game, Jones is one of the only Nittany Lions who doesn’t seem to lose his confidence when thing go sour. He’s a strong shooter who believes in his shot enough to take it in almost any situation.
Tuesday night he’ll need to take plenty of those shots in what should be a high-scoring, fast-paced game. The Illini’s first matchup with the Nittany Lions led to 179 points being scored, and there isn’t much reason to expect a different outcome this time around.
Key match-up
Ayo Dosunmu vs. Jamari Wheeler: The Nittany Lions will need to slow down Dosunmu if they want to knock off the Illini, and Wheeler will likely take on that task more often than not. The two guards represent some of the best the conference has to offer at what they do well.
OVERALL
The Illini wasted another 22-point effort from Ayo Dosunmu, as well as 15 points and 11 rebounds from Kofi Cockburn. The duo teams up to score nearly 40 points per game, or nearly half of the team’s 83.1 ppg.
Meanwhile, Penn State (3-5, 0-4) got back on the floor Sunday for its first game since Dec. 30, falling 80-72 at Purdue. The Nittany Lions were predictably rusty in the first half, scoring just nine points in the first 10 minutes.
They rallied to take a lead later in the half and trailed only 33-32 at intermission, but the Boilermakers started the second half with an 18-5 spurt that was simply too much for Penn State to overcome.
