Coach Patrick Chambers Media Availability Feb. 21
Junior forward Lamar Stevens Media Availability Feb. 21
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's basketball team travels to Illinois for for the first of two meetings between the two teams this season. The Saturday, Feb. 23 contest tips off at noon ET. The Fighting Illini will return the trip in the final regular-season game of 2018-19 on March 10.
The Big Ten Network will have the broadcast of Saturday's game with online streaming available through BTN2Go.com and the Fox Sports Go mobile app.
Junior forward Lamar Stevens led the Nittany Lions with a game-high and individual season-best 29 points in the victory over Nebraska earlier in the week. He and Rasir Bolton combined for 50 points for the second time this season as Bolton had 21. Stevens also led Penn State in the rebounds column with eight to maintain his team-leading season average of 8.0 rebounds per game.
With his 10 points vs. Nebraska, Josh Reaves became the seventh Nittany Lion in the coach Patrick Chambers era to reach the 1,000 career points milestone. From Fairfax, Virginia, the senior guard is now just three rebounds from collecting his 500th career rebound and one shy of 300 assists. He ranks third on Penn State's career steals chart with 236 and needs three steals to tie for the No. 2 spot with Monroe "Money" Brown (239-1988-92).
Mike Watkins contributed 10 points and had six rebounds vs. the Huskers. The redshirt junior forward from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, needs 15 rebounds to become only the 13th Penn State player to reach the 700 career rebounds mark.
The Nittany Lions head to Illinois following Tuesday night's 95-71 win over Nebraska. Penn State posted a season-best 35 field goals and shot 55.6 percent from the floor, its highest percentage in Big Ten play since a Feb. 18, 2018 game at Purdue. Twelve statistical categories favored the Nittany Lions.
WATCH: BTN
TALENT: Lisa Byington (pxp) & Stephen Bardo (analyst)
STREAM/APP: FoxSportsGo
LISTEN: Penn State Sports Network
Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
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ROSTER: Penn State | Illinois
SCHEDULE: Penn State | Illinois
STATS: Penn State | Illinois
GAME NOTES: Penn State | Illinois
MEDIA GUIDE: Penn State | Illinois
ILLINOIS
Coach: Brad Underwood (Kansas State, 1986)
Illinois Record: 24-34 (2nd season)
Career Record: 133-61 (6th season)
2018-19 Record: 10-16, 6-9 Big Ten
2018-19 Leading Scorer
#1 Trent Frazier, So., G – 14.4 ppg
2018-19 Leading Rebounder
#15 Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Fr., F – 5.0 rpg
2018-19 Assists Leader
#11 Ayo Dosunmu, Fr., G – 3.2 apg
PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
Coach: Patrick Chambers (Philadelphia, 1994)
Penn State Record: 123-137 (8th season)
Career Record: 165-165 (10th season)
2018-19 Leading Scorer:
#11 Lamar Stevens, Jr., F – 19.5 ppg
2018-19 Leading Rebounder:
#11 Lamar Stevens, Jr., F – 8.0 rpg
2018-19 Assists Leader:
#23 Josh Reaves, Sr., G – 3.2 apg
PENN STATE STARTERS (LAST GAME)
F -- 11 -- Lamar Stevens – Jr. | 2018-19 ppg: 19.5 | rpg: 8.0
Note: Has scored 20 or more points in six of the last eight games; 1 of 4 B1G players to rank in the top 10 scoring (2) and rebounding (T-6)
F -- 21 – John Harrar – So. | 2018-19 ppg: 3.2 | rpg: 3.7
Note: Shooting 63.6 percent from the floor in last 5 games, 57.7 percent in B1G action and 53.6 percent overall
G – 2 – Myles Dread -- Fr. | 2018-19 ppg: 8.9 | rpg: 2.7
Note: Team-best 60 3-pt. field goals; Third-most 3-point field goals by a freshman in Penn State history.
G – 5 – Jamari Wheeler -- So. | 2018-19 ppg: 3.2 | rpg: 3.0
Note: Ten consecutive starts and 19 overall; has 30 assists and 22 steals with a 3.0 to 1 assist to turnover ratio in last 10 games.
G – 23 -- Josh Reaves -- Sr. | 2018-19 ppg: 10.0 | rpg: 4.5
Note: Became 36th Nittany Lion with 1,000 career points with 10 vs. Nebraska; approaching milestones for career rebounds (497) and assists (299); Needs three steals to move to No. 2 on Penn State all-time list
SERIES vs. ILLINOIS
Penn State and Illinois meet in Champaign for the third-straight time. The Nittany Lions traveled to Illinois for the second game in 2016-17 and the only contest of 2017-18. PSU has won the last four games, snapping the Illini's previous four-game win streak (2013-15) in the series.
The last 10 seasons of meetings are listed on page 4 of these notes. The full series is listed on pages 169-170 in the media guide.
Series streak: Penn State, W4
Last game: Penn State 74, at Illinois 52, 2/11/18
Overall series: Illinois leads 28-17
at Champaign: Illnois leads 14-7
Chambers vs. Illinois: 5-4
STARTING 5
According to kenpom.com, the Nittany Lions' strength of schedule is currently ranked as the second-toughest in the nation. CBS Sports has the overall SOS calculated at No. 3 and nonconference SOS at No. 18.
Against Nebraska, Penn State posted a season-best 95 points on 35 field goals with a 55.6 FG percentage, highest in a conference game since Feb. 18, 2018 at Purdue. Twelve statistical categories favored the Nittany Lions.
Three of Penn State's top 10 all-time Big Ten single-game point totals have occurred in the coach Patrick Chambers era.
Josh Reaves and Jamari Wheeler are 1-2 in the steals rankings for conference-only games with Reaves with 41 and Wheeler with 29. Reaves is the B1G leader in all-game totals with 66, 23 more than the next individual on the list.
Junior forward Lamar Stevens has scored 20 points or more in six of the last eight games and has led the team in at least two statistical categories in eight-straight games and 16 times this season.
NITTANY LIONS ROLL TO 95-71 WIN OVER NEBRASKA
Lamar Stevens and Rasir Bolton combined for 50 points as Penn State rolled to a 95-71 victory over Nebraska in the Bryce Jordan Center. Stevens had a game- and individual season-high 29 points and Bolton a Big Ten career-best 21 points in the win. The 95-point total was the highest in a regulation Big Ten game in Penn State history.
Shooting 55.6 percent from the floor for the game with a season-high 35 field goals on the night, Penn State connected on 11 3-pointers and had 17 assists, five each coming from Josh Reaves and Jamari Wheeler while Wheeler had half of the Nittany Lions' eight steals.
Reaves and Mike Watkins both contributed 10 points on the night and Reaves scored his 1,000th career point with a 3-pointer at the 2:46 mark of the second half. The senior guard became the 36th player in Penn State history to reach that milestone.
The two teams traded baskets in the early going of the second half, but Penn State put together an 11-1 run over a four-minutes stretch to take a 61-36 lead with 13:53 left to play.
The Nittany Lions improved on their 50 percent shooting from the floor with 62.1 percent in the second half. PSU led by 19 points, 44-25, at the break, and built the lead to 29 points late in the game.
Stevens and Bolton were a combined 10-14 from the floor from two-point range and Penn State added five 3-pointers with two each from Myles Dread and Reaves and one from Myreon Jones.
The Nittany Lions, donning their black and pink uniform combination, raced out to a 13-4 lead early with seven points from Stevens in the first 4:03 and 16 by the half off 6-11 shooting and two 3-pointers. Nebraska went without points just over four minutes while Bolton knocked in two three pointers for a 27-16 score. Reaves tipped in a Stevens miss with 8:32 left in the first half, then Stevens followed with three-straight baskets to push the score to 35-18.
James Palmer Jr. had 24 points for Nebraska while Roby chipped in 17 and Allen had 12. Palmer was also the leading scorer for the Huskers with seven while Allen had a share of the game-high assists with five.
BY THE NUMBERS
2.85 – Team GPA for fall 2018 semester, highest single-semester GPA by the Nittany Lions in the Chambers era.
3 – Millions of dollars raised (net) by Coaches vs. Cancer-Penn State since the organization was launched in 1995.
15 – Mike Watkins is 15 rebounds from career number 700. The redshirt junior would become only the 13th Nittany Lion to achieve this total.
95 – Most points scored by Penn State in a regulation Big Ten game. The last time the Nittany Lions scored 90 or more points in a regulation league game was vs. Purdue in 2001.
299, 497 – Number of career assists (299) and career rebounds (497) by senior guard Josh Reaves.
508 – Junior forward Lamar Stephens eclipsed the 500-point total for a single-season with his game- and season-best 29 points vs. Nebraska. That total ranks 19th on the Nittany Lion single season list. He had 604 in his sophomore campaign for eighth on Penn State's single-season list.
9,965 – Seven Nittany Lions have added their names to Penn State's 1,000-point scoring chart in the coach Patrick Chambers era for 9,965 total points to date. Josh Reaves joined the 1,000-point club vs. Nebraska.
