Penn State Hosts #20 Illinois in White Out at The Palestra Saturday Night

PHILADELPHIA – The Penn State men’s basketball team returns to the historic Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania Saturday night to host #20 Illinois in a Big Ten battle inside of the Cathedral of College Basketball. The game is presented by the Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network.

FOLLOW ALONG

• PRESENTED BY: Palestra game presented by the Pennsylvania Auto Theft Prevention Authority
• WHITE OUT: White Out presented by MI Windows & Doors
• TICKETS: Tickets
• TV: Big Ten Network – Cory Provus (pxp) & LaPhonso Ellis (analyst)
• RADIO: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)
• NATIONAL RADIO: SiriusXM Ch. 84 & SXM App Ch. 84
• LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
• GAME NOTES: Penn State

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

• BAG POLICY: All guests and their belongings are subject to search by security personnel upon entry and within the facility. All bags must be in accordance with the following guidelines: bags should be smaller than 16" x 16" x 8", no large bags, such as duffel or equipment bags. In an effort to expedite the security process upon entry, all guests are expected to comply with The Palestra bag policy. More information on the Palestra bag policy can be found HERE.
• MOBILE TICKETING: Penn Athletics has implemented a mobile-first ticketing strategy. A mobile-first strategy will ensure safe, secure, and efficient entry for all fans. Your tickets will be sent to the email address used when purchasing tickets and be available to download to any Apple or Android device. Tickets will also be available through Print-At-Home format as well, which can be printed on an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper prior to attending the game. Please note that Print-At-Home tickets will not scan from a mobile device. Penn Athletics' mobile ticketing guides can be found HERE.
• PARKING: Game day parking is available near The Palestra including the Penn Museum garage, Chestnut 34 garage and Penn Park. The cost of parking on game day is $20. Information on alternate parking options can be found HERE.

OPENING TIPS

• The Nittany Lions return to Big Ten play and the historic Palestra in Philadelphia Saturday night to host #20/19 Illinois inside "The Cathedral of College Basketball".
• The Nittany Lions are 9-4 on the season and will be searching for their first Big Ten win of the year.
• Rookie guard Kayden Mingo leads the Nittany Lions in points (14.8 ppg), rebounds (4.1 rpg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals (2.4 spg). Freddie Dilione V (14.5 ppg) and Melih Tunca (11.0 ppg) are also averaging double-digit points.

IF PENN STATE BEATS #20 ILLINOIS

• The Nittany Lions would improve to 4-2 in Big Ten games played at The Palestra.
• Penn State would beat a top-20 opponent for the first time this season and the first time since the Nittany Lions ended the 2024-25 season with a road win at #12 Wisconsin.

SCOUTING THE ILLINI

• The #20 Illini are 10-3 on the season and 1-1 in Big Ten play.
• Illinois comes into Saturday night's matchup having won its last two games, a 90-55 win over Southern U. on Dec. 29 and a 91-48 victory over Missouri on Dec. 22.
• The Illini's Big Ten victory came at Ohio State on Dec. 9, an 88-80 win over the Buckeyes. Illinois fell to Nebraska, 80-83, in their one Big Ten loss.
• Five Illini are averaging double-digit points, led by Keaton Wagler's 15.3 points per game.
• Andrej Stojakovic (14.8 ppg), Kylan Boswell (14.7 ppg), David Mirkovic (13.1 ppg) and Tomislav Ivisic (10.5 ppg) follow.
• Mirkovic leads the team with 8.3 rebounds per game, while Wagler dishes a team-best 3.8 assists per contest.

AGAINST ILLINOIS

• Penn State and Illinois meet for the only time during the regular season Saturday night at The Palestra.
• The two teams met just once last season, a 91-52 Illinois win in Champaign on Jan. 8, 2025.
• The Nittany Lions had won the last four meetings prior to Illinois' win last season.

PENN STATE AT THE PALESTRA

• Penn State returns to the City of Brotherly Love Saturday night as the Nittany Lions head back to the historic Palestra for a matchup against the #20 Illinois Fighting Illini.
• The historic Palestra, on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, opened on Jan. 1, 1927. The Palestra has hosted more games, more visiting teams and more NCAA tournaments than any other facility in college basketball. At the time of its construction, it was one of the world's largest arenas.
• Penn State played its first game at the Palestra on Jan. 27, 1927, less than a month after the building’s opening. Rec Hall, the longtime home for Penn State basketball, was designed by the same architect, Charles Klauder, responsible for The Palestra. The groundbreaking for Rec Hall started in January 1927 and opened two years after The Palestra, in January 1929.
• The Nittany Lions have a 25-38 record when playing in the Palestra with a 15-10 mark in games played vs. teams other than Penn. Penn State has won five of its last seven contests in The Palestra and 14 of its last 23 games played in the historic venue.
• The Penn State-Michigan State matchup in 2017 was the first regular-season Big Ten game to take place in the City of Brotherly Love, with the Nittany Lions earning a 72-63 win. The #21 Nittany Lions took down #23 Iowa in a thriller on Jan. 4, 2020. Penn State held a 37-31 halftime lead over #1 Purdue Jan. 8, 2023, but the top-ranked Boilermakers battled back for a 76-63 win. The Nittany Lions battled back from a 14-point deficit to top Michigan, 79-73, on Jan. 7, 2024. Penn State trimmed a 16-point deficit down to two in the final minutes, but wasn’t able to complete the comeback attempt in a 77-71 loss to Indiana in the Nittany Lions' most recent game inside of The Palestra on Jan. 5, 2025.
• Saturday’s game will count as an alternate-site home game for Penn State and will be counted as a Nittany Lion home game in the NET rankings calculations.

BACK TO B1G

• Big Ten play begins in earnest Saturday night when Penn State and #20 Illinois meet inside The Palestra.
• Four of Penn State's first five Big Ten games are against top-20 ranked opponents:
  • 13 - #9 Michigan State
  • 3 - #20 Illinois
  • 6 - #2 Michigan
  • 10 - at #5 Purdue

NATIONAL NUMBERS

• The Nittany Lions currently rank in the top 20 in the country in a number of statistical categories (rankings listed thru games on Dec. 29):

Team Stat	Value	National Rank
Fewest turnovers per game	9.2	5
Fewest fouls per game	14.2	14
Turnover margin	5.1	15

ONE OF ONE

• Rookie guard Kayden Mingo is the ONLY freshman in the country averaging 14+ points (14.8 ppg), 4+ assists (4.5 apg), 4.0+ rebounds (4.1 rpg) and 2+ steals (2.4 spg) per game through games on Dec. 29.

MINGO MAKING HIS MARK

• Rookie Kayden Mingo is the third-highest scoring freshman in the Big Ten and he leads the Nittany Lions in points (14.8 ppg), rebounds (4.1 rpg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals (2.4 spg) through the first 13 games of the season.
• He has scored in double figures in 11 of 13 games, including two 20-plus point efforts. Mingo leads the Big Ten and ranks 23rd nationally with 2.38 steals per game and he collected a single-game program record-tying eight steals against Sacred Heart on Nov. 29.
• Mingo, the highest-ranked recruit in program history, was named an ESPN Top 50 Impact Newcomer in late October. He was ranked as the No. 34 recruit nationally per 247Sports & No. 39 recruit nationally per ESPN out of high school. He was named the 2025 New York Gatorade Player of the Year following standout senior season at Long Island Lutheran.

STEADY FREDDIE

• Redshirt junior Freddie Dilione V, Penn State's only returning starter from a season ago, has been an improved and consistent presence for the Nittany Lions thus far this season. Dilione ranks second on the team with 14.5 points per game to go along with his 3.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
• He has scored in double figures in 11 games this season, including career-best 23-point performances against #9 Michigan State and Pittsburgh.

Dilione V Stat	2024-25	2025-26	Improvement
Points per game	9.4	14.5	+5.1 ppg
Rebounds per game	2.8	3.5	+0.7 rpg
Assists per game	1.7	2.4	+0.7 apg
Turnovers per game	1.5	1.1	-0.4 tpg
FG%	41.6%	50.3%	+8.7 FG%
3FG%	28.9%	36.0%	+7.1 3FG%
FT%	70.9%	86.7%	+13.5 FT%

NEW-LOOK NITTANY LIONS

• The Nittany Lion roster is the 10th-most inexperienced roster in Division I per Bart Torvik's experience metric. The Penn State roster features one senior, two juniors, two sophomores and eight freshmen.
• The new-look Nittany Lions feature 10 new players this season. Penn State returns just 14.6 percent of points, 11.0 percent of rebounds, 12.5 percent of assists and 15.5 percent of minutes played from last season.

UP NEXT

• Penn State returns to the Bryce Jordan Center Tuesday night for a matchup with #2 Michigan. The Nittany Lions will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Bryce Jordan Center during the 7 p.m. tipoff on Big Ten Network. Kids 12 & under get in free with the purchase of an adult ticket from this link.