Jones and Brooks sit to start, Ott, Frazier in.
Under 16 notes: Ott off to a good start 4 points…Could have been a worse start, Illinois is hot at the moment…Chris Babb 1/3 from 3, 1/3 in general.
Under 12 notes: transition offense looks pretty good…half-court d not bad, Illinois is just hot…half court offense stagnant…Cam Woodyard sighting…Babb goes inside, looks silly…Penn State relying on 3’s and transition buckets…DJ Jackson MIA…19-19
Under 8 notes: Half-court offense slightly more fluid with Brooks in…Tisdale=good…Battle forces 3 straight shots…23-21 Illinois
Under 4 notes: Horrible shot selection at the moment…both teams cooling down…OMG CHRIS BABB LAY UP…half court getting sloppy, which I suppose is better than completely stagnan…Illinois doesn’t score in segment, Penn State only changes score by 5 points. Miss opportunity for some separation here…26-23 Penn State
Last 4 notes: Our sets coming out of timeouts should look much better than they have tonight…Illinois ice cold…OOO they tried to pass to DJ!!!...Hightower and co. calling it loose…really like the fouling at the end of the half…28-23 Penn State
Halftime notes: Illinois finishes half without points for the last 8 minutes plus…half court D effective after early flurry by Illinois…transition D gave up 5 scores by my count…Half court sets were brutal for Penn State. Started stagnant, then morphed into sloppy...offense overly dependent on 3s and transition buckets…
Halftime stats:
Babb: 3-9, 9 points, 2-7 from 3. 5 rebounds, 1 ast.
Battle: 3-9, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 ast.
Ott: 1-2, 4 points, 3 rebounds
Tim Frazier: 1-2, 2 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 TO
Jackson: 0-1, 3 rebounds
Woodyard: 1-2, 3 points, 2 rebounds
Edwards: 1-4, 2 points, 2 rebounds
Brooks: 1-1, 2 points,
Jones: 0-1, TO
-Frazier played a solid half
-Babb getting it done on boards…otherwise, taking too many shots…
-Ott kinda meh, but got the job done.
Under 16 notes: Tisdale could post us up all day if he wanted too…Total transition break down, dodged a 3 point bullet…Give Babb credit for his work on the boards tonight…Penn State calls TO, now down 35-32…Battle hits 3, 35-35
Under 12 notes: Another bad set coming out of a TO…Tisdale really good…Babb appears to be only one trying right now…HELLO DAVID JACKSON…40-38 Penn State
Under 8 notes: another bad set coming out of a TO, broken record…Woodyard picking spots well…Offense heating up, a nice string of half court sets to set up current run…48-43 Penn State
Under 4 notes: Why do they do outdoor shots of Assembly Hall? All you can see is the dimly lit entrances…2 straight turnovers for Brooks…Defensive rebounding pretty solid tonight…Sets have gone sloppy again…Babb has gotten blown by on 2 straight possessions, the defense has fallen apart around him…Edwards taking too many shots…Defense in the half court has gone really soft. I’ve called out Babb, but Battle isn’t looking too hot either. Illinois just isn’t making easy shots right now…53-52 Penn State
Last 4 (actually, last 2) notes: Edwards STILL in at crunchtime!...another bad set coming out of TO…Nice pick to set up Illinois score…I can jack 3s too Talor…One last dreadful set out of a timeout ruins it…
Final Box
Recap to come...