Hoops: Dosunmu, Illini Snap Penn State's 8-Game Winning Streak
Finally, the Bryce Jordan Center was awake, practically splitting at the seams as No. 9 Penn State came back to take a second-half lead after fighting to stay close all night.
Promptly, Ayo Dosunmo and Illinois silenced it.
Returning from injury, Dosunmo scored 12 of his 24 points in the final 8:29 after Penn State briefly took its only lead of the second half, snapping the Nittany Lions’ eight-game winning streak, 62-56.
“That was a rockfight, nobody was really making shots except for [Dosunmu],” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said.
Dosunmu was the only player on either team to score more than 15 points, using his speed and driving ability to help the Illini control the paint, where they scored 32 of their 62 points.
On the other end of the floor, Lamar Stevens was unable to carry Penn State the same way. Illinois spent the entire game double-teaming — and sometimes triple-teaming — the Nittany Lions’ star senior forward. He finished 3-for-11 from the field with only 13 points, and his teammates couldn’t hit enough shots to make the Illini pay for all the attention they gave Stevens.
The Nittany Lions shot 4-for-19 from 3-point range — their lowest total of the season. During their eight-game winning streak, they had made at least eight 3-point shots six times.
Still, Penn State managed to stay in the game, eventually whittling down the Illinois lead to two points with 1:01 left after two free throws by freshman Seth Lundy.
Lundy switched onto Dosunmu after a screen on the ensuing Illinois possession, and didn’t give an inch, forcing a pass and a heave as the shot clock buzzer sounded. Illinois got the offensive rebound, though, with 32 seconds left and called a timeout.
A fresh 20 seconds on the shot clock forced Chambers to decide whether to play defense or foul and extend the game. He chose to defend, and Dosunmu made him pay with a bucket with 16 seconds left.
“[Dosunmu] went one-on-one and he made a big play,” Chambers said. “But if you get a stop there, you have plenty of time to make a decision.”
Dosunmu ensured Penn State couldn’t escape with a win when it didn’t have its best effort and wasn’t at full strength.
Myreon Jones, Penn State’s second-leading scorer, missed his fourth game in a row with an undisclosed illness.
Chambers was pressed on the nature of Jones’s illness after the game, but the head coach wouldn’t divulge anything.
“There’s rules and laws that I have to follow,” Chambers said.
What Chambers could offer, though, was an assessment of how Jones’s scoring ability might have impacted a game like this one as Penn State struggled to put the ball in the basket.
“Look, his nickname is Buckets,” Chambers said. “He’s a guy who could get you a three-ball in a game like today, or at least get downhill and get yourself to the free throw line.”
Chambers said he wished his team had done a better job getting to the charity stripe when it was having trouble shooting from the field. Even with the Illini in foul trouble for part of the second half, Penn State shot only 13 free throws.
There’s a lesson here for Penn State, Chambers said, about showing up to play every night, and Illinois coach Brad Underwood sensed it too.
“We had won seven in a row, and you become the hunted, and you have a tendency at times to not be as sharp, or prepare quite as well, because it’s human nature,” Underwood said.
Myles Dread called it a reality check for Penn State.
“We’ve been on cloud nine for eight games,” Dread said. “It feels great to win. As good as it feels to win, it feels much worse to lose. We don’t want to feel that again.”
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