A defensive battle has broken out in the first half of Thursday night's game, with the Penn State Nittany Lions taking a 25-23 lead into halftime over the Illinois Fighting Illini. Both teams are shooting less than 35 percent of the night, combining for 13 turnovers so far.
The Illini took a 17-9 lead midway through the half, but were held scoreless for 3:15, allowing the Nittany Lions to crawl their way back into the game. Penn State took its first lead of the game on a Jermaine Marshall 3-pointer with 7:06 left in the first half to push the score to 20-19 Lions. The lead changed four more times before the halftime buzzer finally sounded.
Cammeron Woodyard leads all scorers with 10 points so far, and Matt Glover has contributed five rebounds to the effort so far, though no points. Brandon Paul is pacing Illinois with nine points so far, going 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
For more on the Nittany Lions, head over to the SB Nation blog Black Shoe Diaries.