Just one day after Nebraska took down Indiana and two days after the Michigan defeated arch-rival Michigan State, the Big Ten scored another tight, in-conference upset with the Penn State Nittany Lions defeating the Illinois Fighting Illini 54-52 on Thursday night. Tim Frazier scored on a floater with eight seconds left in the game, and Jermaine Marshall blocked Sam Maniscalco on a layup attempt in the waning seconds to seal Penn State's second win in the Big Ten.
The Nittany Lions led the entire second half, up until the Illini tied the game at 52 on a Brandon Paul 3-pointer with just 48 seconds left in regulation. Penn State played tight defense throughout the game, holding Illinois to 34.7 percent shooting from the field. Illinois did not score a point from 4:17 to-go mark in the first half, to the 16:28 mark in the second.
Cammeron Woodyard led the way for Penn State with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting on the night, making 3-of-4 from behind the 3-point arc. Frazier chipped in 12 points of his own, as well as nine assists. Paul scored 20 to lead the Illini. The Nittany Lions improved to 10-10 on the season, and 2-5 in the Big Ten.
For more on the Nittany Lions, head over to the SB Nation blog Black Shoe Diaries.