Penn State men’s basketball (13-14, 7-9) defeated No. 12 Illinois (19-7, 10-5) Wednesday night 90-89 in the Nittany Lions’ first game at Rec Hall since 2015.
A firey crowd at the “Return to Rec” game was enough to spark a 17-6 run for Penn State out of the gates. The early-game atmosphere was cool, but it evoked bittersweet feelings as a return to the BJC is right around the corner.
Illinois weathered the early storm and took a seven-point lead into halftime. Ace Baldwin had an impressive seven assists at the halfway point and was tied with Qudus Wahab for a team-high 10 points.