5. This was a solid Penn State squad

You see the score of the Illinois game on Wednesday night, and one would easily think that we played a cupcake team. Most people would think the Illini beat Penn or Indiana (PA) rather than the Penn State.

But no, this was the Nittany Lions. It wasn’t a trash Penn State squad either. It wasn’t like this was the Penn State of old that only barely clips the double-digit win mark in a season.

The Nittany Lions entered the game on Wednesday night 12-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten. That wasn’t a fraud record either. It is not like they have only played bad teams and have a good record due to the poor opponents.

Penn State beat then-No. 8 Purdue by 11 points. They also took down Virginia Tech and Northwestern. The only losses for the Nittany Lions entering the game were a single-digit loss to Clemson, a road loss by four points to a talented Rutgers team, and a six-point loss to Indiana.

On top of all of that, Penn State was healthy. They were locked and loaded with Ace Baldwin Jr. and Nick Kern Jr. in the backcourt. The only big player they were missing was Puff Johnson, who is fifth on the team in scoring.

Illinois still managed to trounce Penn State. This was a good Penn State squad. I fully expected Illinois to win, but I thought it would be close. Without Kasparas Jakucionis, I thought the Nittany Lions had a chance to knock us off. But that wasn’t nearly the case. Winning by 39 points against a good Penn State squad should send a signal to the rest of the college basketball world that Illinois is a serious threat to win it all. What an incredible win with our best player being out.