Jan. 21, 2004

Recap?|? Final Stats

1. Tonight's 43-point victory is Illinois' largest in Big Ten play since 1956 and is the third-largest conference win in Illinois history. The largest was 47 points vs. Ohio State on Feb. 11, 1956 and the second largest was 44 points vs. Purdue on Feb. 21, 1948. It was also the largest ever margin-of-victory over Penn State, which was previously 22 points, set Jan. 20, 2001 at Assembly Hall.

2. The 37 points allowed tonight were the lowest for Illinois in Big Ten play since Jan. 24, 1948 when the Illini topped Wisconsin 57-36.

3. The Illinois defense was stifling, allowing the Nittany Lions to shoot just .210 (13-62) from the field, the lowest FG percentage by a team in Assembly Hall history. The previous low of .217 (13-60) was set by Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Dec. 6, 2000. The Illini held PSU to just .135 shooting in the second half (5-37) and .077 from three-point land (1-13) for the game.

4. The Illini scored the last seven points of the first half and the first 12 points of the second half to put the game out of reach. The 19-0 run took the Illini lead from 34-21 to with 1:59 remaining in the first half to 53-21 with 16:08 left in the second half.

5. Sophomore forward James Augustine grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds marking the eighth time this season he has had double-digit rebounds. He finished with 9 points, narrowly missing his 10th career double-double and his 7th of the season.

6. Luther Head pulled down a career-high 9 rebounds on the night, topping his previous total of 7 set vs. Ohio State on Feb. 9, 2003.