#22 ILLINOIS (9-5, 5-3) vs. Penn State (3-5, 0-4)
Date | Time	Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021 | 7:30 p.m. CT
Location	Champaign, Ill. | State Farm Center
Television	BTN (Brandon Gaudin & Robbie Hummel)
Live Stream	foxsports.com/live | Fox Sports App
Radio	Busey Bank Illini Sports Network | Listen | TuneIn | Sirius (Ch 138) XM (Ch. 195)
Live Stats	FightingIllini.com
Printable Notes	Illinois | Penn State
Stats	Illinois | Penn State | Big Ten
Shop	Online Store | Auctions | Publications
Social Media	@IlliniMBB | #Illini | @IlliniMBB | Facebook | YouTube

Head Coach Brad Underwood

Career Record: 165-81 (.671), 8th year
At Illinois: 56-54 (.509), 4th year

Series Notes vs. Penn State

Record: Illinois leads 30-19
Streak: Illinois W-2
Record at Champaign: Illinois leads 14-8
Streak at Champaign: Penn State W-3
Last Meeting: #18 ILL 98, PSU 81 (Dec. 23 @PSU)
Underwood vs. Penn State: 2-3

Opening Tips

• No. 22 Illinois looks to end its two-game skid, hosting Penn State on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. CT, BTN).

• Penn State is the first of seven teams that Illinois is meeting for a second time during league play. On Dec. 23, the Illini fought back from a 15-point first-half deficit on the road to defeat the Nittany Lions, 98-81.

• Ayo Dosunmu scored a game-high 30 points in the victory at Penn State. In four career games against PSU, Dosunmu is averaging 22.0 points. 

• Leading the Illini is first-team All-America candidate Ayo Dosunmu. Owning numbers of 22.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game, Dosunmu is the only player in the nation averaging at least 20 points, six rebounds and four assists this season.

• Kofi Cockburn leads the NCAA with 10 double-doubles on the year. He has registered double-doubles in five-straight games and six of seven Big Ten contests, and is averaging 19.5 points and 11.1 boards during league play on 74.2% shooting.

• Over the last four games, freshman Adam Miller is averaging 11.8 points (47) and making an average of 3.0 treys (12) while shooting 40% from behind the arc (12-30).

• Da'Monte Williams leads the nation in 3-point shooting (min. 20 attempts), connecting on 22-of-36 for 61.1%.

Dynamic Duo

Point guard Ayo Dosunmu and center Kofi Cockburn are one of the most prolific tandems in college basketball, combining to average 39.5 points per game. That ranks fifth in Div. I, and second in the high major conferences. Dosunmu is the NCAA's sixth-leading scorer at 22.4 ppg, while Cockburn is 121st at 17.1 ppg. Here are the nation's top scoring duos to date this season:

42.3 – Hayden Brown (22.3) & Kaiden Rice (20.0), The Citadel
41.7 – Max Abmas (21.5) & Kevin Obanor (20.2), Oral Roberts
40.8 – Cameron Thomas (22.1) & Trendon Watford (18.7), LSU
40.2 – Isiaih Mosley (23.5) & Gaige Prim (16.7), Missouri State
39.5 – Ayo Dosunmu (22.4) & Kofi Cockburn (17.1), Illinois
39.2 – Cory Kispert (20.9) & Drew Timme (18.3), Gonzaga

On the Offensive

Illinois currently ranks seventh nationally in offensive adjusted efficiency (kenpom) at 116.6. That is the second-highest ranking ever for the program (since metric began tracking in 1997), behind only the 2005 NCAA runner-up squad that finished No. 3 in offensive efficiency.

The Illini are 19th in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 83.1 points. 

Illinois ranks 12th nationally in effective field goal percentage at 57.7%. That is fueled by strong improvement from behind the arc, where the Illini currently rank ninth in the NCAA in 3-point field goal percentage at 40.5% after finishing last year ranked 294th (30.8%). Illinois is also one of the nation's best teams from 2-point range, shooting 56.3% to rank 27th. 

Illinois is at 51.3% overall, ranking 11th in the NCAA in field goal percentage. The Illini have made at least 50% in seven games.

Last Time vs. Penn State

Illinois recovered from a slow start in Happy Valley, using another strong offensive performance to notch a 17-point Big Ten road win. 

The first five minutes belonged to Penn State, as the Nittany Lions roared to a 19-4 lead. Trailing by 13 with 9:30 left in the half, Illinois erupted with a 23-7 run to take a 40-37 lead. The teams went into the break tied at 43. 

The game was still tied at 54-all when Illinois took control for good, scoring eight unanswered on a pair of Ayo Dosunmu free throws, a jumper by Trent Frazier, and consecutive offensive rebound buckets by Kofi Cockburn. That spurt put the Illini ahead 62-54 with 12:30 remaining, and the Illini lead never fell below six the rest of the way.

The duo of Dosunmu and Cockburn led the way once again. Dosunmu scored 21 in the second half alone, taking over during crunch time as he did so many times last season. He finished with a game-high 30 points along with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. 

Cockburn finished with 23 points on 11-of-13 shooting and six boards, with 16 of his points coming in the opening stanza.

Andre Curbelo had 15 points and game-high eight assists, and the Illini also got a major boost off the bench from Jacob Grandison, who led the team with seven rebounds – including four offensive – and tallied seven points in just 15 minutes.  

Illinois shot 55.6% en route to scoring 98, the most points for the program in a regulation Big Ten road game since March 13, 1971 (103-87 win at Indiana).

» Complete Illinois Game Notes (PDF)