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Penn State will be looking to snap its two-game losing streak when it travels to No. 17 Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions won six of their first seven games this season, but they are coming off consecutive losses to Clemson and Michigan State. Illinois bounced back from a loss to Maryland with an overtime win against No. 2 Texas on Tuesday.
Penn State got off to a strong start this season, winning each of its first four games, including victories over Butler and Furman. The Nittany Lions had their perfect start come to an end in a 61-59 loss to Virginia Tech, but they bounced back with wins over Colorado State and Lafayette. They have gone winless in their two games since then, falling to Clemson in a double-overtime thriller and to Michigan State by nine points on Wednesday. Senior guard Jalen Pickett scored 13 points, grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and dished out eight assists in the loss to the Spartans.
Another B1G opportunity awaits ?? The conference road slate begins at #17 Illinois Saturday at noon on the Big Ten Network
??: https://t.co/RfVjtYk0ed#WeAre pic.twitter.com/4aDyVcbWZw
— Penn State Men's Basketball (@PennStateMBB) December 9, 2022
Pickett leads Penn State in scoring (15.8), rebounding (7.8), assists (7.7) and steals (1.4), making him one of the most well-rounded players in the conference. Some of his teammates have been struggling though, including forward Kebba Njie, who has scored two points on 1 of 7 shooting in his last two games. Penn State missed 19 of its 27 3-point tries against Michigan State. The Nittany Lions have been a strong offensive team overall this year though, ranked No. 31 in effective field goal percentage (55.6) and No. 10 in turnover rate out of 363 Division I teams. They are knocking down 39.3% of their attempts from the perimeter, with their only weakness on offense being their rebounding. Penn State is facing an Illinois defense that is No. 12 in adjusted efficiency.