Penn State Penn State/Illinois Illinois Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Chastised by the first-year coach earlier in the week, Illinois (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today; No. 11 Associated Press) took the tongue-lashing to heart, combining its top offensive and defensive efforts of the season to beat Penn State 92-60 Saturday.

Self lit into his players for a lackadaisical attitude in a 63-49 victory at Northwestern on Wednesday, then waited to see the response.

"I had a feeling we were going to play good today," Self said. "That was definitely our best game of the season."

Sergio McClain scored 15 points for Illinois (15-4, 5-1 Big Ten). Robert Archibald had 12 points and 12 rebounds starting in place of injured center Marcus Griffin.

Illinois also shut down the Big Ten's top scorer, Joe Crispin. Averaging 22 points a game, Crispin was held scoreless in the first half. He finished with 13 while his brother, Jon, had 11.

The Nittany Lions (11-5, 2-4) did not make a basket for the opening eight minutes and fell behind 13-3. Penn State shot 4-for-25 in the first half and was limited to 27 percent shooting overall.

"I thought they played good defense, but we missed some of those shots," said Penn State coach Jerry Dunn, who was more upset that his team let the Illini shoot 60 percent from the field.

"You can't have those lapses when you're shooting as poorly as we did tonight," Dunn said.

Illinois has let just one opponent, Iowa, shoot better than 45 percent this season. In three games since losing 78-62 at Iowa, the Illini defense has intensified, holding Michigan, Northwestern and Penn State to a combined 45-for-153 (29 percent).

The Illini outscored the Nittany Lions 18-4 to finish the first half, and Sean Harrington's 3 at the buzzer made it 39-18.

"For the first time this year, we started the game with a lot of intensity," McClain said.

The last time Illinois scored 90 points was against Maryland on Nov. 21 in the Maui Invitational. The Illini beat that mark because they got 35 points from their reserves, Self said.

"That's great production off the bench," Self said. "We're a different team when we have guys off the bench scoring."

Point guard Frank Williams had seven assists, four steals and committed just one turnover. Illinois' leading scorer, averaging 15 points a game, scored seven points, but took just seven shots.

"What the line doesn't show is he guarded Crispin," Self said.

Joe Crispin was 0-for-6, including four missed 3-pointers, in the first half. Almost every time he shot, Williams' hands were in his face. And Williams was on the bench most of the second period, when Crispin got all of his 13 points.

"Frank did a tremendous job," Illinois' Lucas Johnson said. "He didn't need to score to be effective."

Cory Bradford, who finished with 13 points, extended his NCAA-record streak of making a 3-pointer to 82 games for Illinois.

ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Penn State Clubhouse

Illinois Clubhouse

AUDIO/VIDEO
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Robert Archibald finds Brian Cook for a layup.
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Sergio McClain makes a spin move in the lane for the Illinois bucket.
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Ndu Egekeze slams home an alley-oop from Jon Crispin.
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Sergio McClain dishes to Robert Archibald for a dunk.
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Frank Williams feeds Sergio McClain in the lane for an Illinois score.
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