Champaign – An 11 a.m. start to the Illini’s home game against Penn State had Orange Krush members walking into the State Farm Center a little groggy.

With the weekend beginning the night before, it was understandable why, but Illinois head coach Brad Underwood assured people, Friday, his team would be ready for the early start. In fact, he said the Illini had an advantage because of it.

But when the ball got tipped on Saturday, it was clear the 11 a.m. start was no advantage as Penn State, from start to finish, proved that it wanted this game more than the home squad did.

The Nittany Lions out-toughed the Illini and made the winning plays down the stretch to get an 83-76 win on the same night the program was celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Flyin’ Illini team.

“This is a great example of what happens in Big Ten basketball when you show up flat and not ready to play,” Underwood said. “Nothing against Penn State, but we were really flat. Penn State deserved to win the basketball game. They played much, much harder than we did in every facet.”

To make matters worse, Illinois got dominated by Penn State forward Lamar Stevens and center Mike Watkins. Stevens finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 8-of-10 shooting from the free throw line. He also added 8 rebounds and 2 steals.

“It’s the one thing we have to figure out how to do is guard a guy like Stevens,” Underwood said. “He’s a matchup problem and he had his way with us in the first half. Then it led to opportunities and he’s a great player that makes everybody better.”

Watkins finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks; a stat line that had Underwood saying Watkins “dominated in his minutes.” His defensive presence bothered center Giorgi Bezhanishvili at times, despite Bezhanishvili posted his first career double-double.

Bezhanishvili recorded 16 points and 10 rebounds, but on 5-of-14 shooting (6-of-8 from free throw line) and had a team-worse -13 plus/minus.

“I didn’t play smart and got emotional,” Bezhanishvili said. “I didn’t control myself… I just didn’t play smart enough.”

The Illini’s other stars didn’t step up to the challenge either. Guard Trent Frazier scored 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting and was ice cold from deep, where he made only one of his nine attempts. He also failed to record an assist.

Even though Underwood said his team had an advantage with an 11 a.m. start, he said after the game it may not have been in Frazier’s best interest.

“For one, it was a morning game so that’s sometimes a challenge for Trent,” Underwood said. “Give (Penn State) credit. They sat on top of the ball screens all night long. They were very, very physical with him. They basically eliminated all of our ball screen action with the physicality of sitting on top of it and then forcing him into Watkins.”

While guard Ayo Dosunmu scored a team-high 18 points, many of those came at the end of the game when Penn State purposely gave up interior buckets. At halftime, Dosunmu failed to register a point and attempted only one field goal.

From the start, Illinois didn’t possess the same energy its opponent had, causing it to trail for most of the first half. The Illini went through nearly a 4:30 scoring drought at the first half’s midpoint that allowed the Nittany Lions to get a 37-24 lead with four minutes left in the frame.

Illinois threw a small punch back when an Aaron Jordan three-pointer at the buzzer cut the deficit to seven at the break, but not even a halftime speech from the Flyin’ Illini members could spark the current team. The Nittany Lions opened the second half on a 7-2 run.

And from there, every small run the Illini responded with, Stevens and the Nittany Lions immediately answered. Illinois essentially had one foot in the grave with shooting 18-of-28 from the free throw line and blowing nine of its 19 layup attempts.

Underwood attributes that to a lack of mental focus and preparation, but at the end of the day, Penn State came into Champaign and outplayed Illinois for the fifth straight time.

“They whooped us,” Underwood said. “They deserved to win the game.”