Illinois gets a trio of 20-point scoring efforts to cruise past Penn State without the services of star guard Kasparas Jakucionis.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

January 8, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois acted like they didn’t miss the presence of Kasparas Jakucionis in its biggest win over a Big Ten Conference opponent in nearly 21 years.

On a night where their star first-year lead guard was ruled inactive with a left forearm injury, No. 13 Illinois had little resistance in a 91-52 blowout win over Penn State on Wednesday night.

Illinois (12-3, 4-1 in Big Ten Conference play) rode the outside shooting of Ben Humrichous and an inspired defensive effort to what looked like an easy win inside State Farm Center against a Nittany Lions program that ESPN.com analyst Joe Lunardi has projected as one of the last teams in the 2025 NCAA Tournament field.

Humrichous finished with 21 points, 19 of which coming in a first-half explosion that saw him make 5 of 9 from three-point range in his 17-minute effort before the halftime buzzer. After going down 11-5 in the first five and half minutes of the first half as Illinois struggled to find offensive rhythm without Jakucionis, the Illini finished on a 40-10 run to close out the first 20 minutes of action that saw the home team hold Penn State (12-4, 2-3 in Big Ten) to just eight field goals, one three-point basket while also having six turnovers.

Jakucionis was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week on Monday after he led the Illini to three wins during the nomination period while averaging a team-best 16 points and 5.3 assists along with five rebounds, while shooting 60 percent from the field, 39 percent from three-point range, and making all seven free throw attempts.

Freshman Will Riley got his first career start in Jakucionis’ place since his arrival at Illinois.

The Illini had three different players eclipse the 20-point scoring mark with Humrichous, starting wing Tre White adding 20 on 7 of 12 shooting and first-year forward Morez Johnson Jr. putting up a double-double effort of a career-high 20 points to go along with a career-high 11 rebounds in just 20 minutes off the bench.

In last five games vs power four conference opponents, nine Illini have reached a double-figure scoring output with Johnson becoming the latest on Wednesday night.

Penn State came to Champaign-Urbana ranking in top 10 in Division I men’s basketball in points per game at 86.8 per contest but were without the services of North Carolina transfer guard Puff Johnson. The Nittany Lions left State Farm Center Wednesday night with easily its lowest scoring output of the season as they connected on 2 of 12 from three-point range and saw star guard Ace Baldwin Jr. (14.8 points per game) go scoreless in 15 minutes of action.

The 39-point win in a league game is the biggest blowout victory for the Illini in a conference game in nearly two decades going back to when Bruce Weber’s Illinois squad defeating Penn State 80-37 inside Assembly Hall on Jan 21, 2004.

Illinois will put its five-game winning streak on the line at home on Saturday morning when they host Southern California in a 11 a.m. CST tip on Big Ten Network. The Trojans (9-6, 1-3 in Big Ten) have lost its last two league games to Michigan in Los Angeles and at Indiana by double digits.