Penn State opened the final hour of Wednesday’s practice to the general public. A few hundred fans ate free pizza and saw for themselves what the Nittany Lions have been saying for most of the season.
“We compete very hard in practice,” said junior point guard Tim Frazier said. “We just have to be able to carry it over to the games.”
The Nittany Lions (9-10, 1-5 Big Ten) will get another shot at 9 p.m. tonight, when they’ll take on No. 22 Illinois (15-3, 4-1). Penn State, which has dropped five of six games, will have a new look this evening, wearing gray jerseys and shorts instead of the usual home whites.
Like the open practice, it was a move designed to generate some fan interest, which first-year head coach Patrick Chambers has been trying to do since coming to campus in June.
“Since Day 1, he’s brought his buzz and his personality,” Frazier said. “I think it’s been spreading around campus. There’s just a new attitude.”
Chambers had another motive for the open practice — he wanted his team, which has been having trouble replicating its practice intensity and efficiency on game days, to get some more work in front of a live crowd, albeit a small one.
Two Nittany Lions did not take part in the workout — freshman guard Trey Lewis, who is likely to miss his second straight game with a lower back injury, and junior forward Billy Oliver, who missed practice Tuesday and Wednesday due to an as-yet identified illness and is doubtful for tonight’s game. Oliver, a fourth-year junior, missed the better part of two seasons due to concussions and migraine headaches earlier in his career.
Tonight’s crowd will get to see an Illinois team that hasn’t played in nine days but is in first place in the Big Ten standings after winning each of its last three games.
Illinois is getting 13 points per game from three different juniors — guards D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul and 7-foot-1 center Meyers Leonard, who is third in the conference in field-goal percentage and rebounding and leads the league with 38 blocked shots.
That could pose problems for a Penn State offense that hasn’t had much success from the perimeter lately (since making 10 of 21 threes in a win over Purdue on Jan. 5, the Nittany Lions are a combined 17-of-71) and relies on Frazier to penetrate the defense and distribute. Points around the rim could be tougher to come by for the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer, but Frazier said he won’t attack Leonard any differently.
“I’ll stick to my game,” Frazier said. “If we can get him in foul trouble, that’s great.”
Illinois shoots just 33 percent from 3-point range —10th-best in the conference — but the rim might still look inviting to Paul. The junior guard torched Ohio State for a career-high 43 points last Tuesday, draining eight of his 10 3-point tries in the Illini’s 79-64 upset win.
Ball security has been an issue for Illinois this season; its average of 14.2 turnovers per game is the highest in the conference. Senior point guard Sam Maniscalco, a transfer from Bradley, is expected to return after missing the last three games with an ankle injury. Freshman Tracy Abrams will likely get the start at the point, though.
Notes: The game will be televised on ESPN2. ... Illinois leads the all-time series 24-12 and has won three of the previous four meetings. Penn State had won four of the five games before that. ... Frazier has scored at least 20 points in each of his last three games. ... Three of Penn State’s last five opponents have shot 55 percent from the field against the Nittany Lions.
Jeff Rice can be reached at 231-4609.
