STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Jalen Pickett scored a season-high 41 points — the first Penn State player with 40-plus points since 1961 — and the Nittany Lions beat Illinois 93-81 on Tuesday night to end a four-game losing streak.
It was the most points scored by a Penn State player in Big Ten play and the sixth 40-point game in program history.
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Pickett was 10 of 12 with four 3-pointers in the first half and reached 2,000 career points on a 3 with 2:54 left in the half. He finished 15 of 20 with five 3-pointers and eight assists.
Pickett scored 46 points for Siena in a triple-overtime game against Quinnipiac on Feb. 17, 2019.
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Seth Lundy had 11 points in the first half, hitting 4 of 5 shots with three 3s, and finished with 15 points for Penn State (15-11, 6-9 Big Ten), which shot 58% overall and was 12 of 28 from distance. Kanye Clary added 12 points and Andrew Funk had 10.
Penn State shot 62.5% (20 of 32) from the field and hit 10 of 18 from long range in the first half for a 53-40 lead. Illinois cut the deficit to 54-47 with 18:01 left but didn’t get closer.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 20 points to lead five in double figures for Illinois (17-8, 8-6), which got swept in the season series with Penn State.
Illinois plays at No. 14 Indiana on Saturday, while Penn State travels to Minnesota.
Loyola 64, UMass 62: Braden Norris scored 17 points as the Ramblers (9-16, 3-10 Atlantic 10) held off the Minutemen (13-13, 4-10) in Amherst, Mass.
T.J. Weeks Jr. hit a 3-pointer and Keon Thompson added a jumper during a 5-0 spurt that pulled UMass to 63-62 with 36 seconds left. Philip Alston split a pair of free throws for Loyola to cap the scoring with nine seconds to play, then blocked Weeks’ layup to end it.
Alston had 13 points, six rebounds and four blocks for the Ramblers. Tom Welch scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting.
