One week ago Penn State hosted #23 Illinois, in what was quite possibly the most-anticipated men’s basketball game Penn State has hosted in maybe 30 years. Why was it so big? PSU has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2001, and was finally on the bubble. They had an opportunity to win at least 10 Big Ten games for only the second time in school history (PSU went 12-6 in conference play in 1995-96), and an opportunity to tie a school record with 21 wins in the regular season. It was the regular-season home finale in the best season Penn State has enjoyed in years and years. Also, it was a nationally televised game in prime-time on ESPN, which sure doesn’t come to Happy Valley very often during basketball season. The game was on the night before the start of spring break, so in an effort to ensure good student attendance, they made it dollar dog night, they declared an arena-wide White Out, and also made all student tickets 2-for-1.
The fans responded. Advance ticket sales were brisk, with the line being 20 deep when Kent & I went down to the HUB to get a group of 10 tickets for the meteo grads (both when we arrived and when we left). Half of our group (me, Isaac, Kent, Walter & Bob) showed up at the BJC at 7pm (two hours before game time), and by the time they finally opened the arena doors at 8pm, there was quite a large line of students waiting to get in. I’ve never seen such a thing for a basketball game at Penn State!
Aside:
The Penn State Athletic Ticket Office had absolutely brilliant ideas of how to do crowd control once again. Not opening the doors until 1 hour before tipoff? And then just end up letting everyone go in a mad frenzy to get to the student section portal on the concourse, instead of scanning people’s tickets in a sequential, orderly fashion? Seriously??
/Aside
The atmosphere before the game was electric, with nearly 7,000 students in attendance, all wearing white, and filling up the courtside section, the sections behind both baskets (finally Penn State did something right and decided to let people sit behind the basket opposite the band before game time!), and also a bunch in one end of the upper deck. 
The five of us who were in line earlier than the other five (Tom, Kyle, Raphael, Scott & Chris) were able to save seats for our whole group in the courtside student section, in rows 5 & 6, between the half-court line and the top of the three-point line (on the left side of half-court, if you were watching it on TV). Great seats! And as if the crowd needed to be any more jacked up for the game, the football team’s starting quarterback Daryll Clark came out and got the crowd riled up right before tipoff with a pep talk!
As for the game itself, the crowd was rowdy throughout, even when Illinois built a lead of 10 points in the first half. The entire first half and in most of the second half, the Fighting Illini would make the most ridiculous rainbows of shots as the shot clock expired, it was depressing and amazing at the same time. It seemed that lady luck was not on our side. But the Nittany Lions battled back to trail only 34-32 at the break, 
and we even tied it at 34 coming out of halftime, before the Illini ballooned their lead right back out to 6-10 points for almost the entirety of the second half. Every time Penn State would put together a couple of baskets, Illinois would respond with another ridiculous shot to beat the shot clock. It was soooo annoying. And the refs were unmistakably pro-Illinois for most of the second half too, most notably in nearly back-to-back calls by wiping away a putback slam by Andrew Ott as “offensive goaltending” 
(we all thought it was a bad call in real time, and replay on the TV confirmed that it was, but the refs never reviewed it), and counting a basket by Illinois that was clearly released after the shot clock expired (blatantly obvious both in real time and on video replay, but again the refs never reviewed it — both can be seen in the second video below). So that was a 4-point swing to the Illini right there. 
Normally, poor officiating only has an indirect effect on scoring, by players accumulating fouls and having to sit on the bench, or players being awarded free throw opportunities, but in this instance poor officiating in basketball had a very direct effect on scoring, with that 4-pt swing. But anyway, Illinois led 60-50 with a bit over 5 minutes left, and we were all thinking that PSU was starting to run out of time to make a run. 
At the 4-minute mark it was 63-55, and then suddenly Illinois went ice cold. Stanley Pringle hit a key three with a bit over a minute and a half remaining to cut it to 63-60, and then with the score 63-62 with under 30 seconds left, Penn State’s Talor Battle forgot that he’s not Magic Johnson, and drove in the lane and promptly fell and turned the ball over. Argh. The Illinois player was fouled with 7 seconds left, and went to the line to shoot the front end of a 1-and-1.
And then this happened:
And here’s a full recap of the game in HD:
Incredible! Pandemonium! That shot seemed like it was dancing around the rim forever before it finally fell in! In the videos above, I can point out where I was standing in the crowd when Battle made the shot, and actually pick out our whole group. And yes, I was in the massive group of students that rushed the court as well. 🙂 
While I was out there I got to pat Jamelle Cornley on the shoulder and tell him “way to go” and “thank you,” and after I came off the court I shook the hand of the ESPN play-by-play announcer for the game. I told him, “I hope you guys come back here more often!” He replied, “I think we will, this was an incredible atmosphere here tonight!” Hmm, I wonder when the last time *that* was said about a basketball game at Penn State?That was certainly one of the most exciting basketball games I’ve ever been to! There were a couple MIAC Playoff and NCAA Tournament games that Gustavus was in that were extremely riveting from start to finish. (Gustavus especially had some epic clashes with Bethel, Macalaster and Saint Thomas in the MIAC Playoffs.) And I tell ya what, some of those D-III postseason basketball games were absolutely incredible, with crowds packing the gym to the rafters, with everyone on their feet, chanting and cheering as loud as they could the entire game. Those are the sorts of games that make me love sports, and especially college basketball (and the lack of that spirit and enthusiasm is largely why I strongly dislike the NBA). The atmosphere of D-III games made me really excited to come to Penn State and experience a Big Ten atmosphere, but boy was I disappointed by the utter lack of excitement, attendance or energy in my first three winters here. Things started to change a little bit late last year, and then this year during the Big Ten season, there were finally crowds in excess of 10,000 on a regular basis (even topping 15,000 against Indiana). The Illinois game a week ago was the first time in all the games I’ve been to at PSU since 2005-06 where the atmosphere for a basketball game at Penn State has even begun to rival the intensity of postseason basketball games at Gustavus when I was there. And that’s really saying something.
Of course, Penn State had to follow up this incredible, emotional win vs Illinois with a double-overtime loss at Iowa, a team in 10th place in the Big Ten. I’m really developing a strong dislike for Iowa, after they ruined PSU’s perfect football season last fall, and now possibly ruining PSU’s shot at the NCAA Tournament. Fortunately though, almost every other bubble team around the country is losing, and today Penn State beat Indiana 66-51 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, so the Nittany Lions’ chances are actually pretty good for making their first NCAA Tournament since 2001, whether or not they beat Purdue tomorrow night in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. If they can pull off the victory, they’ll definitely be a lock, though!
Ahhh, how I love March and its madness!