Terrence Shannon Jr. was burying the Penn State basketball squad with his shots. It looked like another expected win for Illinois who are slowly climbing up to challenge Purdue in the Big Ten Conference. However, someone turned their jets on for the Nittany Lions. Nick Kern Jr. was not about to let his team lose for the 15th time this season just yet. He clutched up and ended up getting the win.

Rec Hall was buzzing for the Penn State basketball program. The man at the center of the win, Nick Kern Jr., got the most attention. When asked about his 13 straight points in the second half, all he could say was that he was delivering what was asked by Nittany Lions' Mike Rhoades, via FOX Sports.

“We needed energy on offense, we had no energy in the first half, for real. So, I had to get to it. We fight. Coach always tells us to keep fighting, that's what we do, we just keep on going. I'm a dog. That's all I'm going to say, I'm a dog,” he declared.

Kern was absolutely blazing in the second half. In total, he scored 22 points while grabbing four rebounds and dropping two assists. Zach Hicks followed suit by scoring 13 points and ripping eight boards straight out of the air. Qudus Wahab also got the same number of points while recording four rebounds. Adrian Baldwin Jr. was the one handling floor general duties. He dished out 12 dimes while scoring 10 points. Not to mention, he also played 40 minutes to help the Penn State basketball squad get the win.

Illinois collapses against Penn State basketball

The Fighting Illini were dominating the glass and getting all the extra possessions despite their misses. 49 total rebounds for them to 25 for the Penn State basketball squad might make one think that this game had already been decided. But, it was the impeccable defense in the second half which helped the Nittany Lions.

Overall, they blocked six shots while notching 11 steals straight out of the opposing ball handler's hands. This forced the second-best team in the Big Ten Conference to have 18 turnovers which spelled their doom. Penn State just had to take advantage on offense to get the win, which they did.