Although the Big Ten Tournament bracket has not officially been revealed yet (Northwestern-Rutgers and Wisconsin-Minnesota are under way as of this writing) with Indiana beating Michigan in overtime earlier, Penn State’s first opponent in the conference tournament is set. The 10th-seeded Nittany Lions will face the No. 7 seed Illinois on in the second round. PSU was able to earn a most important first round bye as a result of their dramatic last-second win over Maryland.
PSU swept the Illini in the regular season, having pulled off a 74-59 win in Champaign back in December, and then winning 93-81 in State College, in a game where Jalen Pickett scored a career-high 41 points.