Travis Parker had a lot to smile about as he left the Assembly Hall court Saturday night. The Penn State forward had averaged 9.7 points per game going into the Nittany Lions trip to Champaign, but against Illinois he carried his team to a 66-65 road upset.

Illinois couldn’t control him, and Parker scored 21 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished five assists against the Illini.

“Parker had the game of his life, to his credit obviously,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “We put Brian (Randle) on Parker and James (Augustine) on Claxton. Every time we made some adjustment, they adjusted.”

McBride hitting his stride

Guard Rich McBride proved key for the Illini long before his ill-fated final shot. McBride led Illinois’ scoring attack with 17 points, including a string of back-to-back-to-back three-point shots at the start of the game.

McBride is showing enormous improvement since averaging less than five points in games seven, eight and nine of the season. After a five-point performance at Indiana, he’s scored in double digits in all but one game.

“There’s no doubt it’s huge that he stepped up,” Weber said. “He’s given us a chance to be a special team. You’ve to got to feel good as a team, but you feel bad for Rich (that the shot didn’t count).”

Blame game

The post-game press conference after Penn State’s upset at the Assembly Hall was all about coaches pointing fingers. Bruce Weber, who’s Illini led in field goal shooting and in rebounding but couldn’t hold on for the win, blamed himself and his coaching staff, who he compared to puppeteers directing what happens on the court.

“Tonight obviously we didn’t pull the right strings at the right times,” Weber said. “You’ve got to blame yourself.”

Penn State coach Ed DeChellis, whose Nittany Lions are now 11-9 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten, said it was all about his young players not being intimidated by the Illini.

“Our guys did a great job,” DeChellis said. “I’m not taking any credit.”

All tied up

Two Illini players tied career-high statistics on Saturday night. Forward James Augustine had four assists for the fourth time in his career and the second time this season. Forward Brian Randle snatched a season-high three steals for the third time in his career.

Quote of the game

“I don’t know how they’ll deal with it. How you deal with failure usually determines how successful you are.”

– Bruce Weber on how his team will handle its first home loss in more than two years