With its usual key offensive pieces struggling, Illinois got production from an unlikely source: fifth-year senior guard Da’Monte Williams. 

Williams, who is known for his defense prowess and was averaging 3.8 points heading into Thursday night’s contest, recorded a team-best and season-high 14 points in Illinois’ 60-55 win over Penn State at State Farm Center.

When a player sets a new season-high and carries the team for chunks of a game, one might expect them to be excited postgame. Not the always humble and man-of-few-words Williams, though, as he kept his answers short, per usual.

“When it was my time to shoot it, shoot it and shoot it with confidence,” Williams said.

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry continued the trend of opposing head coaches praising the fifth-year senior Illini starters. Though it is often guard Trent Frazier who steals the spotlight, it was Williams who was singled out on Thursday night.

Shrewsberry, who spent the last two seasons as the associate head coach at Purdue before joining the Nittany Lions in March, has squared off against the Peoria native a few times now, emphasizing that he knows “how tough that kid is.”

“He makes big shots, he makes big plays, he’s an elite role player and I’m like daring him to shoot the basketball, right, at home,” Shrewsberry said. “People make shots at home, but you have to take something away. … I thought he stepped up and made big plays for ‘em.”

The Nittany Lions opted to throw the kitchen sink at junior center Kofi Cockburn, who finished with 11 points. Despite finishing in double figures, the Illini big man attempted just seven shots, his lowest mark since Jan. 29, 2021, against Iowa.

Penn State also focused on reducing the number of clean looks both Fraizer and graduate student guard Alfonso Plummer got, and the pair combined for 15 points on 4-11 shooting from the field and 3-9 from deep.

Often left wide open, Williams took advantage and converted four of his 10 3-point attempts.

“Not many nights Da’Monte Williams is gonna lead us in attempts, and yet give him credit,” head coach Brad Underwood said. “He jumped up there and makes four threes and leads us in scoring.”

Williams was not the only Illini that was left open, as sophomore forward Coleman Hawkins also found himself unguarded at times throughout the contest. Though he went 1-6 and missed all four of his 3-point attempts, his four late free throws helped seal the deal for Illinois to avoid a catastrophic home upset.

“I mean there’s not gonna be many nights where teams just let you shoot,” Hawkins said. “It’s kinda weird when you see yourself wide open like that and knowing that teams are leaving you open, so it does kinda mess with your head, but seeing (Williams) not being fazed by it and still making shots is impressive to see.”

With its final regular-season contest around the corner against No. 24 Iowa on Sunday, Illinois will need to improve on the offensive end if it wants to beat the Hawkeyes and make deep runs in the two quickly approaching postseason tournaments.

Iowa leads the Big Ten and ranks fifth nationally in points per game at 83.7, while sophomore forward Keegan Murray averages the most points per game in the conference at 23.3, which is the fourth-best mark in the country.

Williams, who was one of the best 3-point shooters in the country last season, will be crucial for the Illini down the stretch as they aim to defend their Big Ten tournament title and look to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, Underwood says.

“He’s been shooting it really, really well, and we just told him to shoot it, just jump up and shoot it,” Underwood said. “That’s the Da’Monte we saw last year, and that’s the one we gotta have the rest of the way.”

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