On an eight-day break last week, Illinois senior Adrienne GodBold decided to kick back, flip on the television and watch the Penn State women’s basketball team play Michigan State.

While scouting her upcoming opponent, GodBold perked up when she heard the announcers mention Illinois.

“It was like, ‘They have Penn State coming up next week, and, Illinois, you probably don’t want to play them right now because they’ve got some fire up in their butt,’” GodBold recalled. “I felt good about that. You don’t usually hear that. It gave me a little more confidence.”

The Illinois women’s basketball team has been the subject of a lot of talk lately. Talk that was unfamiliar to the team before first-year head coach Matt Bollant took over.

For example, after Monday’s win over Wisconsin, senior Karisma Penn smiled at even being asked about earning a top-four seed and first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament.

“That’s unheard of for us,” Penn said. “We always go into the Big Ten Tournament at the bottom and have to battle up.”

Penn and GodBold have finished eighth, 11th and ninth in the conference during their first three years. The Illini are tied for third in the conference with Purdue and Michigan and hold the tiebreaker with second-place Nebraska.

A win at No. 7 Penn State on Wednesday night would go a long way in securing the first-round bye, as well as an NCAA bid for the Illini.

But a win would be no easy task. The Nittany Lions are at the top of the Big Ten standings and haven’t lost in Happy Valley since Jan. 7, 2012. Illinois hasn’t won in University Park, Pa., since 1998 and has only won at Penn State twice in school history.

Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Maggie Lucas leads Penn State with 19.8 points per game.

“First of all, you have to stop (Lucas) before she starts because once she gets on a roll, you done,” GodBold said.

Lucas is joined in the backcourt by Alex Bentley, who averages 13.7 points per game.

“Bentley and Maggie are a good pair,” GodBold said. “But once we stop them, they become weak.”

After Lucas and Bentley, no Nittany Lion averages double figures in scoring, though four average more than seven points and 20 minutes per game.

“I can’t really point out one weakness,” GodBold said.

On paper, it is hard to find Penn State’s weaknesses. The Nittany Lions only rank in the bottom half of three statistics nationally: 3-point field goals per game, assists per game and fouls per game.

The Nittany Lions are second nationally in 3-point field-goal percentage, but they rank in the bottom half of made 3s because they shoot from behind the arc less than most teams.

Penn State has also had six days to prepare for the Illini, while Illinois will be playing on one day’s rest.

Wednesday’s matchup with be Illinois’ fourth against a top-25 squad this season. The Illini are 2-1 against the top 25 so far this season with wins against then-No. 6 Georgia and then-No. 24 Iowa. The only loss was against then-No. 14 Purdue.

The Illini are also 5-1 in Big Ten road games, tied for the most conference road wins in program history. For this year’s squad to set a new record, it must top another top-25 team, either Penn State or No. 22 Purdue on March 3.

The strain of the quick transition makes it difficult for Illinois to prepare for Penn State.

“We’ve got to go be us and go be at our very best we can be,” Bollant said. “If we compete and play hard, we’ll let the end result take care of itself.”

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.