Illinois’ 79-76 loss to Penn State includes a head-butt in yet another early exit from the Big Ten Tournament

One by one the higher-seeded teams kept falling in the Big Ten Tournament, leading into Thursday night’s Illinois-Penn State game at the United Center.

The lower seeds had won the first four games for the first time in tournament history, giving the seventh-seeded Illini pause before they faced the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions, who already had beaten them convincingly twice in conference play.

Would the underdogs continue their roll, or could the Illini bring some sanity back to the tournament?

In a wild game before a predominantly orange-clad crowd on the West Side, the Illini lost 79-76 to bow out early again.

Penn State advanced to Friday night’s quarterfinal game against second-seeded Northwestern, which it beat on a last-second shot in overtime on March 1 in Evanston.

Andrew Funk hit six 3-pointers to lead the Nittany Lions, and a momentum-stopping technical foul on Dain Dainja will go down in Illini lore.

In a game that had a little of everything, the Illini overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and were on a miniroll with 14 minutes, 18 seconds left in the second half when Dainja head-butted Penn State’s Myles Dread after scoring on a fast break and getting fouled.

It was an inadvertent head-butt made during an impromptu celebration of his basket when Dainja didn’t notice Dread was right next to him.

But a head-butt is a head-butt, and after a video review Dainja was called for a flagrant foul. Dainja hit his free throw, but Funk also hit his two free throws for the tech and followed with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 46-45, taking away the Illini momentum.

Dainja said he didn’t see Dread and had his eyes closed when he ran into him.

“I tried to talk to the ref about it, but he said things about concussions and stuff like that, so ... ” Dainja said.

Whether it was a turning point was debatable, but Funk said it gave them “a little bit of a break,” and Terrence Shannon Jr. acknowledged it made a difference.

“I mean, you see it for yourself,” Shannon said. “It was a big momentum changer. We could’ve went up six and got a stop and went up eight. You never know. We still could’ve won. It is what it is. Next game.”

The head-butt certainly heated up the crowd, which already was percolating from the intensity generated by Coleman Hawkins’ play.

The Illini and Nittany Lions traded blows for a while when Dainja used the glass on a baby hook shot at the 8:05 mark. The sophomore big man wisely held his hand up in the air and pointed without any crazy gyrations, then completed a three-point play to put the Illini back up 56-55.

But Penn State went on another run and took an eight-point lead on Funk’s fifth 3-pointer with 3:42 left. The Illini were down for the count. Funk finished with a game-high 20 points, while Camren Wynter had 18 and Seth Lundy 17.

Illini coach Brad Underwood called Penn State’s attack “booty ball” because of the physical play of Jalen Pickett, who backed into the paint frequently and hit an open man on the perimeter.

“When you can keep possession of the ball for 12, 13 seconds, 10 seconds and keep backing up and you have no recourse to guard because you can’t touch them, it becomes very challenging,” Underwood said. “If you don’t, he sprays it. They have a rule in the NBA that eliminates that, but they don’t in college.”

Underwood, by the way, coaches in college, not the NBA.

Hawkins said “it was difficult trying to find that in-between when you can still guard the booty ball and the shooter.”

Pickett wasn’t a fan of the term.

“I play a physical game,” Pickett said. “I don’t know about booty ball. I kind of want to change that word, but I play a tough game.”

Shannon and Matthew Mayer, the Illini’s two biggest offensive threats, were mostly absent in the first half. Shannon had five points on 2-of-6 shooting but finished with 19 points. Mayer scored seven points in the first 3½ minutes and was then shut out the rest of the night.

The Illini managed to keep Pickett from breaking out early, but Wynter and Lundy combined to score 21 first-half points to pick up the slack. Illinois shot 58.6% in the second half, but it didn’t matter.

In the first two days of the tournament, the Big Ten has put the “mad” in March Madness with all the early upsets. No one seemed too surprised by any of them.

The Illini will now regroup and wait for their NCAA Tournament bid, just like last year when they lost their first Big Ten Tournament game to Indiana.

“I’m excited this team can go as long and far as they want to,” Underwood said.

Said Shannon: “The lights will be brighter. If we lock in and play defense the way we know we can, we’ll be fine.”

At least they won’t have to face a Big Ten team in their first game. Anyone can beat anyone in the Big Ten, and if we didn’t know that before the last couple of days, we certainly do now.

No one is safe.