Buckeyes fall to No. 18 Illinois in physical road battle, 87-79

The Buckeyes were dominated in the paint Sunday afternoon, falling in the closing minutes in Champaign.

Riding a three-game winning streak that’s lifted them from the rotten depths of the Big Ten into the top half of the standings, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (13-9, 5-6) traveled to Champaign, Illinois on Sunday hoping to increase that to four and get over .500 in Big Ten play.

Unfortunately for Ohio State that winning streak came to an end in Champaign, as the Fighting Illini used a late game 15-0 run to put away Ohio State, 87-79. With Stewart out, Illinois outscored Ohio State 52-30 in the paint.

The challenge at hand was always going to be a tall one — KenPom gave Ohio State a 33% chance to win on Sunday — and that was before unfortunate injury news hit the Buckeyes around 10 a.m. Sophomore forward Sean Stewart — Ohio State’s starting center and second-leading rebounder — was not available due to an undisclosed injury.

On the other hand, Illinois 7-footer Tomislav Ivisic, who has missed Illinois’ last three games while recovering from a brutal case of mononucleosis — went through full warm ups with the team and was able to start for the Illini (15-7, 7-5). Ivisic came into Sunday’s game averaging 13.5 points and eight rebounds per game, while shooting 35.4% from long range. He finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes.

Devin Royal, who was also listed as questionable Sunday morning, ended up starting and was on fire to start the game. The 6-foot-6 sophomore from the outskirts of Columbus scored nine of Ohio State’s first 14 points, hitting all four of his shots including a three-pointer. That helped give the Buckeyes a 14-8 lead at the first media timeout, a little over four minutes into the game.

The Illini responded with a lightning-fast 10-0 run, capped off by an Ivisic three-pointer to put Illinois up 16-14 six minutes into the game. The big man looked solid in the first half for Illinois, despite not doing “anything at all” in practice for multiple weeks, according to Brad Underwood.

Ohio State adjusted and started to rotate and stop Illinois from driving, forcing Ivisic and Jakucionis to take more long jumpers, with quite a bit of success. After falling behind by four late in the first half, Ohio State responded with a 10-0 run, taking a six-point lead with six minutes left in the first half.

Royal’s third three-pointer of the first half and an offensive putback by Ivan Njegovan in the final minute gave the Buckeyes a 42-36 halftime lead in Champaign. Ohio State was out-rebounded 22-17 in the first half, but hit twice as many three-pointers as Illinois that helped make up the difference. Other than Royal’s 19, Morez Johnson Jr. (10 points) was the only other player for either team to reach double-digits in the first half.

The Buckeyes extended their lead to 52-41 — the largest lead of the game — by the first media timeout in the second half. Mobley scored five quick points to start the second half, playing off the ball and also initiating offense one game after recording eight assists.

Ohio State committed six fouls in the first six minutes of the second half, putting Illinois in the bonus for the final 14 minutes of the game. The combined absence of Stewart and Bradshaw foul trouble put a strain on everyone else, as players like Evan Mahaffey and Devin Royal were forced to guard bigs while guards had to try and stick to Illinois’ bigger guards like Tre White and Ben Humrichous.

Will Riley scored six straight points to tie the game with 10:48 remaining, erasing Ohio State’s lead after the Buckeyes led for the previous 18 minutes. Thornton deflected a pass out of bounds that was meant for Riley with 7:30 remaining, prompting another timeout with Ohio State leading, 67-63.

The Illini answered with a quick 9-0 spurt in 90 seconds, going ahead 72-68 with 5:21 remaining in the game. The Buckeyes continued to look weak and compromised inside, getting dominated in the paint by Ivisic and Johnson.

Illinois continued their late-game burst, making it a 15-0 run that put the home team up by double-digits in the closing minutes, ultimately closing it out, 87-79.

Five different players scored 10 or more points for Illinois, led by freshman Will Riley, who had 24 points on 7-of-9 shooting and was 9-for-12 at the free throw line. Morez Johnson Jr. had 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds.

Royal had 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including 3-for-6 from three-point land and a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Bruce Thornton had 22 points and eight rebounds, and John Mobley had 18 points on 6-of-21 shooting, and fouled out for the first time in his career.

Illinois was whistled for 14 fouls to Ohio State’s 25, and was 23-for-31 at the free throw line compared to Ohio State’s 14-for-15.

If you weren’t able to catch this old-school, Sunday afternoon Big Ten battle on CBS, here are a few key moments, plays, and stats that played a part in Illinois snapping Ohio State’s three-game win streak.

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Devin Royal gets cooking early

Royal, who continues to nurse a sprained wrist and was listed as questionable before the game, started out hot, scoring nine points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting before the first media timeout. Illinois tried to stick Morez Johnson Jr. and Ben Humrichous on him early in the game, but neither were able to stop Doyal off the drive. The sophomore also knocked down his eighth three-pointer of the season, helping the Buckeyes take an early 14-8 lead at the State Farm Center.

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Morez Johnson Jr. gobbling up offensive boards

While the Illini weren’t out-rebounding Ohio State by a ton early on, where they were finding some success was on the offensive glass. With Stewart out and Bradshaw picking up two quick fouls, Ohio State went with a smaller lineup for a good stretch of the first half, using Royal at the five.

Because of that, Illinois’ 6-foot-9 freshman forward Morez Johnson was able to get his on the offensive glass, grabbing five offensive rebounds, plus a sixth that technically wasn’t recorded by the scorer where the ball came off the rim and bounced once before Johnson was the one to grab it.

The freshman scored on four of those six second-chance opportunities, and had seven points in the first eight minutes of the game after entering the contest averaging just over six points per game.

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Buckeyes end first half on 8-1 run

After Illinois used a 10-0 run to knock Ohio State on their rear ends a bit, the Buckeyes stood back up and outscored the Illini 8-1 over the final 2:24 of the first half. Royal knocked down his third triple of the first half to make it 40-36, and on the next Ohio State offensive possession Ivan Njegovan grabbed a missed shot by Bruce Thornton and pushed it back to the glass. The ball ricocheted off the backboard and dropped in, putting Ohio State up 42-36.

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Illinois gets in the bonus with 14 minutes remaining

After committing 26 fouls against Penn State this week, Ohio State picked up the fouling once more against Illinois, picking up six quick ones in the second half. This put Illinois in the bonus, meaning the orange guys were to shoot free throws on every foul for the final 14 minutes of the game. With Stewart out and the combo of Bradshaw and Njegovan not rebounding much at all, Ohio State’s interior defense was squeezed in a way it hasn’t been all season.

Ohio State ended the game with 25 fouls, which sent Illinois to the free throw line 31 times on Sunday.

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Boswell’s layup puts Illinois up six with

Already in the middle of a 9-0 run, Kylan Boswell was able to jump over a screen and dribble to the basket, with Njegovan as the only defender between him and a bucket. He tried a reverse around the 7-footer, dropping it in to make it 74-68 Illinois with just under three minutes remaining in the game.

Boswell finished the game with 14 points and two rebounds in 23 minutes.

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What’s next?

Ohio State (13-9, 5-6) has three days off before getting a rematch with Maryland (17-5, 7-4) on Thursday night in Columbus. Maryland won the first battle between the two teams back in December, dominating the Buckeyes the entire way, 83-59. The Terrapins have won their last four games, including road wins over Illinois and Indiana.

Ohio State’s game against Maryland is set to tip off at 7:00 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FS1.