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EJ Liddell fell back on the field and flexed, his eyes fixed on Giorgi Bezhanishvili who had decided to chirp a little earlier in their showdown on Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill..
The bucket in the paint – during which it appeared to get hacked but didn’t draw a foul – gave EJ Liddell a new career record and put Ohio State’s 21st ahead of Illinois at 14th from 14th. points with a little less. more than 10 minutes remaining. The Illini, chosen in the preseason to win the Big Ten, did what they could by increasing their forced turnover rate and putting Kofi Cockburn on the offensive glass. Still, the Buckeyes refused to let the game slip away.
Despite entering the day as a seven-point road underdog, Ohio State picked up an 87-81 victory over Illinois to extend their winning streak to three games. He improved his record to 11-3 on the season and 5-3 in the Big Ten game.
A 3 point from Illinois goaltender Jacob Grandison reduced Buckeye’s lead to five points with 1:30 to go. After a free throw from Justice Sueing and a Cockburn layup, he became a four point lead in Ohio state with 48 seconds left, and then the Illini started to foul. They came and went, each going to the line several times before the Buckeyes took the win.
Liddell finished the game with a career-high 26 points, making more than 3 points on Saturday – four – than he had in his first 13 games of the season combined. Seth Towns tied his season high with 11 points. Justin Ahrens also added 11 points, including a trio of 3 in the second half when Ohio State needed him.
Dosunmu, a first-team All-American contender, led the Illini with 22 points to go with his five assists and four tables. The state of Ohio made him work all afternoon with the Kofi Cockburn center for their buckets. Cockburn took every shot from the field, registering 15 points and 11 boards, a team-high.
Ohio state came out of the gates, with five points from Liddell that sparked a 10-point run that saw the visitors gain eight points in two and a half minutes. Although Illinois fought back to equalize, leading to a 15-15 draw just over seven minutes into the game, the Buckeyes had another spark in them.
A pair of free throws from Judge Sueing at 7:31 of the first half kicked off a 15-0 run that featured a Towns midrange jumper off the rebound, a 3-point Meechie Johnson and eight consecutive points from Liddell, whose back-to-back 3s resulted in the explosion to put Ohio State in the lead, 30-15, just after midway through the first half.
Illinois couldn’t close the gap before halftime, scoring 13 points in the final 12 minutes.
The two areas that helped the Buckeyes in their first 20 minutes were their away shooting and glass work – both are the Illini’s strengths. They went 7-for-11 behind the 3-point arc in the first half. Liddell tied his season tally of three made 3s in the opening 11 minutes of the game, and Towns added a pair of trebles. Ohio State also maintained a 20-11 advantage in the rebound department, which included a 6-3 advantage in the offensive boards. That led to eight second-chance first-half points for Ohio state, compared to zero for Illinois.
Then: The Buckeyes return to Columbus to face Purdue at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Schottenstein Center for the second time this season after losing 67-60 at West Lafayette on December 16.
Other Notes
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The team’s only two veteran guard points – CJ Walker and Jimmy Sotos – have remained unavailable due to injuries. Walker has torn ligaments in his right hand and Sotos has a shoulder injury. The estimated date of their return remains unknown.
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Ohio State has not changed its starting five. Chris Holtmann rode again with Duane Washington Jr., Judge Sueing, Justin Ahrens, EJ Liddell and Kyle Young.
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Ibrahima Diallo (MCL sprain) is also absent for the foreseeable future. He doesn’t practice.
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