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tBBC tBBC MBB: Ohio State Edges Illinois 68-63 in Overtime

Ken

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tBBC MBB: Ohio State Edges Illinois 68-63 in Overtime
Ken
via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
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Thad+Matta+NCAA+Basketball+Tournament+Third+ejnS3bU6Vd7l-150x150.jpg

(Thad applauds of his team’s defense and rebounding.)

Ohio State blew a 2nd half 13-point lead and Ohio State improved its record (14-8, 6-3) by beating Illinois (10-11, 2-5) Thursday night. That they did, by downing the scrappy Fighting Illini 68-63. As you’d expect when these teams play each other, the games are not aesthetically pleasing. Illinois was installed as a 2-pt favorite by Las Vegas, so they weren’t far off.

The Buckeyes were led by a career high scoring game by Trevor Thompson (16 pts, 5 rebs). Thompson was a perfect 7-7 from the field and 2-2 from the foul line. He was ably supported by a double-double by Kieta Bates-Diop (15 pts, 12 rebs) and Marc Loving (11, 9 rebs). Daniel Giddens was scoreless but grabbed 9 rebounds. The Buckeyes shot 39% (27-69) from the field, 30% (7-23) from 3-pt range and 54% (7-13) from the foul line. They had 51 rebounds, 13 of them offensive rebounds and 14 turnovers. Ohio State blocked 5 Illinois shots.

Meanwhile, the Fighting Illini were 32% (18-56) from the field, 31% (9-29) from 3-pt range and 58% (18-31) from the line. They grabbed 34 rebounds, 5 of them offensive and committed 10 turnovers. Illinois was led by Kendrick Nunn (24 pts), Malcolm Hill (12) and and Jalen Coleman-Lands (11).



1st Half

Illinois started out well, a bit too well, running out to an 8-0 lead at the 17:23 mark. The Illini were 3-4 and the Buckeyes were 0-2. Thad had seen enough and took an early time out to get the team settled down. A large part of the issues was that Illinois was switching in and out of zone and man-to-man defenses to prevent the Buckeyes from settling in early into some sort of offensive rhythm.

The Illini held a 13-2 lead at the 13:05 mark. The Buckeyes had 1 FG (of 7 attempts) and 4 turnovers. This was not the quick start that Ohio State needed.

However, the insertion of Mickey Mitchell and Kam Williams energized the Buckeyes, and over the next seven and a half minutes, the Buckeyes tied the game at 19 with 5:20 remaining in the half. This was keyed by a 9-2 run from the mid-point to the 5 minute mark.

One impressive 30 second sequence for the Buckeyes involved a blocked shot by Giddens which led to OSU 4 Buckeye missed shots followed by 4 offense rebounds and finally concluded by a Kam Williams jumper to pull OSU to within two points, 19-17. The Buckeyes finally took their first lead of the game 23-22 at the 2:52 mark on a Kieta Bates-Diop offensive rebound/putback.

The Buckeyes closed out the half on a 6-2 run to take a 29-24 lead into the half. This lead was driven by a determined defense and aggressive rebounding. Remember, 7 minutes into the game, OSU was trailing 13-2. Over the next 13 minutes they outscored Illinois 27-11.

The Buckeyes were 11-35 (31%) from the field, 2-9 (22%) from 3-pt range, and were 5-8 (62%) from the free throw line. They grabbed 30 rebounds, 11 of them offensive, and had 6 turnovers. This is damn impressive rebounding: those numbers are typically for a game worth, not for a half.

Ohio State was led by Kam Williams (7 pts) and Trevor Thompson and Kieta Bates-Diop (6 pts each). In his second start, Daniel Giddens had 7 rebounds, with Marc Loving and Kieta Bates-Diop contributing 5 rebounds each.

Illinois was 7-25 (28%) from the field, 3-11 (27%) from 3-pt range and 7-12 (58%) from the free throw line. The Illini had 14 rebounds, 1 of them offensive and 5 turnovers.



2nd Half

Unfortunately, the 2nd half started about the same way the 1st half started, In the first two minutes, OSU committed 3 fouls and had 2 turnovers. Jaylon (not Jae’sean) Tate nailed two FTs for the Illini to pull them within 3 points, 29-26. At the under-16 mark, OSU held a 37-31 lead, the Buckeyes had re-established their 1st half margin.

At the under-8 mark, Ohio State had stretched their lead to 10 points; 52-42. The teams were trading baskets during this stretch, with OSU benefiting from a couple more 3’s than Illinois.

Illinois crept back into the game during the 7:39 mark to the 3:31 mark with the Illini going on an 8-2 run which cut the OSU lead to 5 points, 56-51, powered by Kendrick Nunn’s 5 points during this stretch. Illinois outscored OSU 7-0 over the next minute to tie the game at 58 apiece.



Overtime

Kieta Bates-Diop took over OT with 5 points, 2 rebounds and a block as OSU outscored Illinois 10-5 to secure the win. Whew!

The Buckeyes next game is Sunday at @ 1:00 PM ET when they host Maryland. The last time these team met (January 16th) was pretty much a disaster for the Buckeyes, with the Terrapins winning 100-65. We are anticipating different results. You can watch the game on CBS and/or listen to it on 97.1. Go Buckeyes!

The post tBBC MBB: Ohio State Edges Illinois 68-63 in Overtime appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.

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