Ohio State men’s basketball vs. No. 18 Illinois: Game preview and prediction
Ohio State hopes their strong close to January carries over to February when they take on the Illinois Fighting Illini this afternoon.
Following a tough start to January, Ohio State closed the month out on a three-game winning streak. The latest of those victories came on Thursday night, a 83-64 triumph over Penn State in State College.
The Buckeyes were in control for the majority of the game, taking a 7-4 lead on a John Mobley Jr. three-pointer just over three minutes into the game, and not relinquishing the lead the rest of the way. After taking a 43-33 lead into the halftime break, Ohio State extended their lead in the second half, earning their second straight win by at least 17 points after beating Iowa 82-65 in Columbus on Monday night.
Mobley had the best performance of his young college career, scoring a team-high 19 points, dishing out eight assists, and pulling down five rebounds against the Nittany Lions. The freshman is just the fourth Buckeye in the last 35 years to record 19/8/5 in a road game.
Bruce Thornton added 17 points, hitting five of the seven three-pointers he attempted. Thornton and Mobley were the only Ohio State players to hit from behind the arc against Penn State, going 8-of-15 from distance. Devin Royal and Micah Parrish also finished in double figures on Thursday night. Royal nearly recorded a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds, while Parrish scored 12 points.
With his scoring output against the Nittany Lions, Thornton now sits 35th in Ohio State history with 1,277 career points. This afternoon Thornton could move up a couple more spots. Sitting just ahead of Thornton are Jared Sullinger with 1,282 points, the 1,285 career points Clark Kellogg scored, and if he scores 22 points Thornton will move past E.J. Liddell. Along with the scoring marks he could hit, the guard needs just three more assists to record 350 dimes in his career in Columbus.
Jake Diebler’s team really got after it on the boards against Penn State, finishing the game with a 41-23 edge over the Nittany Lions on the glass. Even more impressive is the Buckeyes were able to grab 13 offensive rebounds, which led to an 18-4 edge in second chance points in the game. Complimenting what Royal was able to do rebounding the basketball, three other Ohio State players had at least five rebounds in the game, including Ivan Njegovan, who finished with a season-high six rebounds in just 13 minutes on the floor.
Ohio State’s opponent today also played on the road on Thursday night, but didn’t find as much success as the Buckeyes. Illinois fell 80-74 in overtime at Nebraska, suffering their third loss in the last four games. The 18th-ranked Fighting Illini were short-handed in the game, as big man Tomislav Ivisic missed his second straight game as he deals with a bad case of mono. On Saturday, Brad Underwood said that Ivisic is “questionable” for Sunday but that he’s barely been able to do anything at practice this week and is sleeping 16 hours per day.
Despite battling back from a 40-31 halftime deficit to tie the game on a Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn three-pointer with 46 seconds left in the second half, Illinois wasn’t able to keep pace with the Cornhuskers in the extra session.
