On February 21st, the Buckeyes turned it up a notch at home and beat the Fighting Illini in Big Ten play, 83-67. Everything went right from the beginning, and Ohio State went into the locker room up big, 42-26. It was enough to close the door, and Illinois could not muster a comeback.
Ohio State won this game while at the same time exploiting Illinois in shooting and defensive rebounding. The Buckeyes scored often shooting a big 65% compared to the 39% for the Fighting Illini. Ohio State hit the glass harder than Illinois, 28 defensive rebounds to 16, and that led to more possessions. One big plus for Ohio State was the 65% shooting. This crushed its season average of 48%.
Some notes regarding this matchup: The Ohio State RPI ranking was better than Illinois, #7 to #64. The Buckeyes home court advantage is distinct, and they caught the Fighting Illini having lost 5 of their last 5. The Buckeyes have already seen the Fighting Illini this year, and with this win have now split regular season games.
Deshaun Thomas put up the most points for the Buckeyes with 19 points in 32 minutes, shooting 75% from the floor.
Aaron Craft added five big assists.
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| Illini Players | Mins | Pts | Reb | Ast | Stl | Blk | TO | | A | Meyers Leonard | 36 | 21 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | | B+ | D.J. Richardson | 36 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | | B | Myke Henry | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | B- | Brandon Paul | 32 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | | B- | Nnanna Egwu | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | C+ | Tyler Griffey | 15 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | C | Tracy Abrams | 22 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | C | Sam Maniscalco | 22 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | - | Mike Shaw | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | D | Joseph Bertrand | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
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| OSU Players | Mins | Pts | Reb | Ast | Stl | Blk | TO | | A | Deshaun Thomas | 32 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | A | Aaron Craft | 31 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | | B+ | L. Smith Jr. | 20 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | B+ | Evan Ravenel | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | B | William Buford | 26 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | | B- | Sam Thompson | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | | C+ | LaQuinton Ross | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | C+ | Jared Sullinger | 27 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | | C+ | Amir Williams | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | C | Shannon Scott | 22 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | | - | Jordan Sibert | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | - | J. Weatherspoon | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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The Buckeyes are now 23-5, in what is usually the toughest part of the season. Their conference record improves to 11-4, still good enough for 2nd place. Their record against RPI Top 100 teams (Illinois #64) improves to 10-5.
Up next the Buckeyes face Wisconsin at home on February 26th.
- Deshaun Thomas had a career high with a 100% three point percentage.
- This season Ohio State has won 81% of the time (9-2) when Aaron Craft has 5 assists or more, 86% of the time (19-3) when Jared Sullinger has 6 rebounds or more, and 90% of the time (10-1) when William Buford has 17 points or more.
- OSU beat the spread by 0.5 points. That makes the 14th time this season the Buckeyes have beat the spread.
- OSU wins 80% of the time this season (4-1) when their opponent has 10 or more turnovers.
- Jared Sullinger has led the team in rebounding in 19 out of 28 games this season.
Illinois Game Notes:
- This marks the 5th 20-point game of Meyers Leonard's career.
- Meyers Leonard has led the team in scoring 7 times in 28 games this season.
- Meyers Leonard accounted for 31.3% of the team's points.
- D.J. Richardson has led the team in rebounding 4 times in 28 games this season.
- Illinois lost and did not cover the spread.
Check out the complete Games Notes
Tags: Deshaun Thomas,
Aaron Craft
