Ohio State (7-2, 1-1 Big Ten) lost its Big Ten home opener, 88-80, to No. 13 Illinois (8-2, 1-0) on Dec. 9 at Value City Arena despite a 34-point performance by senior guard Bruce Thornton.
Thornton started a perfect 9 of 9 from the field, including 6 of 6 from beyond the arc, scoring 24 of his points in the first half of the game
Ohio State took an early 5-2 lead on a second-chance layup by senior center Christoph Tilly and a three from Thornton, but Illinois scored eight straight to take its first lead of the game and go up 10-5 at 15:06.
After nearly three minutes without a bucket, Thornton drained another three-pointer and Tilly scored four straight Buckeye points to bring the score to 15-12.
The Fighting Illini went three of four possessions with a three-pointer, freshman forward David Mirkovic making two of them, for a 24-15 lead at 11:46. Out of a timeout, Thornton made his third shot from beyond the arc of the game and had a steal and a fast-break layup to cut the Buckeyes’ deficit to four points.
With 6:21 remaining in the half, Thornton made his fourth three-pointer on a step-back to bring Ohio State within two points, 31-29. After two free throws for Illinois, Thornton made another layup and another three to bring himself to 24 points just over 15 minutes into the game and give OSU a 34-33 lead. He didn’t miss his first shot until 3:59.
But Illinois was able to go on an 11-0 run to go up 44-34 with under two minutes to go.
Junior forward Devin Royal and sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. were the first Buckeyes to convert on a three, doing so on back-to-back possessions to get back within four points at 1:01. Royal ended the half with a buzzer-beating layup to go into the locker room down 48-42.
Illinois was a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line, much to the chagrin of Buckeye fans hoping the Illini would miss seven from the charity stripe in the game, which would have given the fans free chicken.
Outside of Thornton’s 9-of-10 shooting, the Buckeyes shot just 6 of 21 from the field in the half (28.6 percent).
The Buckeyes came out hot in the second half, tying the game up at 53 on a layup by Thornton just under four minutes into the frame. But the Illini answered by converting an and-one to take the lead back.
Tilly got into foul trouble, earning his fourth with over 12 minutes to go in the game and getting pulled for sophomore center Ivan Njegovan. Both teams were in the bonus with 11:39 left in the game.
Ohio State went 4:53 without a field goal between a layup from senior forward Brandon Noel at 14:56 and a jumper from Royal at 10:03. After a Thornton jumper, the score was 66-62.
After that shot, both teams only scored via free throw for the next 3:48, with that stretch ending with a 71-66 score before Andrej Stojakovic of the Illini ended that streak with a jumper.
Illinois was able to take a 78-70 lead at 2:55 on a three from freshman guard Keaton Wagler. With two minutes left, Tilly brought the Buckeyes within five with two free throws. A Royal layup brought that to three points, 79-76 at 1:19 but after an Illinois timeout, the 7-1 Tomislav Ivisic made a three for the Illini to go up by six.
Thornton turned the ball over with 33 seconds to go and the Buckeyes were forced to foul, leading to the final X-point deficit.
Thornton’s 34 points were a game-high, while Royal, Tilly (13) and Mobley (11) both also reached double digits. The Buckeyes shot 15 of 21 from the free-throw line (71.4 percent) compared to Illinois’ 29 of 32 (90.6 percent).
