Men's Basketball
Buckeyes Lose Third Straight with Home Loss to Illinois
By John PorentasOhio State (17-8, 7-7 Big Ten) dropped its third straight Big Ten game falling to Illinois (22-6, 10-5 Big Ten) by a final of 70-68 in front of 19,049 disappointed Buckeye fans at the Schottenstein Arena.
The contest ended up a two-point game but the Buckeyes never held a lead. They managed to tie the game just twice at 2-2 and again at 24-24 as the first half wound down, but when it came time to establish who was in charge, it was the Illini who got the job done.
"I thought the start of the game, end of the first half, start of the second half were the big momentum builders for us," said Illinois Head Coach Bruce Weber.
Buckeye Head Coach Thad Matta agreed.
"We'd get it to two and couldn't make the play to get the lead. That was probably the difference in the game. We were trying to play catchup the whole time," said Matta.
The Illini were able to stay out front on the strength of solid defense that took OSU leading scorer Evan Turner out of the game in the first half and an offensive game plan that took advantage of OSU's 3-2 zone with a matchup the Illini were looking for and got the entire night. Forward Mike Davis made a living flashing into the middle of the OSU zone for open jump shots that he knocked down like a jump shooting machine. Davis was 11-14 from the field and scored a game-high 22 points. The Buckeyes simply had no answer for him.
"It's a timing thing," said Weber.
"We put in a different zone offense last year actually for them and had some success the second time here. We spread them out, get four guys on the perimeter and then it's kind of like a buttonhook in football, a timing pattern. If he doesn't have it he can kick it either side.
"It fits Mike Davis real well because he's kind of a mid-range guy, Mike Tisdale is a mid-range guy, and then you've got guards that can spot up and shoot it. You just keep spreading them and working them. Obviously we're better at attacking it than we were last year because they beat us twice," Weber said.
"He made some tough shots. With his size and length in there when he extends up he's pretty high. He was active and knew exactly what he was going to do when he caught it, shoot it," said Matta.
"He's got a quick, back-yard floater," added Turner.
"He just grabs the ball and throws it up and it went right in. You blink your eye an it's already up. He made shots tonight. You have to give him credit."
Davis did his damage from mid-range as did center Mike Tisdale when Davis wasn't the guy flashing in the middle of that zone. The Illini added deadly three point shooting from Trent Meacham, Demetri McCarney and Chester Frazier to put together and offensive effort the Buckeyes could not match. For the game Illinois shot 58.3 percent from the field including nine of 17 from three.
"We are pretty good against. zones," said Weber.
"We move the basketball pretty well and it plays well for Mike Davis, his little game with his little hooks and little shots. It helped to go nine for 17 from three, that didn't hurt us either."
Illinois' ball movement helped them amass 23 assists on 28 made baskets.
With Turner struggling the Illini were able to stake themselves to a five point half time lead. At the half Turner had scored just two points on a pair of free throws. He was 0-5 from the field.
"Every time I touched the ball they were screaming 'Help, help, help' so it was pretty much a guy in front of me and two people just shadowing to make sure he was close. No man can try to go past three people," said Turner.
The Illini extended their second half lead to as many as 10 at 58-48 with 6:01 remaining, but OSU rallied to cut that lead to just two at 67-65 when P. J. Hill made a layup off an offensive rebound on a a missed free throw by Turner with just 36 seconds remaining on the clock. The rally was fueled by Turner who scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. The Illini, however, would not crack. Throughout the game they got clutch baskets and rebounds at key moments, and that was true as the clock wound down. Meacham canned a pair of free throws following Hill's basket to put the Illini back up by four, and McCarney added another free throw to extend the lead back to five with 11 seconds left. Jon Diebler hit a three with two seconds left to cut the lead to two but there was just not enough time left on the clock for OSU to complete the rally.
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