Well, that sure simplifies things.
A four-team Big Ten Conference race that earlier this week had more confusing scenarios to it than the first “Mission Impossible” movie became a little less complicated Sunday when the streaking Illinois basketball team took itself out of it by slamming into a wall called Ohio State.
With the quicker and more aggressive No. 6 Buckeyes limiting them to a season-low 30.5 percent shooting from the floor and holding them scoreless for 9 minutes 17 seconds in the second half to fashion a 20-3 run, the Illini fell 64-51 at the Value City Arena.
Say so long to Illinois’ seven-game winning streak. Say goodbye to any hope the Illini (18-8, 10-5) had of finishing first, second or third.
And prepare yourself to say “Oh, no, not you again” to Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers. With a victory over lowly Northwestern Saturday in Champaign, the Illini will clinch a fourth-place finish and take on the Hoosiers for the second time in two weeks in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament at the United Center.
“We’ve taken some big steps lately,” said junior forward Sergio McClain, “but this was a test–and you saw the outcome. We just didn’t come out with the same intensity in the second half that we’ve been playing with the last seven, eight games.”
All the emotional trump cards were stacked in Ohio State’s favor and the Buckeyes (20-5, 11-3) played them to the hilt to erase a 30-25 halftime deficit, hold Illinois to a season-low 21 points in the second half and stay a half-game behind first-place Purdue (12-3).
Junior guard Michael Redd recorded his 11th career double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds, but it was seniors Scoonie Penn, George Reese and Ken Johnson, playing their last home games in a Buckeye uniform, who also sparked the victory. Penn had 14 points (to pass the 1,000-point barrier for his career), seven rebounds, five steals and three assists. Reese added 11 points, nine of them in the second half and eight during the 20-3 run. And the 6-foot-11-inch Johnson contributed six blocked shots to move within two blocks of former Penn State star Calvin Booth’s single-season Big Ten record of 140.
“Johnson had a big impact on the game,” said freshman center Brian Cook, who led the Illini with 17 points and 10 rebounds. “It was hard to go in there a shoot a regular layup. You almost had to float the ball up over him.”
Illinois lofted it over Johnson pretty well in the first 20 minutes behind the outside shooting of Cory Bradford and Frank Williams, but shadowed by Ohio State’s Brian Brown, Bradford scored only three of his 14 points in the second half. Williams had nine points at the break against Penn but missed all seven of his shots in the second half and was 3 for 15 total. Williams added two late free throws for 11 points.
“The difference was our intensity in the second half,” Penn said. “We got into their shirts and forced them to take bad shots. And even when they got a shot they really had to work for it.”
Going against one of the nation’s Top 10 teams on its home floor, Sunday’s defeat wasn’t unexpected or devastating for the Illini, but it comes at a bad time.
Illinois’ only game in the 11 days that remain before the Big Ten tournament is against Northwestern–not exactly the strong tuneup they’d prefer and more time than they’d like to stew about what went wrong against the Buckeyes.
“It’s going to be tough,” said sophomore forward Lucas Johnson. “After a loss like this you really want to get back on the court as quickly as possible. Hopefully this will just make us fight harder. We really put a lot of significance on this game. We really wanted to prove to people we can play with these top teams. In that sense it’s a very disappointing loss.”
ILLINOIS (18-8): Johnson 1-5 0-0 3, McClain 1-3 0-1 2, Cook 6-14 3-4 17, Bradford 5-15 0-0 14, Williams 3-15 4-4 11, Archibald 0-0 0-00 0, Harrington 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-2 0-1 0, Krupalija 0-1 0-0 0, Griffin 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 18-59 7-10 51.
OHIO ST. (20-5): Reese 5-9 1-3 11, Johnson 2-4 0-0 4, Penn 5-15 3-5 14, Brown 3-5 6-6 12, Redd 9-17 2-4 21, Darby 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Savovic 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Steele 0-1 0-0 0, Ocokoljic 0-1 0-0 0, Dudley 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-56 12-18 64.
Halftime: Illinois 30, Ohio St. 25. Three-point goals: Illinois 8-26 (Bradford 4-10, Cook 2-4, Johnson 1-2, Williams 1-8, Harrington 0-1, Krupalija 0-1), Ohio St. 2-13 (Redd 1-4, Penn 1-7, Smith 0-1, Steele 0-1). Fouled out: McClain. Rebounds: Illinois 30 (Cook 10), Ohio St. 40 (Redd 12). Assists: Illinois 8 (Williams 4), Ohio St. 7 (Penn 3). Total fouls: Illinois 19, Ohio St. 15. A: 19,100.
