As Ohio State entered its season finale with Illinois on a three-game losing streak, Saturday brought more of the same for the Buckeyes.
No. 7 Ohio State (18-8, 12-8) dropped its fourth-straight game to close out the season, falling to No. 4 Illinois (20-6, 16-4) 73-68 as a and-one layup from sophomore guard Ayo Dosunmu with 42 seconds remaining lifted the Illini in the closing stages.
The Buckeyes missed their final 10 shot attempts and were held scoreless for the last 3:48 of regulation. As their offense disappeared late, senior forward Kyle Young said the scoring drought was a product of multiple factors.
“There was a few times where we were getting good looks. We were trying to play through the paint, just get the team’s best shot but stuff wasn’t falling for us,” Young said. “We wanted to try to be more forceful, just get inside and play inside out but we weren’t able to do that.”
Dosumnu — who returned from a three-game hiatus due to a facial injury — dissected the Buckeye defense with his slashing and mid-range shooting abilities. Dosunmu finished the game with 19 points on 7-of-10 from the field.
The Buckeyes struggled to contain 7-foot sophomore center Kofi Cockburn, who dominated Ohio State’s interior defense. Cockburn’s 12 points on 6-of-11 from the field helped Illinois jump out to a 42-32 advantage in the painted area.
Although Cockburn was an offensive anchor for the Illini in the paint, he was woefully inefficient for Illinois from the charity stripe — missing all five of his free throw attempts.
With strong performances from their two stars, the Illini were also lifted by freshman guard Andre Curbelo and redshirt junior guard Jacob Grandison in the game’s opening half.
Curbelo stuffed the stat sheet in the early goings with 11 points, three rebounds and four assists in the first half, while Grandison added 7 first-half points.
Curbelo finished the game with 19 points on 6-of-8 from the field and six assists.
Sophomore forward E.J. Liddell, who shook off a poor first half in which he shot 2-of-7 from the field, made his presence known in the second half — scoring 14 of his 19 points in the final frame.
Ohio State was carried by the duo of junior guard Duane Washington Jr. and redshirt junior forward Justice Sueing in the game’s opening stages — who combined for 20 of the Buckeyes’ 37 first-half points.
Washington finished with 15 points on 2-of-8 from beyond the arc and six assists, while Sueing dropped 15 points and collected eight boards before fouling out with less than a minute left in the game.
Washington missed his final five shots of the contest, including three 3-pointers. As he struggled down the stretch, Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said the junior guard needed to play with a bit more poise in that late-game situation.
“He forced a couple, I think he had a couple clean ones but he’s gotta play with more poise in those situations and he will,” Holtmann said. “We gotta help him with that, he’s gotta make better decisions late.”
In their final game in the Schottenstein Center, senior forward Kyle Young and redshirt senior guard CJ Walker struggled to make the most of their final home opportunities.
Young was held without a major statistic in the first half, but was able to collect 2 points and four rebounds in the game’s final 20 minutes.
Although Walker also faced early offensive struggles, the Indianapolis native produced in other ways in the first half — finishing the half with four rebounds and three assists.
Walker finished the game with 7 points on 3-of-9 from the field, six rebounds and three assists.
The Illini shot a blistering 62 percent from the field in the opening half, however their efficiency from the field did not translate to beyond the arc as they only hit one of their six first-half attempts.
Illinois finished 4-of-12 from 3-point range on the day.
With a No. 5 seed awaiting them in the Big Ten Tournament, Walker said the Buckeyes will need to correct the mistakes of the four-game skid before they take the court in Indianapolis.
“It’s most definitely tough, especially when you’re going to practice and preparing each and every day, going as hard as possible,” Walker said. “We gotta figure some things out in film and we gotta turn it over in March, we gotta figure it out going into the Big Ten conference tournament.”
Ohio State kicks off its postseason run in the Big Ten Tournament Thursday with a start time and opponent to be determined.
Photos by Mackenzie Shanklin
This story was updated Saturday, March 6 at 7:23 p.m. with quotes from Kyle Young, CJ Walker and Chris Holtmann.
