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Ohio State-Illinois locked in another tight battle after Buckeyes fight back from early hole
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Early in the first half, it looked like Illinois might run away with the B1G Tournament title against Ohio State.
Behind another dominant start from center Kofi Cockburn, the Illini built an early lead with a variety of buckets and dunks down low. Cockburn scored a team-high 11 points to go with four rebounds in the first half.
The hot start by Illinois also corresponded with what was a disastrous start to the game for Ohio State. Remarkably, the Buckeyes began by shooting 1-for-16 from the field.
Fortunately for Chris Holtmann and company, Ohio State responded behind Duane Washington Jr. to close the half. The Buckeyes shot 10-for-12 after their poor start with Washington scoring a game-high 15 points at the break. Behind Washington’s run, Ohio State pulled with five points, 40-35, as the teams headed to halftime.
Other big names to watch in the second half of this one will be Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell and Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu. Both struggled in the first half compared to their past performances.
For Liddell, he scored five points while failing to record a made basket from the field. He finished 0-for-4 from the field, including 0-for-3 from deep.
Meanwhile, Dosunmu shot just 3-for-10 in the opening 20 minutes of action and scored seven points. He did add seven rebounds and two assists and will likely look to establish himself early in the second half.
Be sure to catch the second half of action on CBS.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.