CHAMPAIGN — Will Riley scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half and No. 18 Illinois men’s basketball rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat Ohio State 87-79 on Sunday.
Morez Johnson Jr. had 14 points and 15 rebounds, Kylan Boswell had 14 points, Tomislav Ivišić had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn had 10 points for the Illini (15-7, 7-5 Big Ten), who went on a 15-point run over a five-minute stretch late in the second half.
Devin Royal scored 29 points — 19 in the first half — for Ohio State (13-9, 5-6), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Bruce Thornton had 22 points and John Mobley Jr. had 18 points.
Ivišić, Illinois’ No. 2 scorer and leading rebounder, returned to action after missing three games with mononucleosis. He played 29 minutes.
Takeaways
Illinois: The Illini shot 10 of 42 on 3-pointers Thursday in a disappointing overtime loss to Nebraska, which had lost six straight. Illinois was just 4 of 20 on triples against Ohio State, but outrebounded the Buckeyes 43-31 and dominated points in the paint 52-30.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes’ three-game winning streak could have been a lot longer. They lost three in a row by a total of five points before ending the skid with a win Jan. 21 at No. 10 Purdue.
Key moment
Illinois had a nearly seven-minute field goal drought in the first half and fell behind 34-25. The rest of the game was an uphill battle for the Illini until their 15-point run, which began with about seven minutes to go. Illinois led for less than 10 minutes.
Key stat
Illinois’ bench outscored Ohio State’s bench 43-4.
Up next
Illinois is at Rutgers on Wednesday while Ohio State hosts Maryland on Thursday.
