Friday, January 07, 2000
Illinois 80, Ohio State 77
Buckeyes fail 1st Big Ten test
BY SCOTT MacGREGOR
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Ohio State Buckeyes knew they were going from creampuffs to the cream. But if they weren't ready for the Big Ten heading into the conference opener, they learned their lesson Thursday night.
The 13th-ranked Buckeyes, outplayed until the final three minutes at Illinois, pushed their way back from a 10-point deficit and tied it on a Ken Johnson tip-in with just five seconds remaining.
But Illinois freshman guard Frank Williams one-upped them, nailing a 23-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the 19th-ranked Illini a thrilling 80-77 win.
It's a little bit tougher than having to come back to beat Vermont, Coastal Carolina or Toledo, as the Buckeyes (8-3) did in their non-conference schedule in December. But that's the Big Ten.
“If we get this kind of effort every night, we'll win some games,” Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien. “I expect 16 more games like this. That's the way it is in this league.”
It was Ohio State's second buzzer loss this year (Notre Dame won the season opener on a last-second shot), but the Buckeyes actually left Assembly Hall a bit heartened after being able to hang around.
The Buckeyes (8-3) trailed much of the night but stayed in the game behind the career-high 24 points of George Reese, who took the ball from a struggling Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd in the second half and took over. OSU was unable to answer Illinois' repeated blows with enough to muster any momentum until Reese scored eight key points down the stretch. Illinois, which never dominated, fell inert.
But the Illini (9-3) also got the big shot when they needed it.
“There was a lot of criticism of our schedule,” said Penn (16 points on 6-of-13 shooting). “I think we handled this well. We handled it like vets. We were down 10, and we made plays when we had to. We showed a lot of maturity.”
The Bucks had tied it with five seconds remaining. Reese, who almost singlehandedly had gotten them back in the game offensively, missed a back-in jumper. Johnson tipped in the rebound for his only significant offensive contribution.
Illinois didn't call a timeout, electing to use the chaos to its advantage. Williams pulled up at the top of the key and swooshed the 3-pointer to win it.
“There's no time for anybody to do anything but make a play,” O'Brien said.
Reese had cut it to 74-70 with a jumper and a pair of free throws, then drove and hit a turnaround jumper to cut it to 75-72. Williams hit two free throws, then Johnson hit one and Reese tipped in a miss to make it 77-75.
“George played like a man tonight,” O'Brien said. “They didn't have anybody that could guard him.”
Ohio State whittled a 12-point lead to four and a 10-point lead to two, but Illinois always had an answer.
Then came Reese's late dominance and the final sequence. But in the end, the Bucks didn't have enough.
“It's not enough when you play on the road against a real good team,” O'Brien said.
That was something Ohio State had faced only once (a loss at Kansas) before the Big Ten schedule. Now, the Buckeyes have proven they can take a conference heavyweight to the mat. Next, they must prove they can win the fight.
“The effort we put in in the second half,” Penn said, “if we put that effort in every game, we're going to win some games in the Big Ten.”
OHIO ST (77)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Ocokoljic 13 3-8 1-1 2-3 1 2 7
Redd 37 6-16 2-2 1-6 2 2 15
Johnson 28 1-3 2-4 2-7 1 4 4
Brown 36 5-9 1-2 2-5 6 3 11
Penn 39 6-13 1-6 0-4 3 2 16
Savovic 8 0-1 0-0 1-3 0 1 0
Reese 31 9-14 6-8 3-6 1 1 24
Dudley 8 0-0 0-2 0-4 0 3 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 30-64 13-25 11-38 14 18 77
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.469, FT-.520. 3-Point Goals:
4-18, .222 (Ocokoljic 0-3, Redd 1-4, Brown 0-2,
Penn 3-9). Team rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 5
(Johnson 3, Brown, Dudley). Turnovers: 14 (Penn
4, Redd 4, Brown 3, Johnson, Ocokoljic, Savovic).
Steals: 5 (Penn 3, Brown 2).
ILLINOIS (80)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Brown 26 6-9 1-2 2-4 0 2 17
Griffin 25 3-11 1-6 2-5 0 3 7
Archibald 11 2-3 2-2 1-2 2 1 6
Bradford 36 7-12 2-3 2-7 2 1 20
Williams 34 4-12 4-4 0-2 7 1 13
Chukwudebe 9 4-7 0-0 1-1 0 1 8
Johnson 28 1-6 1-2 0-7 3 3 3
Harrington 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Cook 9 0-2 1-2 2-5 1 4 1
Mcclain 19 2-6 1-2 1-1 2 2 5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 29-68 13-23 11-34 17 18 80
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.426, FT-.565. 3-Point Goals:
9-23, .391 (Brown 4-5, Bradford 4-8, Williams
1-5, Johnson 0-4, Mcclain 0-1). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 2 (Griffin 2). Turnovers: 10
(Williams 3, Bradford 2, Griffin 2, Brown, Cook,
Mcclain). Steals: 9 (Mcclain 3, Brown 2, Williams
2, Archibald, Griffin).
__________________________________
Ohio St 35 42 - 77
Illinois 42 38 - 80
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 15,841. Officials: Jim
Burr, Ted Hillary, Steve Welmer.
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