Illini Fall to OSU, 87-81
By Jeff Mayfield

[January 18, 2021]   Sometimes games are won or lost in the last few minutes of a contest. Sometimes they’re won or lost on a last-second buzzer beater. But Saturday morning’s game with the Ohio State Buckeyes was lost in the first half!

After another slow start, somehow you felt better that Illinois had tied it at 15-15. However, that feeling didn’t last long. OSU went on a 15-0 run and the Illini were down at halftime 43-28. It wasn’t just that the Illini were down by 15 points. It was the way that Ohio State seemed to easily get the lead and widen it. You really didn’t see any indications that Illinois would be able to stem the tide.

And even though Illinois did make two valiant runs at the Buckeyes, it was too little too late. Ayo Dosunmu led the way for the Illini with 22 points, Kofi Cockburn added 15, and Adam Miller tossed in 14. E.J. Liddell led the Buckeyes with 26 points and 7 rebounds.

OSU’s blistering 54% shooting including making 11 3-pointers turned out to be too much to overcome.

It’s kind of trendy to panic right now and we get it. However, there are some things Illinois can do to get out of their funk:

1. - Defense has to be better.

I see many signs that it is getting better [OSU’s red-hot shooting totally obscured any improvements]. However, we must close-out on perimeter shooters better and quicker. It would also help to force more difficult shots. Teams are getting too comfortable and getting their footwork set too easily. We need to knock them off their spots, force them where they don’t want to go, etc. I love that we don’t quit and that we keep fighting-hopefully that remains a constant!


2. - We must put a stronger emphasis on prizing possessions, executing the offense, and converting close-in shots.

Those are seemingly obvious, but when you don’t do them [like we’re not doing them now] opponents can make big runs that force us to play catch-up the rest of the game.

AND when that happens, there is no cushion or margin for error. And one mistake compounds to multiple mistakes. These things can be cleaned up IF we commit ourselves to it.

3. - We must do a better job on all 50-50 plays.

We have to get more loose balls, team rebounds, tip-outs, and recovering more fumbles. We have been on the shorter side of that ledger recently and we need those extra possessions.

4. - We need more guys to step-up.

We tend to rely on Ayo and Kofi. IF more of our guys can get comfortable and put the team on their shoulders for a while it will make us a tougher scout and much more difficult to play against.

I’m not saying we will do all of these things. But I know we can. Our season is at the crossroads of what kind of a team we’re going to become. It will start by not letting Tuesday’s game with Penn State become a trap game. We need to come out with fire and intensity from the opening tip. And then play like that for 40 minutes. Then we can worry about what comes next.

Illinois fell to 9-5, 5-3 going into Tuesday night’s game with the Nittany Lions at 7:30pm.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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