Will Riley scores 24, No. 18 Illinois mounts late comeback to beat Ohio State 87-79

[February 03, 2025]   CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Will Riley scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half and No. 18 Illinois 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 Ivisic 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.

Illinois' Will Riley celebrates during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Ohio State, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Craig Pessman)

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.

Ivisic, 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 night while Ohio State hosts Maryland on Thursday night.

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