The Illinois Fighting Illini basketball team went on the road and took on the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday March 5, 2020. The Fighting Illini are ranked twenty-third in the nation and Buckeyes sit at nineteen, so this was set up to be a very good Big Ten matchup. These teams are both in the same conference, the Big Ten, which can be considered the deepest conference in college basketball this year. Illinois’ conference record was twelve and six and the Buckeyes were ten and eight. Both of these teams are fighting for higher seeds in the conference tournament and also for a good win to make their NCAA tournament resume better before March Madness begins. The Fighting Illini came out firing and played a really good first half, they lead by seven points at the half in Columbus. The second half was a completely different story, Illinois’ offense just seemed to shut down while the Buckeyes only improved. Ohio State outscored the Illini by fifteen points in the second half and ended the night with another tally in the win column after defeating the Illini by the final score of seventy-one to sixty-three. The Illini fall to twelve and seven in conference play but still solidify themselves as fourth place in the conference. On the other side, with the win the Buckeyes improve their record to eleven and eight in conference play and move up to fifth place in the conference. Both of these teams are fighting for that double bye in the conference tournament, which only the top four teams receive, so this win was crucial for the Buckeyes. Ayo Dosunmu led the Illini in scoring with twenty-one points and Kaleb Wesson led his Buckeyes with nineteen. With only one game left for both teams in the regular season, that double bye is what both teams are aiming for, as well as a higher seed for the NCAA tournament. As an Illini fan, it should be very exciting as both of these teams will be playing in late March, they are both capable of making deep runs into the tournament.
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