Illinois Basketball: Grades from the Illini loss against Ohio State

The No.15 ranked Illinois basketball team welcomed No. 22 Ohio State to the State Farm Center Thursday night for a Big Ten clash.

Coming off an impressive road victory against Michigan State, the Illini had a tougher matchup against the Buckeyes. Illinois jumped out to a 13 point lead in the first half. However, that wasn’t enough as Ohio State was able to pull off the road upset 86-83 behind a 25-2 Buckeye run.

Here are the grades from the Illinois basketball loss against Ohio State

Offense: C+

This was an absolute roller coaster of a game for the Illini offense which was led by Alfonso Plummer’s 26 points.

Plummer tied the school record with eight three-pointers made in a single game on 8-of-10 shooting from behind the arc. He came out firing after struggling in his last few games. He made three three-pointers before the under 16 timeout.

Unfortunately, for the Illini, the biggest reason why they couldn’t pull off this win was the play of Kofi Cockburn. Kofi finished with only 12 points but went 5-of-15 from the field. He also only had three rebounds which was a season-low.

The offense looked really bad at times, like when Ohio State went on that 25-2 run. But it also looked spectacular at times as well. At one point, when Illini made their huge comeback in the second half, they scored on 10 straight possessions with Kofi off the floor. Coleman Hawkins was a big part of that scoring 10 points and playing the best game of his season.

Defense: C

Kofi fouled out of this one with just 24 minutes played. But in my opinion, the Illini looked better with him off the floor, as Kyle Young just outplayed him and exploited the drop coverage the Illini defense has played. With Young’s ability to shoot, it was a matchup problem for Kofi and the Illini.

Speaking of tough matchups, E.J. Liddell has been a matchup nightmare for the Illini throughout his career, and Thursday night was no different. Liddell scored 21 points and hit a clutch fade away over the outstretched arms of Hawkins.

Illinois also struggled to match up against freshman Malaki Branham who had a season-high 31 points. Trent Fraizer is a great defender but with Branham being much bigger than Frazier, it was tough for him to do much against the Ohio State freshman.

Overall: C

The defense was much better after Brad Underwood was ejected. They ratcheted up the pressure to try and get back in the game.

I think the ejection lit a fire under the Illini, who lacked intensity for much of this game. The best thing to take from the loss was how Hawkins has been playing. He was great in this one.

I was disappointed in how the Illini played most of this game. However, it was great to see them battle back and not roll over when things got really bad in the second half. The State Farm Center was absolutely rocking during the comeback.

Illinois has a tough matchup on Sunday, as they travel to Michigan to take on the Wolverines. Illinois has to pretty much win out if they want a share of the Big Ten title, as they currently trail Wisconsin and Purdue by one game in the loss column.