Ohio State Basketball: Turnovers and poor shooting lead to Buckeye loss

The Ohio State Buckeyes were attempting to improve their Big Ten record to 7-6 but struggled to hold onto the ball or score when they did. That resulted in a 63-56 loss to Illinois at home.

It appeared to be a must win game for Ohio State to have a chance of making the NCAA Tournament with the difficult stretch of games coming up. Instead, Illinois played as though they were the team on the bubble pulling out a seven point victory in Value City Arena.

The first half was tightly contested until about 6 minutes left when the Illini went on a short run to build a 27-18 lead with less than four minutes to play. The Buckeyes fought back and went into the halftime break down just 30-27.

Illinois built the lead to 40-33 in the second half but Ohio State tightened up the defense and made a charge to take a short-lived 45-44 lead with 8:30 left in the game. After two made free throws the Illini took back the lead which they never relinquished.

Leading the way for Illinois was Ayo Dosunmu and Trent Frazier with 15 points apiece and Giorgi Bezhanishvili added 13. Leading scorers for Ohio State were C.J. Jackson with 17 points, Kaleb Wesson 11 and Andre Wesson 10.

Stats and times courtesy of ESPN.com.

Quick takes:

The Buckeyes turned the ball over 18 times and shot 36,2 percent from the field including 15.4 percent from behind the arc. It’s difficult to win a game with those stats.

One of the frustrating things about the turnover situation is the number that come as a result of passes from poor angles. You would think that would have been cleaned up after playing together for 24 games.

More from Ohio State Buckeyes

I don’t like to blame losses on officials but three “questionable” calls in a short span really hurt Ohio State. When Kyle Young was battling for a rebound with Giorgi Bezhanishvili the ball went out of bounds and it was given to Illinois. In live action it appeared it was last touched by the Illinois forward and the replay confirmed it.

Then, less than a half-minute later Young picked up his fourth and fifth fouls on the Illinois possession. The first was on a rebound in a mix of players but it didn’t look like he shoved one or went over the back. A few seconds later Bezhanishvili hooked him with his right arm on a spin move which should have been an offensive foul, but it was called on Young instead.

That certainly was a blow to the Buckeyes because Chris Holtmann needs Young on the floor with the energy he brings to the team.

Next. Buckeye speed will be on display at NFL Combine. dark

Ohio State will now begin a difficult seven game stretch with five ranked teams on the schedule. It’s off to East Lansing first to face Michigan State this Sunday at 1:00 PM.

Home/Ohio State Buckeyes