Ohio State basketball gets best win of season at Illinois

The Ohio State basketball team wasn’t expected to win at Illinois. They were going against the possible Big Ten Player of the Year in Kofi Cockburn. The first half didn’t look pretty after they got down 21-8 early. That didn’t deter them, and the Buckeyes cut the deficit to one at half.

From there, it looked like it was all Buckeyes. Ohio State got their best win of the season, winning 86-83. It was a 20-2 run in the second half that gave the Buckeyes control that they ended up almost blowing. Cockburn fouled out with about four and a half minutes left in the game as well.

Kyle Young was perhaps the MVP of the game. He kept Ohio State in the game in the first half, going 5/5 and scoring 13 points in that half. He finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds. He also played incredible defense on Cockburn and kept him to just 5/15 shooting.

Malaki Branham was also sensational in this game. He had 31 points on 10/14 shooting. His efficiency in the last few games has been amazing. He was simply able to get any shot he wanted throughout the entirety of this game, no matter who was guarding him.

E.J. Liddell had a solid game too, putting up 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks. He was really good late when Ohio State needed buckets in the midst of their mini-collapse. It was another game that Ohio State should have won by more than they were able to win.

Chris Holtmann deserves credit for having his team come out of the locker room with such strong play. I guess he deserves credit for them holding on to win too, even though they looked scared down the stretch. This is still a really good win and deserves celebration.

This win also keeps Ohio State’s Big Ten title hopes alive. We’ll see if they can keep stringing wins together to make it happen.