No. 13 Illinois scored the game’s last six points, all at the foul line, to pull out a 77-74 victory over Ohio State on Friday night in a Big Ten tournament quarterfinal at Minneapolis.
Terrence Shannon Jr. put up a game-high 28 points and Dain Dainja added 18 points for the second-seeded Illini, who rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit.
After the 10th-seeded Buckeyes took a 56-46 lead with 11 minutes to go, Shannon and Dainja combined for 26 of their team’s final 31 points to lead Illinois (24-8) into a Saturday semifinal vs. the winner between third-seeded Nebraska and sixth-seeded Indiana.
Dainja finished one shy of his season high and recorded eight rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. Ty Rodgers added 12 points and 10 rebounds for Illinois, which went 21-for-32 from the free-throw line compared to Ohio State’s 10-for-13 showing.
Jamison Battle scored 21 points while Bruce Thornton stacked up 20 points and a career-high 10 assists to lead Ohio State (20-13), which finished with a 6-2 record since head coach Chris Holtmann was fired on Valentine’s Day and assistant Jake Diebler was named interim boss.
Illinois pulled level at 71-71 with 2:22 left before Battle sank a 3-pointer with 1:44 to go.
Two foul shots by Shannon with 1:28 left and two more by Coleman Hawkins with 1:14 remaining gave the Illini a 75-74 lead. Hawkins then grabbed two offensive rebounds to set up a pair of Shannon foul shots with 11.3 seconds to go to push Illinois’ lead to 77-74.
Battle launched a contested 3-pointer, but it banged high off the rim and over the backboard with 1.2 seconds on the clock.
Ohio State broke out to a 13-8 lead when Battle sank two free throws at the 14:55 mark, but Illinois kept feeding Shannon in half-court action and transition play. He posted up for two layups, sank a 3-pointer and raced through the Buckeyes on the break for a three-point play with 8:16 left in the half that gave him 12 points and Illinois a 23-17 lead.
The Buckeyes fell into deep foul trouble but pulled within 31-29 by halftime.
Ohio State started the second half scorching as well. In the first 80 seconds, Battle cashed a pullup jumper, Roddy Gayle Jr. converted a three-point play and Thornton swished a 3-pointer to give the Buckeyes a 37-31 lead.
When Thornton bullied his way into the lane for a jump hook with 11 minutes to play, he owned 12 points and five assists in the second half as the Buckeyes seized a 56-46 lead.
–Field Level Media