COLUMBUS, Ohio • You’ll have to dig deep in Columbus to find much attention being paid to Ohio State Buckeye basketball these days. First and foremost, this is football country, and for the second season in a row, it looks like Ohio State will celebrate a major football triumph with a tribute at Sunday’s basketball game. Last year Illinois stood and watched as coach Urban Meyer and his Buckeye football team marched to center court and were hailed for beating Alabama four days earlier in the first-ever College Football Playoff. At some point during Sunday’s Illinois-Ohio State basketball game, play will be halted and Meyer and his squad will again receive a standing ovation, this time for tossing aside Notre Dame Friday in the Fiesta Bowl. Basketball hasn’t provided nearly as much fanfare this season, although an Ohio State team that at one point was 4-5 brings a five-game winning streak into Sunday afternoon’s game. Included in this recent run were a shocking 74-67 victory over Kentucky and a 78-63 victory over Minnesota in the Big Ten opener. Even if this isn’t one of coach Thad Matta’s better teams, it’s an improving group that catches the Illini coming off a disappointing home loss. Illini coach John Groce, who coached for Matta during four seasons at Ohio State, has spent the last few days trying drive home some key points that were missing from Illinois’ 78-68 loss to Michigan. “In the second half we didn’t play with nearly enough toughness,” Groce said. “That’s been the bulk of what we’ve talked about the last two or three days.” In planning for this season, Ohio State got caught short-handed when D’Angelo Russell became an NBA Lottery pick after just one year. That took away the team’s best offensive player and the Buckeyes tried to compensate with a late scholarship offer to freshman guard JaQuan Lyle. Lyle is now the Buckeyes’ starting point guard and part of a group that is clamping down defensively while sharing the scoring load. “They’re ranked 27th in the country in defensive efficiency,” Groce said. …
Continue Reading: Illini travel to face red-hot Buckeyes
