By Jackson Atoyebi

Many questions have been asked about the legitimacy of Illinois and the Big Ten, especially after their showing this past week, where they managed to only score 33 (rivaling the amount of scoring that was done by some teammates of mine in college off the court).   Today’s game, however, would prove to be a little different for the Illini as they were able to go to Ohio State and pull out an impressive road win 70 -68.

From the opening tip, the Illini were able to cut through the zone of the Buckeyes with sharp cuts and precision passing.  Mike Davis made the most of the opportunities presented by a very wide-open middle of the Buckeye zone, flashing into the paint constantly, then killing them with constant 8-10 foot jump hooks.  He was also able to find open shooters or make the hi-low pass to a cutting Mike Tisdale.

And with that said, you would think this game was a blowout.

Ohio State deserves some credit for managing to keep the game close; especially when you consider the fact they allowed Illinois to shoot 58.3% from the field.  Every time the Illinoi thought they had a grasp of momentum, and thus control of the game, Ohio State would hit a big three, or there would be some miraculous drive from Evan Turner.   Still, it wasn’t enough because they were not able to get any stops, and to be a good team — a tournament team — you must be able to make defensive stops.

Illinois shut up the critics by using offensive efficiency (23 assists on 28 fgs made), contrary to what we might have expected after their game against Penn State.  Watching this game, I thought Illinois should’ve won by double figures.   They say you must play ten points better than your opponents to win on the road – guess they were 12 today.