Ohio State and Illinois Stumble Upon Drama

Sometimes, sports drama isn’t about two teams trading great plays at the end of games, but two teams failing to do so. Exhibit A: Ohio State 88, Illinois 81.

That’s not to say that there weren’t great performances in the game. Illinois got 22 points from Demetri McCamey and a 13-point, 17-rebound outing from Mike Davis. And Sporting News Player of the Year Evan Turner was typically spectacular. Ohio State was down 50-39 with 12:58 to play in the second half: from that point on, Turner had 21 of his 31 points, including a game-tying reverse in the first overtime. Oh, and that was after picking up his fourth foul with more than five minutes left in regulation.

But this game was really fun because it had bits of imbalance based on futility. There were second half runs of one team skunking the other: a 20-0 stretch for the Buckeyes, then a 14-3 run for the Illini. Absolutely abysmal clock management and execution by Illinois foiled two chances to get off possible game-winners in regulation and the first overtime. And, in the latter parts of this tussle, Ohio State (smartly) leaned on Turner to a comical degree.

And yet, this is probably the best game we’ll see all day, a contest that was tight without threatening to tip towards tremendously entertaining. Sometimes, close trumps clutch.

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