The 19th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, coming off a huge win at Michigan on Thursday, hosts the 10th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini (20-3, 6-3 Big Ten) at Value City Arena this afternoon. Tip-off time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

The game will be televised nationally on CBS with Kevin Harlan and former Buckeye Clark “Special K” Kellogg calling the game action. As always, the game can be heard throughout Buckeyeland on the 59-station OSU Radio Network with “Big Daddy” Paul Keels and Ronnie Stokes.

Both teams are 6-3 in the Big Ten, with the winner being just a half-game back of conference-leader Iowa in the standings.

Let’s journey to March of 2005, the last time Ohio State hosted Illinois at Value City Arena:

Buckeyes knock off #1 Illinois
By: Matthew Barker
March 7, 2005

Junior forward Matt Sylvester scored a career-high 25 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 5.1 seconds left in the game to lead the Ohio State Buckeyes to a 65-64 victory over the No.1-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini in front of a raucous crowd of 19,200 at Value City Arena, Sunday afternoon.

Sylvester was a man on a mission against Illinois. He scored the Buckeyes final five points. He scored on a layup with 1:43 left to cut the Illini lead to 64-62. His triple in the closing seconds gave OSU its first lead of the game, and at the only time it really mattered. Sylvester scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half.

Illinois had a chance to win the game at the buzzer. Following the Buckeyes’ score, the Illini inbounded the ball under the OSU basket. The pass was tipped and went out-of-bounds near the scorer’s table with 2.2 seconds left. On the next inbounds play, Deron Williams passed the ball to Roger Powell who rushed a three-pointer from beyond the top of the key, and the shot fell well short of its’ target. After the horn sounded, fans rushed on to the court to mob the players and celebrate the upset victory.

For this year’s game, Ohio State basically returns all five starters (Ivan Harris started last year vs. Illinois, played just five minutes), while the Fighting Illini return just two starters from a team that was the Big Ten regular season and tournament champions, who also advanced to the NCAA Championship game losing to North Carolina 75-70.

Illinois lost three starters in Deron Williams, Luther Head, and Roger Powell. One of the players that is returning to Value City Arena is 6-foot senior point guard Dee Brown, who was the 2005 Big Ten Player of the Year and a first-team, All-American selection.

The folks at the O-Zone feel that Brown is overrated, while the people at Illinitalk think that is “perfect bulletin board material for Sunday’s showdown.”

Let’s take a look at the statistics. Brown is averaging 15.0 points per game, which ranks him tied for 10th in the Big Ten. He also ranks second in the conference with a 5.8 assists per game average.

But Brown is just 114-of-305 (37.4 percent) from the field, and a less than impressive 57-of-171 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc for the 2005-06 season.

Last year, Brown was 179-of-359 (49.9 percent) from the field, and 99-of-228 (43.4 percent) from beyond the arc.

One other note, Brown had just 73 turnovers last year in 39 games. This year, he has 67 in just 23 games. While his assist numbers this year have improved, his assist-to-turnover ration has gone from 2.42 down to 2.0.

In Illinois’ three losses this season, at Iowa 63-48, at Indiana 62-60, and the Illini’s last game versus Penn State 66-65, Brown was held to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting against the Nittany Lions. In Illinois’ three losses, Brown has averaged 7.3 points and shot 6-for-34 (17.6 percent) from the field.

Are those the type of numbers to garner another Big Ten Player of the Year Award? Hardly.

Ohio State guard Je’Kel Foster has posted better numbers this year than Brown. Foster averages 14.8 points per game on 99-of-175 shooting (56.6 percent), and 58-of-113 (51.3 percent) from three-point range. He ranks 11th in assists, averaging 3.0 per game, and is second in steals with a 2.4 per game average.

Also returning for the Illini from last year’s squad is 6-foot-10 forward/center James Augustine, who is averaging 13.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

Rounding out the starting five for Illinois is 6-foot-10 sophomore center Shaun Pruitt (6.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg), 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Brian Randle (8.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg), and 6-foot-3 junior guard Rich McBride (9.8 ppg, 2.2 apg).

Just like in football, the Buckeyes are 10 points away from being undefeated. With the way they played against Michigan, no team could beat Ohio State and Value City Arena should be jumpin’ today.

Following the game, Ohio State will travel to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. Tip-off time at the Kohl Center is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

Tags: Buckeye Basketball //