Check out the radio recap by Basketball Reporter Joey Gelman here

For the second straight game, the Illinois men’s basketball team needed five extra minutes to determine the outcome of a Big Ten bout. It wasn’t a happy outcome this time, though.

Illinois fell 68-63 to Ohio State after a nail-biting overtime period at State Farm Center. Junior guard Kendrick Nunn’s fifth 3-pointer of the night was the lone Illini field goal in the extra period, and Illinois just didn’t have enough juice to pull out the victory.

With Illinois trailing by as much as 13, the State Farm Center crowd was lifeless, much like the Illiini offense through much of the second half. The offensive sets became stagnant, and Illinois had just three field goals in first six minutes of the second half.

“Sometimes we just stand and don’t get ball or player movement,” Nunn said.

The Illini rallied back, though, and took a long 12-2 run in the final six minutes to bring the home crowd back to life. Trailing by three with under a minute remaining, freshman guard Jalen Coleman-Lands drained a three to knot it up at 58.

Despite the unwanted outcome, head coach John Groce praised the effort — not the execution— of his team.

“They played their butts off,” Groce said. “If people can’t appreciate that, thats a problem.”

After being thoroughly outshout from the free throw line in their first matchup with the Buckeyes, Illinois compiled 31 looks from the line compared to Ohio State’s 13. The Illini were uncharacteristically bad from the line, though, making just 18 of their 31 attempts — they went 11-for-19 from the line in the second half.

“That happens,” Groce said. “You hope it doesn’t happen in a game like this where it could be a determining factor, but it happens.”

Nunn led all scorers with 24 points, including five three-pointers, but didn’t receive much help — Coleman-Lands, Malcolm Hill and Michael Finke combined to shoot 8-of-33 from the field.

Illinois started off the game hot and jumped out to a 11 point lead with a 5-for-9 start from the floor. Nunn kicked off the scoring with a three from the corner and drained another one a little more than six minutes later to cap off the 13-2 run. From the opening tip, it looked as though the Illini were in the driver’s seat, but it wasn’t long until they fell asleep at the wheel.

Starting with a made three at the 13-minute mark, Ohio State rattled off a 27-11 run to take a five point lead into the locker room. Illini’s couldn’t buy a bucket and shot 2-for-16 for the rest of the half, including 3-of-11 beyond the arc after starting the game 2-for-3 from distance.

The Buckeyes exploited the Illini’s weakness on the glass and grabbed 11 offensive boards en route to 10 second-chance points. Illinois has been out rebounded by all but one of its conference opponents.

With ten games left on the schedule, Groce will look for ways to add a higher-level of execution to the energy and effort he enjoyed from the Illini on Thursday.

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