Illini come away with tough road win in Big Ten opener

COLUMBUS, OH. — A roadkill to start off conference play? You bet.

Illinois (8-2, 1-0 B1G) took care of business at Value City Arena in Columbus on Tuesday night, beating Ohio State (7-2, 1-1 B1G) by a score of 88-80.

Brad Underwood’s crew is headed back to Champaign with its third Quad 1 victory thanks to the balanced scoring effort it received when stars Kylan Boswell (4 points, 1-for 4 FG) and Tomislav Ivisic (7 points, 2-for-9 FG) struggled to score. Keaton Wagler (23 points), David Mirkovic (22 points), Andrej Stojakovic (17 points), and Zvonimir Ivisic (13 points) all reached double figures in the scoring column.

Freshman Keaton Wagler looked spectacular once again, as he continues to outplay his high school recruiting ranking. Wagler provided Illinois with a steady, calming offensive presence which is rare for a freshman, especially one in his first career conference road game.

The Kansas native recorded five assists and hit a number of timely shots. His biggest play of the night came when he drew two defenders and dished it to Tomislav Ivisic for a clutch three-pointer which extended the Illini’s lead to six with 44.7 seconds to go.

The Illini were on fire offensively in the opening half. David Mirkovic nailed his first three three-pointers, leading Illinois to a 24-15 lead at the under-12 media timeout. But his hot start paled in comparison to the start Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton got off to.

The senior guard almost single-handedly kept the Buckeyes in the game in the first half. He converted on his first nine field goals and six three-pointers, good enough for 24 points.

Despite that, Illinois went into the break up 48-42 thanks to their elite shooting performance. The team knocked down 54% of its field goals, made 7-of-14 threes, and went a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe. Not too shabby.

Ohio State came out of the gates firing in the second half, tying the game up at 53-53 just before the under-16 media timeout. From that point on, the game was drastically slowed down due to an absurd number of fouls called. An astounding 31 whistles were blown in the second half.

Illinois shot the ball poorly in the second half, but was able to take advantage of its many free throw opportunities to maintain the lead they had for the majority of the game. More importantly, the Illini defense mostly shut down Thornton after his incredible first half. The Buckeyes star finished the game with 34 points after having 24 at the half.

Stat Stuffers

• Keaton Wagler (ILL) — 23 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists

• David Mirkovic (ILL) — 22 points, 9 rebounds

• Andrej Stojakovic (ILL) — 17 points, 4 rebounds

• Bruce Thornton (OSU) — 34 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists

Moments that Mattered

David Mirkovic was HOT early.

Great cut, great pass, great finish.

Looking Ahead

Illinois will come back to Champaign for their second Big Ten game. The Illini host the Nebraska Cornhuskers at 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 13th. Watch on Peacock.