The Ohio State men’s basketball team (7-2, 1-1) hosted #13-ranked Illinois (8-2, 1-0) at Value City Arena Tuesday in an early Big Ten matchup. The Buckeyes were coming off a victory at Northwestern Saturday, while the Illini were playing their first conference game.

Despite a 34-point performance from OSU’s Bruce Thornton, Illinois led most of the way in a close battle and held on for an 88-80 road victory. Thornton, who averages 21.7 points/game to lead the Buckeyes, had another outstanding shooting night. He was 13-17 from the field and 6-9 from outside the arc.

Ohio State got to within a point early in the third quarter, 50-49, but was never able to grab the lead in the second half. Besides Thornton, the Buckeyes had three others in double figures – Pickerington Central alum Devin Royal (15), Christoph Tilly (13), and John Mobley Jr. (11). Tilly led with eight rebounds, while Thornton recorded six assists.

Illinois was paced by Keaton Wagler, who scored 23. David Mirkovic added 22, while Andrej Stojakovic had 17. The Illini went to the free throw line 32 times and made 29 for a solid average of 90.9%. They also led on the boards 37-30.

Ohio State is back in action Saturday when it travels to Cleveland to play West Virginia in the Cleveland Hoops Showdown. Tip-off at Rocket Arena is slated for 8:00 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPNU.