(5) Ohio State vs. (2) Illinois • Date: Sunday, March 14 • Time: 3:30 p.m. • Where: Lucas Oil Stadium • TV: CBS (Jim Nance/Bill Raftery/Grant Hill/Tracy Wolfson) • Radio: 97.1 The Fan (Paul Keels/Ron Stokes) • Satellite Radio: Sirius (TBD), XM (TBD), Internet (TBD)

Game Basics

• Ohio State entered the 2021 Big Ten Tournament as the No. 5 seed and defeated No. 13 Minnesota 79-75, No. 4 Purdue 87-78 in overtime and No. 1 Michigan 68-67 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Buckeyes take on No. 2 seed Illinois Sunday.
• Chris Holtmann teams are 4-3 all-time against the Illini. Illinois leads the all-time series 104-75. The Buckeyes are 2-1 in neutral courts in the series, including a 1-1 record in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Ohio State is ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll this week. Illinois is No. 3. In series history, Ohio State has been ranked among the Top 25 in the weekly Associated Press Poll 42 times with an overall record of 30-12 in those games. Illinois has been ranked 49 times when facing the Buckeyes. The Illini are 37-12 in those games. The teams have been ranked 14 times simultaneously when facing one another. The series is tied at 7-all in those games.
• Ohio State is 30-15 all-time in Big Ten Tournament play. Sunday will be the ninth appearance in the title game. The Buckeyes are 14-6 in conference tournament openers, 7-3 as the No. 5 seed and 22-4 when the higher seed. The Buckeyes are 10-2 in tournament openers over the last 12 years of the event.

COURTESY OHIO STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS