Ohio State vs. Illinois
Date: February 26, 2023
Time: Noon
Venue: Value City Arena – Columbus, Ohio
Watch: CBS
Listen: Ohio State Radio Network from Learfield
Live Stats: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Game Notes: Ohio State | Illinois
Rosters: Ohio State | Illinois
Season Stats: Ohio State | Illinois

TICKETS: Single-game and group tickets are available for all remaining men’s basketball games. Visit OhioStateBuckeyes.com or call the Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office in the Schottenstein Center at 1-800-GOBUCKS.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State will look for a season split of the series with Illinois when the two teams get together on Sunday afternoon inside Value City Arena. Tip-off is set for noon, and it will be televised nationally on CBS. Tom McCarthy and Jay Wright will call the action.

• This will be the 191st meeting all-time between the two programs. Illinois leads the series 109-81 but the Buckeyes have won nine of the last 11 meetings in Columbus.
• Sunday is also Captain’s Day as roughly 30 former and current captains of the program will celebrate the weekend and be recognized at halftime.
• In the first meeting on Jan. 24, in Champaign, Illinois used a big run at the start of the second half to build a double-digit lead and would hold it the rest of the way in a 69-60 victory. Brice Sensabaugh led the Buckeyes with 14 points while Justice Sueing chipped-in with 13. Sean McNeil finished with seven points, five rebounds and a team-high three assists.
• Ohio State has started four true freshmen the last two games. The Buckeyes have gotten more than 40 percent of its minutes from its freshmen this season, which is the most of any team in the Big Ten.
• Against Penn State on Thursday night, the Buckeyes shot the ball better than in recent games and also took care of the ball. Ohio State committed just one turnover in the game which was the fewest in a game in program history. It’s also the fewest in a game by any team in the country this season.
• Brice Sensabaugh (20) and Bruce Thornton (19) combined to score 39 points against Penn State on Thursday. They were a combined 15-of-26 from the floor and made five of the team’s eight three-pointers. For Sensabaugh, it was his 10th game of 20 or more points this season. They nearly became the first Buckeye freshmen to each score 20 in the same game since 2015.
• Felix Okpara has started each of the last two games and will likely continue to get the starting nod with fellow big man Zed Key missing the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. Okpara has made his last seven shot attempts with four of those being dunks. He is also 10th in the Big Ten with 30 blocked shots.
• Illinois comes into Sunday riding a high after overcoming an 18-point halftime deficit on Thursday night against No. 21 Northwestern and pulling-out a 66-62 victory.

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COURTESY OSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS