Post Game Notes From Ohio State vs. Illinois – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2002
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When the Buckeyes are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25they have a record of 302-95. When playing against ranked teams inValue City Arena, Ohio State is 11-2 all-time and 3-0 this season.Illinois owns the series lead with a 95-58 all-time record vs. theBuckeyes. The Illini own a 6-3 advantage when both teams are rankedin the Associated Press Poll. The Buckeyes are 56-7 in Value CityArena since it opened for the 1998-99 season. OSU is 31-3 againstnon-conference opponents and 25-4 in Big Ten games. With his twofree throws at the 18:52 mark of the second half, Brian Brown movedinto the No. 26 spot of OSU career scoring leaders. He has 1,151career points. He passed Jamaal Brown (1989-92) with 1,139 pointsand Frank Howard (1956-58) with 1,147. Brown also moved into a tiefor the No. 9 spot in career assist leaders at Ohio State. He has326 assists in his career. He shares the spot with Carter Scott(1978-81). Brown has scored in double figures in the last 14 gamesand 17 of the 19 games this season. Junior guard Brent Darby tied acareer high in points with 22. He scored 22 points against N.C.State earlier this season (11/27/01). Darby also set a career highfor free throws attempted and made. He was 16-of-18 from the line.His previous high was 9-of-13 against N.C. State (11/27/01). Hetied a career high for rebounds with seven, which he set againstPenn State (1/16/02). Dabry added five assists and one steal.Darby’s free throws made ties him for third most in a game in OSUhistory. First, is Gary Bradds with 18 (1/27/64) at Michigan State.Second, is Dennis Hopson with 17 (2/12/87) at Wisconsin. He tiesBradds (2/15/64) versus Wisconsin, Larry Siegfried (3/7/59) againstPurdue, Robin Freeman (12/12/55) at Oklahoma and John Miller(12/26/53) against Oregon State. In the past two games, SeanConnolly is 7-of-9 from 3-point range. He shot 3-of-3 againstIllinois. Boban Savovic has played in 100 games in his career andearned 50 starts. Twelve of 19 teams Ohio State has played thisseason have been held below 30 percent shooting from 3-point range.The Illini were 3-of-17 from behind the arc for a .176 shootingpercentage. Illinois has averaged 36 percent from 3-point range.The Ohio State 42-27 lead at the half was helped by a 22-7 run fromthe 14:34 mark to 4:24. In the first half the Buckeye benchoutscored Illinois 17-4 and shot 7-of-9 from the field. When OSUleads at the half it is 15-1. The Ohio State defense held Illinoisto 8-of-22 from the field in the first half. The 27 points theIllini scored is a season low for the first half. The previous lowof 29 came against Maryland in a 76-63 loss on Nov. 27. OSU hasscored 70 or more points 14 times this season. When the Buckeyesscore 70 or more they are 13-1. On the opposite side, Ohio Statehas held 16 opponents under 70 points. When the defense is able tohold the opponent under 70, the Buckeyes are 14-2. Against IllinoisOhio State was 22-of-44 from the field for a .500 shootingpercentage. When the Buckeyes shoot 50 percent or better they are9-0 and when they hold opponents under 50 percent the Buckeyes are12-2. Ohio State was able to grab 33 rebounds to Illinois’ 27. Whenthe Buckeyes out-rebound an opponent they are 14-2. The Buckeyeshave beaten Illinois in back-to-back games. The last time theBuckeyes beat the Illini two straight times was when they won fivestraight from 1990-92. The run was ended by Illinois’s 86-76victory (1/30/93) in St. John Arena. Ohio State has won sevenstraight home games, dating back to its Dec. 19 loss to Pittsburgh.The win is OSU’s 131h victory this season at home. The Buckeyeshave won at least 10 games in each of their four seasons in ValueCity Arena. Ohio State will be back in action at 12:15 p.m.Saturday when it plays host to Northwestern. Single tickets areavailable for the game against the Wildcats as well as the Feb. 26game against Michigan State. The game versus Purdue Feb. 23 is soldout.
