Buckeyes Topple No. 10 Illinois, 94-88 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 9, 2002
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J. O’Brien I J. O’Brien II B. Brown and B. Darby
By DAN GELSTON
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Brian Brown and Brent Darby rallied Ohio State from a slow start, then hit the clutch shots that put the game away.
Brown scored a career-high 27 points, and Darby added 23 as No. 21 Ohio State beat No. 10 Illinois 94-88 Saturday in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament.
“During halftime, coach told us if we wanted to win we’d have to go out there and get it,” Darby said. “We weren’t going to back down.”
The Buckeyes will play Iowa, which beat Indiana 62-60, in Sunday’s championship game. Ohio State, the No. 2 seed, is in the championship game for the first time after entering the tournament with a 1-4 record all-time.
Brown and Darby combined to make 14 of 24 shots, shoot 7-for-9 from 3-point range and hit 17 of 20 free throws. Most of their production came in the second half.
Ohio State (22-7) took a 10-point lead with five minutes left, but a 3-pointer by Brian Cook and baskets by Robert Archibald and Sean Harrington cut it to 85-83.
Brown made a layup, and Darby hit two free throws to push the lead back to six.
Illinois (24-8) trimmed the deficit to 91-88 with 23.4 seconds to go following Frank Williams’ layup, but Ohio State sealed it with free throws, tying the tournament record for points in a game.
The Buckeyes were 27-for-36 from the foul line and 19-for-24 in the second half.
“That’s where they get most of their points,” Cook said. “We kept putting them on the line. You can’t do that in these types of situations. You’ve got to play defense, which we just didn’t do.”
Zach Williams had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Boban Savovic added 11 points and five assists for Ohio State.
Illinois extended its defense to try to contain Darby and Brown on the perimeter. That opened up the lane for frontcourt players like Zach Williams and Will Dudley, who had six points.
Buckeyes coach Jim O’Brien, who won his 100th game at Ohio State, credited Zach Williams for making the most of his opportunities.
“He has the heart of a lion,” O’Brien said. “He has the tough task of guarding people that are bigger than he is. Those are always the guys he has to guard and he never flinches when we talk about what we have to do. He played a man’s game underneath the basket.”
Cook led Illinois with 22 points, Frank Williams had 18 and Archibald 16 for Illinois, which had a nine-game winning streak snapped.
The Illini shot 55 percent from the field but couldn’t make defensive stops down the stretch. Ohio State shot 57 percent from the floor – 68 percent in the second half.
“When we make shots, we have a tendency to not guard as hard,” Illinois coach Bill Self said. “I don’t want to say we were tired, but we didn’t play with the zest that I think we should play with.”
Darby’s layup three minutes into the second half snapped a 49-all tie, and he followed with a jumper and a 3-pointer to make it 56-49.
Frank Williams hit a 3 from the top of the key to tie it at 65, but Brown answered with two free throws and Savovic made a 3 to give Ohio State a lead it would not relinquish.
Damir Krupalija scored 13 points, and Cory Bradford – the tournament’s career scoring leader with 167 points – added 12 for Illinois.
Bradford passed Eddie Johnson for third place on the Illini’s career scoring list.
Bradford went 5-for-6 and scored 12 points in the first half as Illinois took a 19-10 lead.
“We came out a little too much excited. We pressed a little bit,” Darby said. “They came out a little more relaxed than us. Once we settled down, we made some plays of our own.”
Brown and Darby combined for 22 points in the first half to spark a Buckeyes’ rally that was capped by Darby’s 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving Ohio State a 41-40 lead.
“I just tried to come down, push it up as fast as I can and get a shot off,” Darby said. “Bradford just backed off a little bit, so I pulled the trigger.”
The Buckeyes won both games against Iowa this season. The Hawkeyes, the defending tournament champions, have won their last two games on buzzer beaters by Luke Recker.
“If it comes down to the last shot, we’re putting four guys on Recker,” O’Brien said.
