Ohio State
Illinois
Buckeyes Host No. 13 Illinois in B1G Home Opener Tuesday
12/8/2025 3:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Ohio State vs. #13 Illinois
Date: December 9, 2025
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Value City Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: Peacock/NBCSN
Listen: Ohio State Radio Network from Learfield
Live Stats: Sidearm
Rosters: Ohio State | Illinois
Season Stats: Ohio State | Illinois
Game Notes: Ohio State Media Center
TICKETS: Season, single-game, group and mini plans are available for all men’s basketball games this season. Visit OhioStateBuckeyes.com or call the Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office in the Schottenstein Center at 1-800-GOBUCKS.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State opens Big Ten play at home on Tuesday night when it will host No. 13 Illinois at the Schottenstein Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be streamed on Peacock and televised on NBCSN. John Fanta and Brendan Haywood will call the action.
The game can also be heard on the Ohio State Radio Network from Learfield. Paul Keels and former Buckeye captain Ron Stokes are on the call.
- Tuesday’s game will be the 195th meeting all-time between the two programs. Illinois leads the series 112-82.
- The last time the teams met in Columbus, Illinois came away with an 87-75 victory on Jan. 20, 2024.
- Last year, Illinois used a late second-half surge to pull away for an 87-79 victory on Feb. 2, 2025. Devin Royal led the Buckeyes with 29 points while Bruce Thornton added 22 points to go along with a then career-high with eight rebounds and five assists.
- Ohio State is looking for its first 2-0 start in Big Ten play since the 2021-22 season when it won its first three conference games.
- The Buckeyes are coming off an 86-82 win over Northwestern in their Big Ten opener last Saturday in Evanston. Brandon Noel had a huge game, scoring 29 points on 13-of-15 shooting and also pulled-down a team-high seven rebounds. This came one game after Noel played just eight minutes and had zero points at Pitt.
- Bruce Thornton notched his second consecutive double-double in the win at Northwestern, scoring 17 points and tying a career-high with 10 assists. He had zero turnovers as well, joining Aaron Craft as the only Buckeye with 10 assists and zero turnovers in a road game in program history.
- Junior wing Devin Royal provided a huge spark in the second half. He scored eight of his 10 points in the final five minutes, including a clutch three-pointer with just over two minutes to play. He has averaged more than 16 points per game over the last three games while shooting over 60 percent from the floor.
- Sophomore guard Colin White provided a spark off the bench at Northwestern with four points and career-highs of three assists and two steals while playing a career-high 17:42.
- Thornton is just 52 points away from 1,700 in his career and he’s currently ninth in program history in scoring.
- Illinois is playing its first Big Ten game after opening the year 7-2. The lone losses were neutral site losses to Alabama and UConn. The Illini are coming off a 75-62 win over Tennessee in Nashville on Saturday night.
#GoBucks
