The Ohio State team that Illinois plays Sunday in search of its first Big Ten tournament championship will only slightly resemble the one the Illini crushed 76-57 on Feb. 9 in Champaign
After an injury-plagued regular season, the Buckeyes (17-13) are healthier and playing with more confidence than they have all season.
That’s not all. With a victory, Ohio State will clinch the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament–its only path into the dance. Next to that, the Buckeyes’ quest to win back-to-back tournament titles is an afterthought.
“In our previous game, we had a big lead and they cut into it,” Illinois coach Bill Self said. “A lot of it was because we couldn’t contain Brent Darby. He’s great at getting to the line once he gets his shoulders past you. The big difference is that Sean Connolly (who scored 11 against Michigan State on Saturday) and Velimir Radinovic (nine points, five rebounds vs. MSU) didn’t play, so obviously we could do some things on Darby we won’t be able to do with them in the game.”
Shooting high: Illinois will be making its third appearance in the championship game, but the Illini have never won the title. They lost to Michigan State 67-50 in the 1999 finale as the 11th seed and to the Spartans again in 2000, falling 76-61 as the No. 4 seed. Illinois has reached the semifinals in all six years of the tournament.
“This is very important to us,” senior Brian Cook said. “We feel like we’re the No. 1 team in the conference, but we have to prove it.”
With 25 points, Cook moved past Eddie Johnson (1,692) and into fourth place on Illinois’ career scoring list. Cook’s 1,697 points are 38 behind former teammate Cory Bradford’s 1,735. … Saturday’s victory was Illinois’ seventh in a row at the United Center.