Third Times the Charm?

Let's hope so... Because if this one goes by the way of the previous two meetings, it just may leave a bad taste in the mouths of NCAA committee members. Both teams had byes in the first round so what we have to look at is what you saw yesterday... a convincing win by the Illini turning into a close one, and a sure loss by OSU turning into the biggest shot of the season for the Big Ten's Player of the year.

The Illini faught hard but will fall in this one after what came very close to being the biggest win of the season. Final Score: Illinois 81 Ohio State 88.

Evan Turner fouls out with a minute left, and Tyler Griffey goes to the line to shoot 2... Misses the first, makes the second, three point game.

1:09 left in the game, and OSU leads it 84-80. The Illini don't have an answer for the Buckeyes when they go hard to the basket on offense.

Evan Turner is taking over. I don't think he's missed yet in the overtimes.

Jon Deibler wakes up and joins Even Turner as OSU has shot an incredibly high percentage in the overtimes.

Evan Turner again ties the game with under a minute left, and we're going to a second OT. If the Illini lose this one they are are going to be kicking themselves because twice we have had the last shot of the game and neither time did we get a shot off.

Evan Turner with two more free throws.

Billy Cole with his biggest basket of his career there on the put back.

Turner to the line again with 2 minutes left, and he brings the Buckeyes within 2.

McCamey with another three!

Evan Turner makes his first free throw and misses the second. 70-69 Illinois with 2:30 left.

Mike Tisdale has come up big in this tournament. Another 16 footer for the 7 footer before his fifth foul gives him a spot on the bench for the remainder of the game.

McCamey with a great reverse lay-up to open the OT.

Davis misses at the buzzer, but the shot wouldn't have gone anyways. Overtime for these two, and the biggest key here are the 4 fouls to Evan Turner.

Turner ties it up, and the Illini will have 3.2 seconds to get the game winning shot off... Welcome to March.

Lighty misses his one and one opportunity, and McCamey is fouled. Makes both. Two point Illini lead with 26 seconds left on the clock... I wonder who's going to get the ball?

Demetri McCamey with a HUGE three pointer, and the Illini are back on top 64-62 with under a minute to play.

Davis with another on a runner in the lane. 61-62 OSU.

Mike Davis missed another bunny, but was fouled on the successful put back. 59-60 OSU.

Evan Turner with 4 fouls.

The Illini with a little 6 point run of their own, and it's a 56-59 ball game with 3:30 left.

The Illini end a 7 minutes drought on Tisdale free throws. 52-59 OSU.

OSU is on an 18-0 run, and the Illini have begun to launch prayer threes. Nothing about this team is the same as the first 20 minutes.

The Buckeyes have just opened the flood gates, and I don't know that we have an answer. The first half went the Illini's way because we controlled the pace of play... since the Bucks put the press on, we have looked confused and scared to move the ball the way we did in the first 20 minutes.

Jon Deibler hits a three, and the Illini are reeling. Ever since the Buckeyes started to press this one has taken a turn for the worse.

Evan Turner has taken the game over scoring 7 points in a little over a minute, his latest gives the Buckeyes their first lead in the second half.

10 minutes left, and the Illini lead has fallen to one... 50-49.

Evan Turner showing off his range with another three pointer, followed by break away basket and an Illini offensive foul... like I said, OSU has really picked up the urgency adding the press.

11:35 left to play, and the Illini still hold onto a 50-41 lead. Weber has to balance out the three fouls to Tisdale, but with Tyler Griffey playing like he is, it hasn't made as much of a difference as we would have guessed. Ohio State is realizing that the clock is getting close to that point where it becomes a factor, and the urgency level has risen. I look for the Buckeyes to start driving the lane hard looking to get a fourth on Tisdale and also for Diebler to start shooting more.

OSU breaks into a 2-3 zone, and McCamey hits a contested three.

13:45 left to play, and you can sense that the pressure is mounting. The Illini are still in control of the pace, but you can never rest easy knowing that Lighty, Turner, and Diebler can all fill up the bucket in a hurry.

Demetri McCamey drives the lane and finishes to give us a 10 point lead.

The Ohio State bench seems to be a little dejected as the lead is as big as it has been all game. The Illini lead it 43-35 with 15:39 left to play. Tyler Griffey is doing a hell of a job filling in for the Tis who has three fouls.

Thad Matta NOT happy as the Illini are quick to pull the lead back out to 6 points. It took a minute, and I got worried that the energy was gone, but a 4 point spurt has the fans on their feet once again. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling that every Gopher and Boilermaker fan in the house is cheering for the Orange and Blue.

Already the Buckeyes look to have twice as much energy as we do. It's only been a minute, and it's a 2 point game.

The Censeco Field House is as loud as I've heard it all week as the Illini march into the locker room with a 37-31 lead. Ohio State has to be feeling the effects of playing yesterday already because Thad Matta refuses to use his bench. Even if the Illini lose this one, tomorrow is going to be almost impossible for the Bucks. That being said, let's hope we won't have to worry about the Buckeyes. For the first time this year, the Illini have a lead at half time over OSU. The biggest differences in those games to this one? I would have to say the fact that OSU looks confused on offense whereas the first two times they looked like they could do whatever they wanted. If we come out and hold our own to start the half, I think we can win this one... Let's see what the score is 5 minutes in.

Jeff Jordan with a three ball, followed by an answer from Simmons and another from DJ. 34-29 Illini with 1:45 left.

3:45 left in the half, and the Illini are holding onto a 28-23 lead. Bruce Weber's giving the guys a piece of his mind in the huddle, and you can tell how badly he wants his guys to keep up the intensity.

Brandon Paul with a great pass to Mike Davis as the Illini get back on the board.

8 minutes left in the first half, and the Illini have run out to a 19-15 lead due to some serious hustle... If Weber had found a way to light this kind of fire under the team all year things might look very different for us.

Ohio State's just rushing things too much, and it's been a big gift to the Illini... 6 turnovers for both teams.

Bruce Weber with a little bit of that fire he's been trying to rub off onto his players.

DJ Richardson hits a three, and the score closes again to a 15-14 OSU lead.

Tisdale picks up his second foul with 11:30 left in the first half. Tyler Griffey is going to get some good minutes here if he can contribute.

At the 12 minute timeout, the Illini have crawled back piece by piece and have closed the gap to 15-11. Ohio State has slowed down a little bit on offense as a few missed shots seem to have thrown off that great rhythm the Bucks had early. I like having Brandon Paul in the game if he is playing solid enough because his athleticism is going to be needed to match up with a strong Ohio State perimeter team.

Jon Deibler doing what he does best against us... mark that down as his 14th three point basket against the Illini this season.

8-2 Ohio State with 15:21 left in the half. The key for me would be to throw it inside a couple of times early and see how they react. So far they are switching on our ball screens well enough that McCamey is having a tough time creating.

Nothing looks good about what we're doing right now. Ohio State is out working us by a good margin, and it shows. Our offense looks nothing like it did yesterday. Our shots are contested, and our rebounders are just standing there.

Not a good start for the Illini. We look to be rushing plays, and our defense hasn't been in the place where they are supposed to be. Davis just got caught on a bad switch allowing the Lauderdale dunk.