Strong Start Fizzles Out for Illinois in Loss at No. 17 OSU

COLUMBUS - Mark Alstork finished with a season-high 19 points in Illinois' 75-67 loss at No. 17 Ohio State on Sunday afternoon.

Illinois jumped out to a 15-point lead halfway through the first half, but went scoreless in the frame's final 10 minutes and trailed Ohio State 34-30 at halftime.

Freshman Trent Frazier scored all 12 of his points in the second half to lead the Fighting Illini back to a 63-60 lead with 5:20 left before the Buckeyes finished on a 15-4 run to win.

Keita Bates-Diop scored a career-high 35 points and had 13 rebounds for the Buckeyes, who have won three straight and 10 of their last 11.

The Buckeyes, playing without suspended guard Kam Williams, overcame an Illinois lead to tie the score at the 5-minute mark. But they wouldn't get the game in hand until Kaleb Wesson grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up with 48 seconds left. That gave the Buckeyes a 72-67 lead, and any momentum Illinois had was gone for good.

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for Illinois (12-12, 2-9). The Illini have yet to win a game on the road this season.

Up next, Illinois hosts Wisconsin on Thursday at 8 pm at State Farm Center.

TEAM NOTES

• Illinois forced 15 Ohio State turnovers, the Buckeyes' third-most this season (24 vs. Butler, 19 vs. Robert Morris) and their most in a Big Ten game. Illinois entered the game forcing turnovers on 24.5 percent of opponent possessions during Big Ten play – the highest rate recorded by a conference team over the last 10 years (Purdue, 25.5, 2008).
• Illinois went on a 11:30 scoring drought (10:11 first half-18:40 second half). The Illini led 30-15 midway through the first half before trailing by four at halftime, 24-30. 

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Graduate guard Mark Alstork had a season-high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. It marked his high point total as an Illini (previous was 17 twice, most recently on Dec. 3 against Maryland). 
• Freshman guard Trent Frazier had 12 points, all in the second half. It was his seventh straight game in double figures and 13th time in double figures in the last 14 games.