In a heavyweight matchup between #2 Illinois Vs. #5 Ohio State, the Buckeyes lost a tight game in overtime 91-88.

These two teams will both be headed to the March Madness Tournament in the coming week but they were focused on an automatic bid and a conference title on Sunday. AP All-American Ayo Dosunmu and Senior Kofi Cohburn combined for 32 points and both of them had 9 rebounds.

“Things were just not falling for us, we got open shots, they were just not falling.” Ohio State forward Kyle Young.

Duane Washington Jr. had a career-high 32 points and Justice Sueing had 22 points. The Buckeyes stayed in the game although Illinois had control of the game the whole way. At the end of the first half, it was 42-37 Illinois but the Buckeyes outscored Illinois in the second half by 5 forcing the overtime. In overtime, the Illini scored 14 straight points to put themselves up 5, and then here came the Buckeyes. E.J Lidell hit two free throws, and then a shot at the buzzer was missed by Ohio State Guard Duane Washington, to tie the game which sealed the deal for Illinois.

“What a week, that’s a tough, tough, tough group of guys in that locker room.” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said about his team.

After their run for the Big Ten championship fell short they will face off against the one-man show of Oral Roberts on Friday. Ohio State enters the tournament as a #2 overall seed and Oral Roberts is a #15 seed. The Buckeyes will have to contain the Golden Eagles star guard, Max Abmas. The Fighting Illini got crowned a #1 seed in the tournament and will face off against #16 seed Drexel. This should be an easy win for Illinois but the road gets tougher after that.