Welcome back to Earth, Illini. Ohio State shoots the lights out of the Hall

Couldn't last forever I guess. After back to back emotional wins over two of the top teams in the Big Ten, the Illini looked like anything but the league's finest in a very large loss to the Buckeyes. It was a blowout.

The two biggest factors in this game have to be the way the Illini could not defend against the OSU perimeter shooters, and the way the Illini offense wilted against the 1-3-1 zone defense. Get used to seeing it guys, because once the coaches get a hold of this game tape you are going to see it a lot more.

It seemed that the only Illini player capable of making the passes necessary to break the zone was Demetri McCamey, and he was otherwise offensively neutralized, scoring only 1 point in the first half and just 9 points overall. His 9 assists were his greatest contribution to the Illini effort. 

This game also featured some of the worst decision making skills from players near the hoop. The Illini had an astounding 14 offensive rebounds, but all too often made poor shots off of those second chances. Too many off balance heaves were taken, shots taken when entirely too contested and a general lack of court awareness demonstrated. Offensive rebounds don't amount to much if you don't score off of them.

Perimeter defense was about as bad as it can be in today's blowout. Jon Diebler took all of his shots from 3, and made 6 of them. He killed the Illini, shooting wide open way way too often, and to make matters worse, draining them even when he was covered. You want a telling stat for why the Illini lost?  Ohio State had 3 players in double figures in scoring (and one at 9 points) while the Illini had none.

The Buckeyes cooled off with as the game progressed, once the game was comfortably out of reach and finished with only 54% from the floor. When they were pulling away in the first half though the Buckeyes were making an eye popping 75% of their shots. The Illini did not get back down the court nearly fast enough to stop the Buckeyes from setting up easy buckets, and it never really got all that close.

In terms of the March resume, this loss doesn't hurt all that bad, the value of the the MSU and Wisconsin wins don't decrease. It does however drive home the fact that the Illini still have a long way to go to actually compete for a Big Ten championship. What will matter most from this game is how the Illini bounce back. The road doesn't exactly get easier as they travel to West Lafayette next Saturday. The Illini are going to have to not let this game get them too far down, as Purdue could very well be a loss as well. The math is still the same, though, beat Minnesota and Michigan and this team will still be dancing. Get a game from Purdue, Wisconsin or the next game at Ohio State and its gravy.

The pepto-bismal days for Illini fans aren't over yet.