COUMBUS, Ohio – A slow start that saw Illinois State miss its first 10 shots from the field, while 23rd-rankd Ohio State made eight of their first 13, put Illinois State behind early and was never able to make up the difference in a 94-67 loss to open the 2020-21 season.
Antonio Reeves tied a career-high with 17 points, as Josiah Strong scored 15 in his Redbird debut with DJ Horne and Howard Fleming Jr. chipping in 10 and 8 points, each. Reeves also tied his rebounding high mark in pulling down seven, as Fleming dished out a game-high seven assists.
The Buckeyes used their early surge to jump out to a 22-0 lead before the Redbirds first reached the scoring column on a Dedric Boyd free throw. ISU rattled off six more points to close a 7-0 run to cut the gap to 15. The deficit fluctuated back and forth and reached its first-half high-mark at 24 with 2:54 to play in the opening half; however, Illinois State scored the final seven points of the first half to cut the margin to 17 at the break.
A Strong three-pointer ran the ISU streak to 10-0; however, Ohio State answered with a 12-2 run and cruised to the 27-point win.
The Redbirds made 22-of-57 of their shots from the field for a 38.6 percentage, while also converting on 9-of-20 (45%) from long range and 14-of-19 from the charity stripe. Ohio State converted on 31-of-64 (48.4%) of their shots from the field, 6-of-18 from long range, and 26-of-36 (72.2%) from the charity stripe.
Five Buckeyes reached double-figures in the scoring column, led by Justice Sueing's 19 points and eight rebounds. E.J. Liddell scored 16 while Duane Washington and Zed Key each scored a dozen. CJ Walker scored 10 points with a team-high six assists, while Kyle Young tied for the game-high with eight rebounds.
The Redbirds return to action on Saturday, November 28 when the team with a noon (CT) tip-off in against UMass Lowell.
