Buckeyes locked in on 'great opportunity' ahead of pivotal game at Illinois
COLUMBUS — Ohio State is certainly aware of where it stands in the Big Ten pecking order.
The Buckeyes lone game against Illinois this season, scheduled for Thursday night at 9 p.m. in Champaign, comes on the road in a heated battle for positioning in the Big Ten standings late in the calendar. Both teams are in the top four of the conference right now.
But instead of zooming out and looking at seeding — and a possible shot at a Big Ten regular-season title, the Buckeyes are choosing to see this game as an opportunity to play a good team away from home, get better and stack days ahead of one of their biggest tests on the schedule.
Those talks about the stakes and what’s beyond Thursday night can be tabled for later.
“I think our focus is still on really the day to day stuff of improving on those things we have to improve on,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. “I’m a big believer that the results will take care of themselves if we take care of the right stuff. At the end of the day, there’s not a lot of those conversations. It’s not like we’re hanging up league standings. Our guys are aware of them. Throughout the year, we’ve made them aware of them.
“But the reality is you’re just trying to focus on the important things you think matter to your team right now, the nuts and bolts. The rest of that stuff will take are of itself. There’s still a lot of games to be played from a lot of teams.”
Holtmann says the right things. He makes sure the Buckeyes don’t look too far ahead — and instead stay in the moment during the year. But this game, in that road environment, against one of the Big Ten’s best teams?
They understand what this trip to Illinois means — including what a win would do for Ohio State in the four games that follow.
“I feel like this game, it’s a big one,” sophomore guard Eugene Brown III said. “We beat them last year at their place. They beat us at our place, and then the overtime Big Ten tournament [loss]. The competition is still going to be there. [Illinois center] Kofi [Cockburn], he’s a beast. We have players they have to worry about, too. It’s going to be a great game. I’m just excited to get this stretch underway.”
Ohio State beat Illinois on the road last season in a huge ranked matchup that set the tone for the rest of the Buckeyes regular season. The Illini turned around and beat the Buckeyes twice in March, including in an overtime thriller in the Big Ten title game.
After meeting three times last year, Ohio State will play Illinois in their only scheduled meeting this season on Thursday night. And instead of looking at the big picture for what this game means, and what a win would mean, the Buckeyes are just focused on their day-to-day improvements.
This is a challenge, yes. But it’s also another opportunity to get better against a good team.
“We’re only playing them once,” Holtmann said. “It’s unique where you’d love to be able to have a league where you could play everybody twice. … We’ve got them once on the road as well as a couple of other teams on the road once. All in all, you look at it as both.
“It’s certainly a great challenge and a great opportunity.”
