Coach Jake Diebler and the Ohio State men's hoops like they would extend their winning streak for much of the afternoon, but Illinois rallied late.

Ohio State basketball had a problem finding the hoop in the second half and dropped a game to Illinois on the road Sunday.

The Illini (15-7, 7-5 Big Ten) celebrated the healthy return of center Tomislav Ivisic (mono) by outrebounding Ohio State 43-31 and hammering the Buckeyes (13-9, 5-6) inside – especially in the second half. Illinois outscored the visitors 52-30 in the paint.

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Devin Royal scored 29 points — 19 in the first half — for Ohio State (13-9, 5-6), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Bruce Thornton had 22 points and John Mobley Jr. had 18 points. Ivisic, Illinois’ No. 2 scorer and leading rebounder, returned to action after missing three games with mononucleosis. He played 29 minutes.

Ohio State hangs its hat on 37.4 percent three-point shooting (third in the Big Ten) and is led by the long-distance dynamic duo of Bruce Thornton and John Mobley Jr., each of whom has hit 40-plus threes on the season and is shooting over 40 percent from deep.

Don't look now, but the Ohio State basketball team might be getting hot at the right time. After losing three in a row by a combined total of five points, the Buckeyes have rattled off three wins in a row and done so in convincing fashion.

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