Three Points: Despite improved shooting, Buckeyes plagued by poor defense against Illinois

COLUMBUS — Ohio State shot a much-improved 50% from the field, but it wasn’t enough to overcome its litany of defensive issues against a dribble-drive heavy Illinois offense that was fueled by a combined 46 points from Terrence Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask.

Roddy Gayle Jr. bounced back with 20 points, and Jamison Battle piled up a team-high 21, except the Buckeyes still fell victim to their third straight double-digit defeat, this one in front of a shrinking crowd at the Schottenstein Center.

Lettermen Row has Three Points to break down the 87-75 Buckeyes defeat.

Roddy Gayle Jr. got off to a hot start, and it continued

And, boy, was that much needed for the Buckeyes. Although Gayle had made his first field goal attempt in the previous three games, he shot just 13-of-30, or 43.3%, in that span — still below his season clip of 44.6%, which of course was much higher than that before his January slump.

This time out, Gayle converted his first four attempts from the floor. He finished off an Evan Mahaffey steal, and then assist, with a two-handed slam on the break. He also knocked down a turnaround jumper over Illinois wing Luke Goode. Gayle later did his best James Harden impression, drawing Shannon’s second foul of the game by jumping into the Fighting Illini star on a 3-point attempt. Gayle hit all three shots at the charity stripe to give the Buckeyes a 31-30 lead and finished the first half with 11 points and, notably, zero turnovers.

Gayle’s impressive start carried over to the second half when he poured in nine more points. He attacked the paint with confidence, using his opposite hand to scoop in a layup early in the second half and then absorbing contact in the key and kissing a shot off the glass later in the frame.

3-point defense remains a serious problem

Ohio State came into the night 1-5 in its last six games. The Buckeyes allowed their opponents to shoot 46.8% from deep in the process. They weren’t much better Tuesday night at home.

Whether it was Felix Okpara drifting into the paint and no one picking up Coleman Hawkins from the top of the arc, or Dale Bonner inexplicably switching off Domask from almost the same spot on the court — only for Domask to net his 20th 3-pointer of the season — Ohio State looked lost defending the perimeter. Again.

Illinois shot 5-of-11 from 3-point land in the opening half, and the Fighting Illini could have posted an even better clip had they not missed as many opened looks.

Shannon missed three of those six 3-point attempts in the first half. He was just 1-of-7 from the field in the opening period. But he clocked out tied for the game high of 23 points, in part because of two wide-open 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes of play.

Illinois was 7-of-17 from downtown. How open the Illini were on so many of their attempts serves as a cause for continued concern.

Buckeyes bigs struggle, foul trouble an issue as well

Okpara had two fouls by the 6:17 mark in the first half, forcing Ohio State to roll with Zed Key at center down the stretch of the first half, during which Illinois reestablished a multi-possession lead. Ultimately, the Buckeyes subbed out Key — who registered his second personal, too — before halftime and went with Battle at the five.

Okpara picked up his third foul less than five minutes into the second half. By then, he had two more personal fouls (three) than field goal attempts (one). Key wasn’t making much of an impact offensively, either. His lone bright spot in the first half was when he drew an off-ball foul from Hawkins and then scored on him in the post shortly after. Key also drew a technical from Hawkins in the second half. But he was only 1-of-5 from the field. Both he and Okpara rounded out the night with a combined seven rebounds.

Bruce Thornton picked up two first-half fouls as well. That limited him to just 14 minutes of action in the opening frame, and he never really got in a groove offensively. The sophomore captain continued to search for his shot, hitting only 3-of-11 of his field goal attempts, including 1-of-5 3-point attempts. Add Mahaffey to the list of Buckeyes who had two personals entering the break. That didn’t stop him from turning in his third double-digit scoring effort of the season, a bit of a silver lining for Ohio State.