Marc Loving scored a career-high 27 points as Ohio State held on for a 75-73 win against Illinois at Value City Arena.
After Ohio State (10-5, 2-0 Big Ten) built an eight-point lead with 7:37 left, Illinois (8-7, 0-2) countered with a 10-0 run to take its first lead of the half when Michael Finke buried a three-pointer from in front of his team’s bench with 4:55 remaining. That made it a 61-59 Illini lead, and two possessions later Marc Loving penetrated Illinois’ zone defense and finished with a right-handed dunk to tie the game for the third time.