E.J. Liddell backed up the court and flexed, his eyes directly aimed at Giorgi Bezhanishvili who had decided to chirp at him a little bit earlier in their Saturday afternoon showdown in Champaign, Illinois.
The bucket in the paint – during which he appeared to get hacked yet did not drew a foul – gave E.J. Liddell a new career-high in scoring and put No. 21 Ohio State ahead of No. 14 Illinois by 14 points with a bit less than 10 minutes remaining. The Illini, picked in the preseason to win the Big Ten, did what they could by increasing their rate of forcing turnovers and getting Kofi Cockburn on the offensive glass.