No. 13 Illinois fends off Ohio State in Big Ten opener

Field Level Media|published: Tue 9th December, 22:12 2025

Dec 9, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward David Mirkovic (0) fights for a loose ball with Ohio State Buckeyes guard Bruce Thornton (2) during the first half Value City Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

Keaton Wagler led four scorers in double figures with 23 points for No. 13 Illinois in an 88-80 Big Ten win against Ohio State in Columbus on Tuesday.

Fellow freshman David Mirkovic scored 22, Andrej Stojakovic 17 and Zvonimir Ivisic added 13 for the Illini (8-2, 1-0) in their conference opener.

The Buckeyes, down six at halftime, pulled to within 79-76 on Devin Royal's 3-pointer with 1:19 left but Tomislav Ivisic shot a triple that hit the rim and bounced in with 46 seconds left for an 82-76 score.

After an Ohio State turnover, Wagler made two foul shots with 33 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Bruce Thornton led the Buckeyes (7-2, 1-1) with 34 points but only 10 were in the second half.

Royal had 15 points, Christoph Tilly 13 and John Mobley Jr. 11. Brandon Noel, who had a season-high 29 points in an 86-82 win over Northwestern on Saturday, scored five for the Buckeyes.

The Illini were steeled for Big Ten play by going 2-2 against ranked nonconference opponents.

Ohio State was looking to start 2-0 in league play for the first time since winning its first three in 2021-22, which was also the last time the Buckeyes made the NCAA Tournament.

It was the Thornton show for much of the first half but even he couldn't prevent the Illini from taking a 48-42 halftime lead. When he nailed a 3 with five minutes to go for a 34-33 lead, he stood at 24 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field, including six treys.

His next shot was a missed 3-pointer and the Illini quickly turned that into an 11-0 spurt for a 44-34 advantage. Zvonimir Ivisic and Kylan Boswell drained triples and Tomislav Ivisic hit a pair of free throws before Wagler pulled up for 3 to cap the run with 1:43 left until halftime.

Wagler made four foul shots to extend the lead to 48-40 but Thornton fed Devin Royal for a layup at the buzzer.

Wagler led the visitors with 14 points at the break as the Illini shot 53.6% from the floor and connected on half of their 14 3-point attempts.

--Field Level Media

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