By IlliniGuys Staff

February 2, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Freshman Will Riley scored a team-high 24 points off the bench and helped engineer a second half run that gave 18th ranked Illinois an 87-79 victory over visiting Ohio State Sunday afternoon.

The game also marked the return of sophomore Tomislav Ivisic, who had missed the last three games with mono. The 7-foot-1 center scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 29 minutes of action.

But he was surrounded by a different cast at the start of this one. Following through with his postgame thoughts after the loss at Nebraska Thursday night, Illinois coach Brad Underwood shook up his starting lineup, benching Kylan Boswell and Ben Humrichous in place of Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Morez Johnson, Jr., who had started the last three games in place of Ivisic.

The 6-foot-10 freshman responded with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Johnson was one of five Illini in double figures as Boswell had 14 and Gibbs-Lawhorn 10 for Illinois (15-7, 7-5 in Big Ten).

Ohio State had built a 52-41 lead only to see Illinois go on a 13-0 spurt to take its first lead of the second half at 53-52. That's when Riley took over, scoring 20 points after halftime, including making six free throws in the final 2:11 to ice the victory. Illinois hit 64 percent from the field in the second half.

Devin Royal scored a game-high 29 points and Bruce Thornton had 22 for Ohio State (13-9, 5-6).

Illinois returns to action with a trip to Rutgers Thursday night.

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete postgame coverage.