{"id":24804,"date":"2025-12-10T06:27:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=24804"},"modified":"2025-12-10T06:27:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:27:44","slug":"illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>BY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">COLUMBUS, Ohio <strong>\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0#13 Illinois opened Big Ten play with a hard-fought 88-80 road victory over Ohio State on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/keaton-wagler\/15216\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/keaton-wagler\/15216\">Keaton Wagler<\/a>\u00a0finished with a career-high 23 points, making three 3-pointers while going 8-for-9 from the free throw line. He also dished out five assists, while both of his rebounds came on the offensive glass.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/david-mirkovic\/15218\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/david-mirkovic\/15218\">David Mirkovic<\/a>\u00a0finished with 22 points while knocking down a career-high four 3-pointers. He corralled nine rebounds while converting all eight of his free throw attempts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/andrej-stojakovic\/15217\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/andrej-stojakovic\/15217\">Andrej Stojakovic<\/a>\u00a0secured 17 points, four rebounds, and an assist, while\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/zvonimir-ivisic\/15207\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/zvonimir-ivisic\/15207\">Zvonimir Ivisic<\/a>\u00a0totaled 13 points, eight rebounds, and a block off the bench.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Illini went 29-for-32 at the free throw line as a team while recording 11 3-pointers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a slow start offensively, the Illini used a stretch of four made field goals across five attempts to establish an early five-point edge. That advantage grew to nine just over three minutes later following back-to-back triples from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/zvonimir-ivisic\/15207\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/zvonimir-ivisic\/15207\">Zvonimir Ivisic<\/a>\u00a0and Mirkovic, who reached double figures within the first eight minutes of play.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Buckeyes briefly went in front with five minutes remaining in the frame, but an 11-0 Illini run saw the visitors grab a double-digit lead for the first time with two minutes to go in the period.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Up by as many as 10 in the first half, the Orange and Blue eventually went into halftime with a 48-42 advantage. Three Illini scorers posted 10+ points across the opening 20 minutes, led by a team-high 14 points from Wagler, while Illinois shot 53.6% from the field before the break.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the game tied at 53 early in the second half, the Illini pieced together an 8-2 scoring stretch go ahead once again. The home side ended a scoreless drought of over three minutes before the Orange and Blue claimed the game&#8217;s next five points to take a 66-58 advantage halfway through the final frame.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both sides went to the free throw line several times over the next five minutes, though the Illini maintained their advantage by going 7-for-8 from the charity stripe during that time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Wagler 3-pointer, his third of the night, ended a three-minute stretch without an Illinois field goal, lengthening the away side&#8217;s lead to eight with just under three minutes remaining. After Ohio State trimmed its deficit to three with 1:19 to play,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fightingillini.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/tomislav-ivisic\/14520\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-original-href=\"\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/tomislav-ivisic\/14520\">Tomislav Ivisic<\/a>\u00a0knocked down a 3-pointer, his first points of the second half, which saw the Illini advantage grow to 82-76 with 46 seconds left on the clock.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Illini eventually closed out the victory from the free throw line to improve to 1-0 in conference play and 8-2 overall.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#13 Illinois returns to State Farm Center on Saturday afternoon to host its Big Ten home opener against #23 Nebraska. The opening tip for the top-25 clash between the Fighting Illini and the Cornhuskers is slated for 3 p.m. CT on Peacock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2013\u00a0#13 Illinois opened Big Ten play with a hard-fought 88-80 road victory over Ohio State on Tuesday night. Keaton Wagler\u00a0finished with a career-high 23 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-24804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball","tag-sports-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-10T12:27:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Millie Lange\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Millie Lange\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Millie Lange\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2\"},\"headline\":\"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-10T12:27:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":483,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Sports Featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Basketball\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/\",\"name\":\"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-10T12:27:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/sports\\\/basketball\\\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2\",\"name\":\"Millie Lange\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/millie-lange\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2025-12-10T12:27:44+00:00","author":"Millie Lange","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Millie Lange","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/"},"author":{"name":"Millie Lange","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2"},"headline":"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State","datePublished":"2025-12-10T12:27:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/"},"wordCount":483,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Sports Featured"],"articleSection":["Basketball"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/","name":"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-10T12:27:44+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/basketball\/24804-illinois-opens-big-ten-play-with-hard-fought-victory-over-ohio-state\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Illinois Opens Big Ten Play With Hard-fought Victory Over Ohio State"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0ecf2a966f6bc51e38a364270d9d4aa2","name":"Millie Lange","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/millie-lange\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Millie Lange","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24805,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24804\/revisions\/24805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}