The Ohio State basketball team could be without star forward E.J. Liddell tonight in what could end up being the most important regular-season game of the year. The Buckeyes travel to Champaign to take on an Illinois team that is tied atop the Big Ten in the loss column. OSU is just one game back using that same metric, so getting a win would be huge. A loss would most likely end Ohio State’s shot at a regular-season conference crown.
According to an OSU spokesman, as reported by Eleven Warriors, Liddell has been “dealing with the flu for a couple of days,” and is questionable for tonight’s contest.
It is flu season after all, and Holtmann confirmed that one of his players wasn’t quite right for the game against Indiana on Monday but battled through it. Liddell didn’t have his typical game against Indiana, scoring just 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting. It wasn’t confirmed that the player was Liddell at the time, but it’s not hard to read between the lines.
If Liddell can’t go, OSU will have to rely heavily on Zed Key, Kyle Young, and perhaps Joey Brunk to try and get some points from the power forward position.
We’ll just have to see how it all plays out when the game tips off Thursday night. More to come.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on Twitter.
Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
