Ohio State forward E.J. Liddell is a native of Illinois. In fact, he’s a two-time Mr. Basketball in the state. So, you can’t necessarily blame the Illini fans for being upset about one of their own getting away to the Buckeye state.
According to Liddell, however, those fans crossed the line during the game with Ohio State on Thursday. He took to his Twitter account the day after OSU’s 86-83 win in Champaign and admonished the fans wearing orange inside the State Farm Center.
It started with some remarks about it being nice to be back in the state and loving the environment after Liddell scored 21 points, grabbed six rebounds, and blocked four shots to help lead Ohio State to a huge victory, one that kept the Buckeyes in the conference title race.
1/4: Was too late to tweet something out after the game yesterday but man did I have a great time! Got to see my best friend, some family, and a lot of fans of mine from home. Great environment I loved the boos and the chants, they made me feel special.
— E.J. Liddell (@EasyE2432) February 25, 2022
Liddell then went on to call out Illinois fans for some comments that were personal and went beyond gamesmanship.
2/4: But I can’t even explain how rude and disrespectful some fans were. Know your place. I have no hard feelings with that university but man y’all are crazy as hell if you think you can just talk to an athlete any kind of way. I play basketball everyday with a smile on my face.
— E.J. Liddell (@EasyE2432) February 25, 2022
The comments from some Illinois fans were predictably hateful back to Liddell, but he wasn’t done finishing his thoughts on how some things said by the Illini faithful were extremely disrespectful and uncalled for.
4/4: Wasn’t playing the best at the beginning lol. Happy my family didn’t get a chance to make it due to the weather but man I’m glad they only heard things that was said through TV. All aside I had a great time! Some fans just need to get over that I didn’t pick their school.
— E.J. Liddell (@EasyE2432) February 25, 2022
If you want to really dig into some of the comments in the thread that pretty much tells you all you need to know about whether or not some inside the arena were disrespectful and erased a competitive line, we’ll let you dive in yourself.
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