Illinois (10-10, 2-5) vs. Ohio State (13-8, 5-3)Jan. 28, 2016 // 8 p.m. CT // Champaign, Ill. / State Farm Center (15,544)TV: BTN – Dave Revsine (Play-By-Play), Seth Davis (Analyst) Internet Stream: BTN2Go.comRadio: Fighting Illini Sports Network – Brian Barnhart, Jerry Hester Satellite Radio: Sirius – 81, XM – 81

The Fighting Illini are back in action Thursday night as they take on the Ohio State Buckeyes at the State Farm Center. In their last outing the Illini got a boost from the Orange Krush student section, who made the long trip to Minneapolis, and beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers in overtime. Now, the Illini will play in front of the Krush at the SFC as students are back in session. The largely sterile environment should now be raucous and energetic as they look to win their 2nd game in a row.

The Buckeyes team they are facing has been up and down much like the Illini, beating Kentucky back in December after losing 4 straight in November. They are 4-0 at home in league play but just 1-3 on the road, with a pair of blowout losses at Indiana and Maryland and a double digit defeat at the hands of Purdue. Which team of these Jekyll and Hyde squads will show up on Thursday night?

Here’s a look at the particulars.

* Illinois plays three of its next four games at home, beginning with Thursday night’s contest vs. Ohio State. This is a return match-up with Ohio State after the Buckeyes outlasted the Illini in Columbus, 75-73, on Jan. 3. Ohio State is one of five opponents the Illini face twice in conference play, along with Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Rutgers.

* The Illini are looking to win consecutive conference games since closing out last year’s home schedule with back-to-back victories over Northwestern (86-60, Feb. 25) and Nebraska (69-57, March 4).

* On the second of two made free throws with 2:26 remaining in overtime of Saturday’s win at Minnesota, junior Malcolm Hill became the 47th player in Fighting Illini history to reach the 1,000-point mark. Hill finished with 28 points, equaling his second-highest scoring total in a conference game.

* Illinois out-rebounded its first conference opponent on Saturday at Minnesota, 49-to-38. Redshirt freshman Michael Finke led the way with 16 boards, the highest rebounding total by an Illini in the last four seasons.

* Junior Malcolm Hill leads the Fighting Illini in total points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots on the season. He is one of just three players nationally to lead his team in all of those categories, joined by LSU’s Ben Simmons and Florida A&M’s Malcolm Bernard. Hill’s scoring average is the highest by an Illini since Brian Cook led the Big Ten in scoring in 2003 (20.0 ppg)

* Thad Matta is a win shy of the No. 14 spot all-time in career Big Ten regular season victories. Matta is currently 15th all-time with 137 career league triumphs. Arthur Lonborg, who coached Northwestern from 1928-50, currently holds the No. 14 spot with 138 career Big Ten regular season victories.

* Illinois leads the series with the Buckeyes, 101-70. The Buckeyes are 24-60 in Champaign. The Buckeyes have won the last five games vs. the Illini and 11 of the last 13. Ohio State has won the last seven in Columbus after a 75-73 win for the Buckeyes Jan. 3. Overall, Thad Matta is 16-5 vs. Illinois, including a 5-4 record in Champaign.

*John Groce listed 5th year senior big man Mike Thorne as day to day in Wednesday’s teleconference.

To foul or not to foul – The last time the Illini played the Buckeyes, Marc Loving hit 14-19 free throws and Ohio State shot 39 in all. Illinois shot 11. Except for that one game, where Ohio State had a 78 free throw rate, the Illini have played defense (or some semblance of defense) without fouling. If Ohio State shoots 39 free throws again, the Illini are in trouble.

Defense wins – Illinois had struggled mightily on defense in Big Ten play prior to the Minnesota game, but shut down the anemic Gophers. They used a 2-3 zone and a big lineup to slow down Minnesota and varied their defenses down the stretch to get a few key stops. Illinois needs a better defensive effort than they did the first time these two met.

Get Nunn going – Since scoring 22 points against Purdue, Kendrick Nunn is 13-40 from the floor and has just five free throw attempts in the past three games. He’s forced some bad shots, taken some shots out of rhythm, and hasn’t had the same defensive intensity of late. Everyone has ups and downs, but when a team has as many injuries as the Illini they need their alpha dog to lead them and bring the extra.

Illinois has been up and down, and perhaps the Minnesota game was a microcosm of the season. The Illini were good, then bad, then good, then good, etc. In reality Illinois didn’t play real well until the overtime against Minnesota, but at home with a full Orange Krush they should be able to pull of the win over the Buckeyes, 73-70.