3 Key Numbers From Illinois Basketball's Loss vs. Michigan State

The Illini let Spartans big man Jaxon Kohler find his flow, while they suffered a drought on the other end of the floor

Feb 15, 2025; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Jaden Akins (3) drives the ball past Illinois Fighting Illini guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (2) during the second half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – After winning two straight and with No. 11 Michigan State (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) stumbling into town after losing three of four, Illinois (17-9, 9-7 Big Ten) seemed poised for a massive home win Saturday night.

After leaping out to a 31-15 lead on hot shooting from long range, the Illini appeared well on their way to getting it, and extending their win streak.

YOUNG FELLA‼️@IlliniMBB freshman Will Riley showed off his skills on this pretty bucket.#B1GMBBall on @CBBonFOX 📺 pic.twitter.com/cy4z0ZqJwK

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 16, 2025

But the Spartans had other plans in mind, chipping away at Illinois' lead and shrinking the deficit to four points at the halftime break.

Then, after a back-and-forth battle for the first 10 minutes of the second half, Michigan State ran away with it, securing a 79-65 victory that pushed Tom Izzo atop the all-time Big Ten wins leaderboard and spoiling the jersey ceremony of former Illini All-American Terrence Shannon Jr.

For any Illini fan, the outcome was, by any objective measure, an enormous bummer. But here are the three key numbers that determined how we got there:

23

Heading into Saturday’s matchup, Michigan State big man Jaxon Kohler had shot just 8-for-32 (25.0 percent) from three-point range. Leaning into the analytics once more, the Illini sagged off Kohler, allowing him to put up uncontested triples – a choice that quickly proved to be the wrong one. Behind a 4-for-5 showing from three and numerous baby hooks in the paint, Kohler poured in a season-high 23 points and grabbed 10 boards to spark his Spartans.

5

Plus-five was the rebounding margin in this matchup – and not in Illinois’ favor. With a healthy Kasparas Jakucionis and Tomislav Ivisic, the Illini had previously lost the rebounding battle just once – in their home loss against then-No. 1 Tennessee. But on Saturday, Michigan State outrebounded the home squad 41-36, including 14 offensive rebounds that the Spartans turned into 18 second-chance points. With the loss, the Illini have now fallen to 0-4 in games in which they’ve lost the battle of the boards.

19

With 8:29 left in the contest, Ben Humrichous knocked down a jumper in the paint to give Illinois a 65-64 lead. From there, it all went downhill. After that shot, the Illini missed 19 straight field goals and were held scoreless. Meanwhile, Michigan State had no problems putting up points en route to finishing the game on a 15-0 run.

Worth noting: After shooting 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) on two-point field goals in the first half, the Illini put up more than half of their jumpers from three-point range in the second half. They kept chucking, shooting just 1-for-16 (6.3 percent) from long distance over the game's last 20 minutes.

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