Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast: Recapping Spartans' Win Over Illinois

No. 12 Michigan State was triumphant in its top-20 matchup with No. 19 Illinois on Sunday, defeating the Fighting Illini, 80-78. Our Aidan Champion recaps the contest on this episode of the Michigan State Insider Podcast.
Michigan State's Jaden Akins, center, celebrates after Illinois' last shot was no good during the second half on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Michigan State's Jaden Akins, center, celebrates after Illinois' last shot was no good during the second half on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- No. 12 Michigan State made a statement on Sunday, defending its home court against one of the top teams in the Big Ten, No. 19 Illinois, 80-78.

It was a hard-fought contest down to the very end, and one that took second-half adjustments from the Spartans for them to be able to finish down the stretch and pull out the gritty victory.

It was yet another complete team effort from the Green and White, as 10 Spartans got in the scoring column, with three finishing in double figures -- junior guard Tre Holloman (17), sophomore forward Coen Carr (11) and senior forward Frankie Fidler (11).

Our Aidan Champion breaks down Michigan State's victory on this latest postgame edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast. You can watch below:

Below is a partial transcript from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's opening statement of his presser:

Izzo: "Wow, just another day in paradise, I guess. But I hope our fans appreciated one of the better games. I mean, it was a crazy game, and I know we were both complaining about calls and this and that, but I thought two teams really competed. I said this before the game, and now I'll say it after the game: I really do believe they're the best team in the league right now. I'm not slighting us, I’m not slighting Purdue, I'm not slighting Michigan or anyone else. I just think, right now, that was a tough team to play. And we did make some mistakes early that really bothered us, because they were scouting report mistakes. And then we missed some free throws early, and they made some shots. I mean, the kid, [Will] Riley, has not been playing well lately, and he had 16 and a halftime. He was unbelievable. And you have Kasparas [Jakucionis], got in foul trouble, that helped us, I mean, there's no question about it. I love the kid [Dra] Gibbs-Lawhorn, tough. I mean, they play hard -- [Morez] Johnson -- they play hard, but we did a hell of a job on [Ben] Humrichous. … Had a lot of good players. I thought we did a decent job on [Kylan] Boswell. We didn't take many 3s, it was because of the way they guarded. We thought we could go inside, we did. We weren't very good in rebounding in the first 10 minutes of the game. They scored 26 points. Second 10, they scored 10 points, and we ended up losing the rebound battle by 1. But that team is really good; we're both 1, 2 in the league in rebounding."

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Aidan Champion
AIDAN CHAMPION