MSU Needs to Make a Statement Against Illinois

The Michigan State Spartans have gotten out to a great start to the season, with a 15-2 record. But they haven't proven themselves against the best of the best in the conference quite yet.

Michigan State's head coach Tom Izzo calls out to players during the first half in the game against Florida Atlantic on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is correct, the expectations on his team need to be tapered. Yes, this is their best start in the Big Ten this decade. Yes, this is their first ten-game winning streak since 2019, the last season they went to the Final Four. But something is still missing, the Spartans need to show what they can do against high-quality teams.

Starting 6-0 in conference play is great, but it is what they were supposed to do. By no means did Michigan State face a murderer’s row of competition to get out to this start. It has been quite the opposite, with all six of their conference wins coming against teams in the bottom seven of the Big Ten standings. However, in the Spartans' defense, not every team at the top of the standings can beat Minnesota on the road.

The Spartans will be able to test their skills against a true Big Ten contender on Sunday when they host Illinois. Sure, Michigan State has a better record, at 15-2, but Illinois has weathered the storm against better opponents. 

The No. 19 team in the nation has great wins and very good losses, which matters to the committee in March. Putting up 109 points in regulation on the road against the No. 13 Oregon Ducks is very impressive. They also hung with the best of the best, almost nipping the No. 1 team at the time, the Tennessee Volunteers, in Knoxville.

Michigan State has played ranked teams, but their resume against top teams has aged poorly. At the time, the Spartans going blow for blow with the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks in the Champions Classic was seen as a moral victory for an inexperienced team. But since then, the Jayhawks have faltered, dropping games to unranked teams like Creighton, Missouri and West Virginia. 

And for Michigan State’s best win, their triumphant overtime victory over the No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels in Maui, has not aged gracefully either. The Tar Heels have lost every big game they’ve played this season. Dropping contests to three ranked SEC opponents by an average of 11 points. 

This Spartans’ win over a blue-blood was supposed to be a cornerstone to their argument as a contender, but now the Tar Heels find themselves outside the top 25 of the AP Poll. 

Izzo has stated that even with these wins to begin the season, his team is nowhere close to where he wants them to be and that they still have plenty of room to improve. Over the last three games, the Spartans have given up over 40 points in the second half, something Izzo has categorized as a problem.

In no way is this an argument for why the Spartans are pretenders, but it is an argument for why Michigan State needs to show up against the Fighting Illini. With a win, the Spartans can vault themselves into the top ten and gain a secure cushion at the top of the Big Ten standings. But with a loss, they may need to look inward and investigate how real their start truly is.

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