No. 12 Michigan State Locks in Down the Stretch to Come Away With 80-78 Win Over No. 19 Illinois
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Sunday's meeting between No. 12 Michigan State and No. 19 Illinois was one of those games that Coach Tom Izzo's program lives for.
A top-20 Big Ten showdown in front of a packed Breslin Center on a Sunday afternoon in January -- it doesn't get much more "Michigan State basketball" than that.
In a game where the Spartans were down double digits early, they finished down the stretch, something they had failed to do in their previous three games, each of which they were able to win due to strong first halves.
Michigan State leaned on the efforts of junior guard Tre Holloman, who led all Spartans with 17 points, and sophomore forward Coen Carr and senior forward Frankie Fidler, who each finished with 11 points. Altogether, 10 Spartans ended up in the scoring column.
Illinois jumped out to a 7-2 start. It was Holloman who got Michigan State back into it, scoring two straight buckets while also sending one back on defense.
Illinois held a 7-6 lead with just over 3-and-a-half minutes gone in the contest. From there, though, the game started to get away from the Spartans.
The Fighting Illini went on a 11-2 run. Of those 11 points, 9 came from freshman guard Will Riley. He would finish the half with 16, though was held to just 3 in the second half. His 19 points were a still a game high.
The Spartans would find themselves down by as many as 10 but wouldn't allow the Illinois lead to grow any larger than that.
Michigan State began to find momentum towards the end of the first half, pulling to within 3 with a 6-0 run that included a triple from sophomore forward Xavier Booker and a converted and-1 from Akins.
Despite it having seemed like a rather lackluster first half for the Spartans, they would find themselves tied, 36-36, at the break.
In what was a battle between the top two rebounding teams in the Big Ten, the Illini won the effort on the glass in the first half, outrebounding Michigan State 25-17, with a drastic advantage offensively (11 offensive rebounds to the Spartans' four).
The game remained neck and neck to start the second half, though Michigan State was still unable to gain an edge for almost the first 9 minutes.
Illinois got up to a 5-point lead, its largest of the half. That lead quickly disappeared, however, as an alley-oop jam from Fears to junior center Carson Cooper and a corner 3-pointer from Carr made it an even contest again with just over 13 minutes remaining.
Shortly after, Fidler would drain one from beyond the arc to give Michigan State its very first lead of the game.
Those were the first points of a 12-3 run for the Spartans, one that put them up by 7 with just over 7-and-a-half minutes to go. The run was capped off by an epic alley-oop dunk by Carr and a converted and-1 from Fears.
Michigan State held onto the lead the rest of the way, though it had to fight until the very end for the victory.
Illinois made it a 1-point game with nearly a minute-and-a-half remaining and would have the opportunity to take the lead in the final 10 minutes, but a turnover from junior guard Kylan Boswell all but sealed the deal.
Michigan State prevailed, securing its 16th win of the year, its 11th straight victory, seventh win in conference play and 10th at home.
The Spartans will look to add to the streak when it heads out on the road to take on Rutgers at Madison Square Garden.
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