WATCH: Michigan State G Jaden Akins Speaks After Win Over Illinois

Michigan State senior guard Jaden Akins wasn't the scoring contributor he has been for much of the season in the No. 12 Spartans' victory over No. 19 Illinois on Sunday, but he was pleased to see his other teammates rise to the occasion.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. -- No. 12 Michigan State was able to defeat No. 19 Illinois on Sunday, despite its two leading scorers on the season -- senior guard Jaden Akins and freshman guard Jase Richardson -- finish in single digits in scoring.

For Akins, the team's top scorer so far this season, it didn't matter, as the veteran was pleased to see others shine in the spotlight he is so often in.

Akins addressed the media after the win.

You can watch some of his media availability 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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