Michigan State basketball: 3 takeaways from Illinois loss

For a second straight game, Michigan State basketball failed to get it done on the road. What’d we learn from the Illinois loss?

Michigan State basketball went on the road Thursday night for its second straight matchup in the state of Illinois, this time taking on the No. 10 Fighting Illini. The Spartans once again came away with a loss, 71-68.

That makes two straight losses in a row for the Spartans and a 9-7 record. To make matters even worse, that drops them to 1-4 in conference play.

Here are three takeaways from the loss to Illinois.

1. Someone has to step up when Tyson Walker is ‘struggling’

Let me preface this by saying that Tyson Walker still had a solid game. He finished with 17 points on 8-of-17 shooting, so not great but not terrible either. The part where Tyson wasn’t on in this game was from 3-point range. He shot 1-for-7 from deep which is very uncharacteristic of him.

Some of those shots were extremely unlucky. I can think of two or three that were halfway down and popped out at the last second. Nothing you can do when that happens. But when his shot isn’t falling others need to step up.

We also missed Tyson for about a seven-minutes stretch in the second half after he picked up a questionable third foul and injured his leg. I thought the guys did a good job at staying in the game without Tyson on the floor, but it seemed like the second he checked back in everyone expected him to just take over. This team may be becoming a little too reliant on Walker’s heroics, so when he’s struggling or on the bench with foul trouble, others need to step up more regularly.

2. Malik Hall: The good and the bad

Malik Hall had a pretty solid bounce-back game against Illinois. The game before against Northwestern, he failed to register a single stat, but against the Illini, he finished 14 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. This is an amazing response to the awful game he had against Northwestern.

But Malik wasn’t perfect on Thursday. Especially in the second half, he seemed to be forcing the issue a lot and took a lot of ill-advised shots. I know my first point was others need to step up when Tyson is struggling, and maybe this is what Malik was trying to do. But stepping up doesn’t mean playing outside of your game.

Hall took a lot of shots he usually doesn’t take in this game. I get that he was playing well and feeling confident, so by all means try to take some of these shots. But when they aren’t falling you can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again. At some point, he needs to let the game come to him instead of trying to force the issue.

3. This loss puts the pressure on the rest of the season

On paper, a three-point road loss to the No. 10 team in the country really doesn’t sound that bad. But when you combine it with all the other losses Michigan State basketball has and its preseason expectations, the pressure is starting to ramp up.

If MSU had won three or four other games that it lost, the Spartans probably wouldn’t panic after this loss. They’d probably be happy with the effort and excited to get our revenge against them in East Lansing in February. But we don’t have the luxury to think that way.

Every game for the rest of the season is extremely important. The Spartans won’t be winning the Big Ten and they won’t be earning a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. But this team is in serious jeopardy right now of missing the NCAA Tournament. Now I’m not predicting that they miss the tournament, by any means. The schedule does get more favorable the next month or so, but my confidence isn’t high enough with this team going into these “easier” games to feel confident they rattle off some wins.

The pressure is mounting and the team needs to respond. I still have faith in Tom Izzo and believe he, and the rest of the Spartans, will figure it out. I’d hate to be Rutgers right now because I have a feeling MSU will be fired up when they come to East Lansing on Sunday.