Michigan State basketball makes statement in win over Illinois

I don’t know about you, but it feels like that game took 10 years off my life. Michigan State basketball needed a statement win to silence the doubters who claimed it only beat bottom-tier teams in the Big Ten.

That changed on Sunday as Michigan State downed No. 19 Illinois 80-78 in a thriller.

It was fairly one-sided for the first 10-15 minutes of the game as Illinois wasn’t missing and Michigan State was turning the ball over and squandering opportunities to pull closer. Somehow, the Spartans were able to tie the game heading into halftime, 36-36.

The second half was more of a back-and-forth affair as the Spartans finally took a “comfortable” 66-59 lead before Illinois stormed back to pull within two before star player Kasparas Jakucionis fouled out. He only played a handful of minutes but couldn’t seem to stay out of foul trouble and a smart play by Frankie Fidler on a jumper got him to foul out and Michigan State needed to take advantage.

Unfortunately, their “big leads” of six and seven points didn’t last long as Illinois continued to battle back and even had a chance to tie it at 76 but a missed free throw kept it within a point. Michigan State held on to win 80-78, making a statement to all the doubters.

Sure, we’ll hear all about how Illinois was down its best player for most of the game, but this team still had to overcome some great play from freshman star Will Riley off the bench along with Kylan Boswell, and the Spartans didn’t exactly play their best game.

With the statement win, Michigan State basketball improved to 16-2 on the season and is 7-0 in the Big Ten. The Spartans are the only undefeated team left in conference play. More distance has been put between MSU and the Illini which is huge with 13 games left.

A statement has been made, now the Spartans have to continue to get better, make improvements, and be different.