No. 6 Michigan State 87, Illinois 74



What happened

CHAMPAIGN -- The Illini didn't have a problem getting up for the sixth-ranked team in the country on Monday night in their return to the State Farm Center. The issue was staying up.

Michigan State (18-3, 6-2) showed off its hang time in a dunk-filled display that resulted in an 87-74 win for the Spartans. Different level athletes.

Miles Bridges led the Spartans with a game-high 31 points with eight rebounds. Jaren Jackson Jr. wowed with 21 points, 11 boards and six blocks. Those two had what seemed like more dunks than Illinois has all season. And that's why they'll be first-round draft picks next year.

The Illini kept it tight in the first half with an aggressive effort on the defensive end by forcing 15 turnovers. They turned those into 14 points at the other end. But Michigan State shot 78.9 percent in the first half, and Cassius Winston's three gave the Spartans a 39-32 advantage going into halftime.

Michigan State came out hot to start the second half, as an early 7-0 run put them up 48-36 at the 17:25 mark. A dunk by Gavin Schilling extended that lead to 64-46 with just more than 10 minutes to go. There was more of that to come.

Jackson grabbed a board, went coast to coast and threw one down with his left hand to take it back up to 18 with 4:28 to go. Those are things Illinois can't combat.

The Illini didn't quit fighting, but they weren't able to cut it down to single digits until there was just 1:03 left in the game. And Michigan State closed it down at the free-throw line.

Kipper Nichols scored a career-high 27 points after going scoreless in five minutes at Wisconsin. And the Illini finished the game by forcing 25 turnovers, which was the most since 2005 against Arizona.

On the other side, Michigan State set a State Farm Center record for the highest field goal percentage for an opponent at 68.2 percent.

And there's one more touch of history that doesn't sit well with the home squad. Illinois is 0-8 in Big Ten play, which ties the worst start to the conference since 1906-07.

What it means

Brad Underwood will take that level of effort that he got out of his team. He will sleep much better on Monday night than he did on Friday night after Wisconsin. The Illini were disruptive defensively. They attacked at that end of the floor. They played hard and they were tough. But in terms of athletes, size and talent, the Illini were in the wrong weight class. Those are areas that need significant upgrades to expedite the rebuild time. And as Tom Izzo noted after the game, Underwood doesn't have everything he needs to play the kind of basketball that he wants. Monday was a positive step for the culture. But it was yet another loss. Ultimately, the true value of this performance will be judged in how Illinois follows it up on Wednesday. The Illini aren't good enough to win this kind of game. But they shouldn't be winless.

What's next

The Illini will have their fourth one-day prep of the season, as they host Indiana (12-8, 5-3) on Wednesday at the State Farm Center. The Hoosiers defeated Maryland 71-68 on Monday night in Bloomington behind a game-high 25 points from Juwan Morgan. Head coach Archie Miller has Indiana in a tie for fifth in the Big Ten standings after winning four of five. The Hoosiers are just 1-5 in true road games this season. But they have won the last four matchups with Illinois.