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In the second-straight game without star center Kofi Cockburn, Illinois basketball faired well against Michigan State through the majority of the game, leading for all but two minutes. But when the No. 10 Spartans started to come back late in the second half, the Illini counted on their defense to secure the win. A couple strong defensive stands by Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk and Da'Monte Williams along with a last-second missed free throw secured the 56-55 win for Illinois. Tuesday night's victory against the Spartans moves the Illini to first place in the Big Ten with seven conference wins.
"I told the team, I wrote it on the board, culture win," head coach Brad Underwood said. "That's what tonight was and I couldn't be prouder and happier for a group guys in that locker room than I was tonight. Who gave us a chance? Who would have thought? You got two preseason All-Americans, arguably the best player in college basketball, but doesn't matter how many men are down, doesn't matter, doesn't matter. Man, when you got character and you got guys that are together, you can do a lot of things. Part of which is go almost 10 minutes and don't score, get outrebounded 14, but you find a way."
The Illini were also missing Andre Curbelo Tuesday night, prompting a 16-point performance from Trent Frazier who also dished out five assists. In the first half, Frazier scored 10 points and moved into the program's top-10 all-time scoring list. Alfonso Plummer added 11 points on the night, making three three-pointers; he added four assists without turning the ball over in his 36 minutes of play.
Illinois' defense stepped up in big moments on Tuesday, limiting the Spartans to 29% shooting from the field in the first half. Coming into the game head coach Brad Underwood said one of the team's goals was to limit Michigan State's three-point makes; the Illini succeeded, allowing just three makes from behind the arc.
Michigan State jumped out to an early lead, making the first couple baskets while Illinois missed its first three shot attempts. But after a delayed offensive start, the Illini were unstoppable for the next six minutes.
Luke Goode, who was first off the bench for the Illini, nailed a three to tie the game up at 7-7. A Frazier heater followed as the guard made a reverse layup and a deep three to put the Illini up 12-7. After a couple scoreless minutes from the Spartans, Julius Marble made a layup but Alfonso Plummer fired back with his first trey of the night.
The Illini defense continued to bother the Spartans, forcing them into another scoreless couple minutes. In the meantime, Frazier made a lefty layup, marking the seventh straight make for Illinois.
But the perfect six-minute streak ended for the Illini after a missed layup while the Spartans snapped their drought with a pair of free throws. Illinois' offense struggled to get anything to fall while Gabe Brown made a fast break dunk for Michigan State to get within three points.
Michigan State would hold onto 14 points for the next five minutes as Illinois locked in on defense. Illinois' offense picked itself back up as Payne dished it out to Plummer for a three then slammed an alley-oop from Frazier on the next possession. Payne stayed hot as he blocked a shot, helped force a shot clock violation then made a hook shot as the Illini went up 24-14.
Illinois had another tough offensive stretch, missing seven consecutive shots, but only allowed four points as Walker and Bingham scored. However, the Illini ended the half by making four of their final five shots while the Spartans made just one.
Goode made his second three of the night while Grandison and Bosmans-Verdonk made layups. Walker ended the run with a jumper, but a three from Grandison would be the final make of the half, putting Illinois up 34-20.
"The first thing is keep them out of transition," Underwood said. "And you got to do that. Michigan State's one of the elite transition teams. We had a little segment in the first half where they got going. Gabe hit one and had an and-1, but I thought we guarded their actions. I don't think it was as much their point guards as it was they run a lot of pin down screens, they run a lot of what we call floppy action. I thought we guarded that pretty well and made them shoot some contested shots."
Frazier led Illinois at halftime with 10 points as the team shot 48% from the field.
The Illini got into foul trouble early in the second half as the Spartans started off with a 7-2 run. Just a couple minutes into the half, Bosmans-Verdonk had three fouls, sending Payne into the game. The big man immediately made an and-1, assisted by Plummer then blocked a shot on defense.
But after a three from Goode to put Illinois up 42-27, Payne was called for his third and fourth fouls and he headed back to the bench. With over 14 minutes to go, Michigan State was already in the bonus.
"I thought Luke Goode was phenomenal. Not just because he made threes, but I thought his defense was great," Underwood said. "He shoots it every day and he works. And the hardest thing for freshmen is to understand that when you go to practice, most days, you're helping your team. You're not helping your own game. And you have to do that. And Luke's that guy that gets extra work every single day, gets an extra lift every single day. He shoots a million balls. He's on the scout team. He doesn't run our plays. Usually he's running what the opponent does, and yet he's cerebral. He's tougher than heck."
Marble and Brown each made shots to shrink the deficit, but Frazier weaved through multiple defenders to sink layups and back-to-back possessions. While a three from Brown got the Spartans within single digits of the Illini, Plummer made a couple treys to extend the lead.
The Spartans wouldn't back down, going on a 7-0 run while the Illini failed to score for three minutes. Bosmans-Verdonk ended the drought with a shot down low, but Michigan State came right back with a layup. After a couple free throws from Frazier, Hauser hit another jumper to bring Illinois' lead down to 56-50 with under four minutes to play.
While Michigan State's offense started to heat up, Illinois' went cold as it went scoreless for four minutes. Meanwhile, Malik Hall scored four straight points with a jumper and free throws. Illinois held onto a slim 56-54 lead with just under a minute to play. Both teams had late opportunities from the free throw line, but Illinois secured the win after Michigan State split a pair of free throws at the final second.
Illinois will stay close to home this weekend, traveling up to Northwestern for a Saturday afternoon matchup. The Illini will return back home next Wednesday to host No. 11 Wisconsin.
POSTGAME NOTES
• Illinois got back in the win column, snapping a two-game losing streak. The Illini are 7-2 in Big Ten play.
• Illinois is 10-9 against top-10 teams in the Underwood era, including 9-4 over the last three years.
• Illinois is the winningest team over the last three Big Ten seasons with a 36-13 (.735) record.
• Illinois is 21-3 in its last 24 games against Big Ten opponents.
• Illinois won a game when it was outrebounded for the first time this season (1-4).
• Illinois won despite not scoring in the final 5:32.
• Illinois shot only 3-for-7 from the free throw line. Yet, Illinois has won six straight games when shooting under 50% from the line dating back to the start of the 2020 calendar year.
• Illinois was missing preseason All-Big Ten selections Kofi Cockburn and Andre Curbelo.
• Trent Frazier moved into the top-10 of Illinois' all-time career scoring with 16 points tonight and 1,664 for his career. Frazier ranks in the Illini top 10 in career games played (second), 3-pointers (third), steals (sixth), and minutes (sixth).
