CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 10 Illinois fought off a late Spartan rally to return to winning ways and secure a 71-68 home win over Michigan State at State Farm Center on Thursday night. The victory moved the Fighting Illini to 3-1 in Big Ten play as the Orange and Blue remained unbeaten in Big Ten home games this season.
Five Illini scorers finished in double digits in the three-point win, including a career-high 15-point effort from Ty Rodgers. Hitting double figures midway through the first half before finishing with the best scoring outing of his career, Rodgers clinched a double-digit scoring mark for the fourth time this season while also amassing an offensive rebound and one block.
Coleman Hawkins, reaching double figures for the seventh consecutive outing, scored 15 points while also tacking on seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Hawkins' four blocks matched a career-best mark for the Illini senior.
Justin Harmon knocked down multiple 3-pointers for the third time in his last four games en route to 10 points, his fourth time in double figures this season. Harmon also grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists.
Marcus Domask tallied 13 of his 15 points in the second half, and he accumulated six rebounds and five assists in his sixth straight game in double digits.
Quincy Guerrier extended his streak in double figures to seven games with a 10-point performance. Guerrier also grabbed six rebounds and a block.
Setting the tone early with a Hawkins block on the Spartans' first trip down the court, the Fighting Illini took a quick 8-3 advantage via six points from Rodgers. A 7-0 Illini run over the course of 74 seconds helped the home side extend their lead to nine points with just over nine minutes to play in the opening period.
Rodgers moved into double figures for the fourth time this season after powering past his defender near the halfway point in the first half. The Illini guard knocked down his first five attempts from the field during that run.
After the Spartans battled back to cut their deficit to two, another 7-0 run from the hosts pushed the Illini's edge back to nine points. Domask's first points of the night capped off that scoring stretch, which spanned just 54 seconds with just over three minutes to play.
Illinois eventually went into the break with a 37-34 advantage, led by a game-high 11 first-half points from Rodgers. The Illini capitalized on five Spartan turnovers, tallying seven points on those takeaways through 20 minutes of first-half action.Â
After Michigan State took a six-point edge early in the frame, a Domask triple and back-to-back Guerrier buckets fueled a 7-0 Illinois run, putting the home side back in front, 49-48, and sending the State Farm Center crowd into a frenzy with 12 minutes left on the clock in the second half.
The Spartans knotted the game at 52, but the tie did not last long. Rodgers secured a new career-high scoring mark on a dunk before Hawkins hit his second trey to cap off a 7-0 run and force a Michigan State timeout with just under eight minutes to play. Hawkins' basket moved him into double figures for the seventh straight outing, and it rounded out a 17-4 scoring stretch for the Illini over the span of five-and-a-half minutes.
Hawkins splashed his third 3-pointer of the night one minute later to extend the Illini advantage to eight points with six-and-a-half minutes to play before the Spartans cut their deficit to a single point with under two minutes to play.
Despite not making a field goal for over five minutes to close the game, the Illini went on a streak of seven made free throws to return to winning ways and seal the three-point victory.
No. 10 Illinois (12-3, 3-1 B1G) closes its two-game homestand at State Farm Center on Sunday, when the Fighting Illini welcome Maryland to Champaign. Sunday's tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCE
POSTGAME NOTES
PLAYER NOTES
- Ty Rodgers scored a career-high 15 points and added one rebound.
- Set a new season-high mark with 12 points in the first half.
- Matched his season-high point total (10) within the first 10 minutes of the contest.
- Fourth double-digit scoring performance of the season and his second in his last four games.
- Marcus Domask scored 15 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.
- Has poured in double figures scoring in six-straight contests.
- Has scored at least 15 points in four of those games.
- Has at least five assists in five-straight games.
- Coleman Hawkins scored 15 points, secured seven rebounds, had two assists, four blocks and two steals.
- Has scored in double figures in seven-straight games.
- Went 3-for-5 from deep, his sixth-consecutive game with multiple 3-pointers.
- Matched his career-best mark in blocks.
- Justin Harmon scored 10 points and added four rebounds and two assists.
- Went 2-for-4 from behind the arc.
- Has multiple makes from deep in three of his last four games.
- Quincy Guerrier scored 10 points, had six rebounds and one assist.
- Seventh-straight double-digit scoring performance.
- Has grabbed at least six boards in six-straight contests.
TEAM NOTES
- Five different Illini scored in double figures tonight.
- At least four Illini scored in double figures for the sixth-straight game.
- All seven Illini that saw the floor in the first half scored.
- Illinois scored 11 points off of seven Michigan State turnovers.
- The Illini blocked six shots tonight.
- Have blocked at least four shots in five of their last six.
- Illinois made seven 3-pointers tonight, their 10th-straight game with at least seven makes from beyond the arc.
- The Illini went 18-for-22 from the free throw line.
- Their eighth-straight game with at least 16 shots made from the charity stripe.
- Have made at least 18 foul shots seven times during that span.
QUOTES
On the team's offensive balance:
"There's a lot of factors. Obviously, we were making the push toward booty ball, for lack of a better term, with Ty and Marcus. I think everybody's finally starting to see that Coleman's a really, really good shooter. We're starting to see the maturity and growth of Justin Harmon playing at this level. I thought defensively tonight, he was spectacular. I think it's just the connectivity, playing in space, and we've been able to create a lot of space."
On Hawkins' defensive dominance:
"It's pretty special. It's pretty good when you're five-way switching, and they're running their five man up to set a ball screen, and you're switching your five man on the best guard in the league, and he's having success. Very few teams have that luxury. What makes Coleman great isn't his foot speed, or his vertical jump, or any of that. It's his instincts, his ability to anticipate, his IQ. He sees things a second before everybody else does, and that's pretty special."
On the deciding factors in the game given the narrow margin of victory:
"I think it was just having an understanding that they were gonna hit tough shots. They have the best guards in the league. We knew that they were coming off some losses. Coach Izzo didn't think they were playing very good basketball lately, so we knew we were gonna get their best shot. Being aware of that and having that understanding was big for us, and we didn't fold."
On getting back on track and moving to 3-1 in conference play:
"I think it's big because every Big Ten game counts. It's a win for us. It goes in the win column. It just puts us one way closer to what we're trying to accomplish. Whoever we play that night, whether it's a Big Ten game or not, we're gonna go out and compete."
On taking advantage of his matchups offensively:
"I'm just trying to continue to be myself. When they're sitting back, it creates advantages for our guards. There's just so many other things that you can do out of it to create advantages, not just for myself but for my teammates."
On the balanced offensive production:
"Nobody has an ego on this team. Everybody has one common goal, and that's to win the game. Every night, you're going to have somebody else. It might be Quincy's night. It might be Coleman. It might be Marcus. It might be Justin. We're all happy for each other. I think that's the biggest thing with this team, and it goes into why we're so connected."
