Defense, Intensity Carry Spartans Past Illini

If you’ve read my previous articles, you already know that I have often accused this Spartan team of playing without passion. And on most of those occasions, I believe I was right- there had previously been no on-court leadership, no chest pounding, no jersey pulling, and no defensive players slapping the floor in the heat of battle. Today, however, all of that was vindicated.

 

The Spartans sealed at least a share of the Big Ten Title for the first time in nearly a decade with their 74-66 win over 20^th ranked Illinois on Sunday afternoon in a raucous Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois. The team was able to overcome a strong second half push by the Illini, which saw Michigan State’s biggest lead of 11 points trimmed all the way down to a tie game at 58 after Korie Lucious turned over the ball at mid court for an easy Illinois bucket. An indicative sign of the Spartan’s passion in this game came seconds later when Tom Izzo quickly called a timeout: Near the sideline, team captain Travis Walton slammed the ball on the ground, sought out Lucious, and immediately chided him on the court for the lazy pass. And with about 9:30 left in the game, after a Spartan basket, Walton came back down the court, turned around at the timeline, squared up the Illinois guard, and symbolically slammed his palms onto the ground- a sign that this team wanted this win, badly.

 

The Spartans never trailed in this game after jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game. The first half consisted of back and forth running and the speed of the game resembled anything but a Big Ten pace. However, it quickly slowed down in the second half, and the Illini were able to creep back into the game led by Mike Tisdale who scored 15 points for Illinois. At times, Tisdale looked like he might single handedly lead Illinois to a victory. He was able to get into the paint, and was a head taller than any MSU player. Senior Goran Suton tried hard defend the 7-footer, but found himself in foul trouble, and with 11.2 seconds left in the game, a close-up of Suton revealed a shiner under his left eye- a fitting image to represent the physical battle that took place in the paint.

 

Additionally, some strong coaching moves by Coach Izzo helped contain Tisdale as the game wound down. In the second half, Izzo wisely sent MSU’s tallest player, Idong Ibok, into the game to help size up Tisdale. The effects of this move were quickly visible as Tisdale slowly crept out to the three point line, and on his only drive against Ibok, he watched the ball sail out of bounds after “ID” had swatted the lay-up attempt.

 

The Big Ten champs were led by Sophomore Kalin Lucas who scored a game high 18 points and dished 4 assists while only turning the ball over once. The Spartans also got a much needed contribution from Raymar Morgan who scored 14 points and pulled in 6 boards, while also knocking down two key free throws in the waning seconds of the game-his best performance since returning from a debilitating illness.

 

All in all, the Spartans put together a fantastic road game against an inspired Illini team. The student section yelled at outrageous decibels on senior night, but failed to rattle the Spartans who played as if they were quite inspired themselves.

 

The upcoming week will see the Spartans travel to Indiana where a win could lock up sole possession of the Big Ten crown. On paper, there is no way the Spartans should lose; if they play as intensely as they did tonight, there’s no way they will.