Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Illini loss to Michigan State

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CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 22: Illinois Fighting Illini cheerleaders perform during the game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Michigan State Spartans on January 22, 2018 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

2. I was happy with how the team played

Let’s not get this misconstrued because I know some of you will. I am never happy losing games. I want Illinois to win every game they play and to be happy losing is not a good mentality. But, I was happy with how Illinois played and fought the entire night.

Illinois was seriously outmatched by Michigan State last night at every position. I love all of these Illini players, but literally at every position, the Spartans were a better team. The fact Illinois only lost by 13 points is actually not terrible.

The Illini held every player besides the two best players for Michigan State – Jaren Jackson and Miles Bridges – to under 10 points. But, those two big men dominated and had a combined 52 points. I blame this on the fact Illinois doesn’t have a big man that can play defense.

Michigan State shot an amazing number last night as well. They were 68.2-percent from the field but let’s take a step back and realize what this number really was. Jackson and Bridges combined for 16-of-19 from the field. They were the main scorers but most of their points came at the rim. They were throwing backdoor alley-oops the entire night because of Illinois’ lack of size.

I am not going to look too much into what the Spartans did because Illinois has some deficiencies that they can’t fix. What I want to look at is how the Illini played, which wasn’t bad. Kipper Nichols went off for 27 points. He was fun to watch. Leron Black and Trent Frazier went for 12 and 13 points, respectively.

Mark Smith hit a three-pointer and shot 50-percent from the field. He also had six points, two steals and two assists. It was good to see him getting more acclimated to the college game.

I was a little surprised Greg Eboigbodin only played 11 minutes, though. He had three rebounds in that time but I think he could have been used more to help prevent the Michigan State big men from dominating.

Overall, I was happy with how the Illini played. They were extremely overmatched here but they played well and fought hard. I couldn’t have asked for more.

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