Illinois basketball: Illini report card against the Michigan State Spartans

The Illinois basketball team dropped a tough one in East Lansing on Tuesday night, falling 82-71 to Tom Izzo and the Spartans.

I’m extremely happy that the Illinois basketball team has another game on Thursday because this was a game I’d like to forget as soon as possible. The Illini got off to their usual slow start in the first half on offense, but the second half comeback never came, eventually leading to a Big Ten conference loss.

The Offense: C-

I’m trying not to grade off of emotions, but the Illinois basketball team just looked bad offensively on Tuesday, despite putting up 72 points.

The Illini shot just 24-percent in the first half, which led them to trail Michigan State by 10 at the half. There was a five-minute stretch in the first half where the Illini did not score, which is very unusual from the normally highly potent offense. The 11 turnovers didn’t help the flow of the offense and going 19-of-34 from the free throw line will cost you some games as well.

The Defense: C

The defense looked solid for the first half, forcing Michigan State to take some tough shots. I tip my cap to both Aaron Henry, who put up 20 points and Joshua Langford who had 15 points.

Illinois’ defense just looked uninspired, and Michigan State came out and attacked. The Orange and Blue were simply not ready for it. Never count out a Tom Izzo team heading into March.

Trent Frazier: A

Trent Frazier was one of the few bright spots for the Illini on Tuesday night, putting up a team-high 22 points in 33 minutes.

Frazier shot over 50-percent from the field and 80-percent from the free-throw line. His 3 assists and 2 rebounds were a nice cherry on top to a good night. He also had another good defensive showing. Frazier kept this game much closer than it would have been without him, draining some big threes in the first half.

Ayo Dosunmu: B-

Ayo Dosunmu shot just 33-percent from the field in this one, going just 1-of-6 from three-point range. He did lead the team in minutes (36), rebounds (9), and assists (5). Ayo was the recipient of a shot to the face on a layup attempt, which resulted in a flagrant-two foul, so the main concern is his health moving forward.

Jacob Grandison: C+

Jacob Grandison didn’t have an amazing night by any means, but he does continue to be one of the more solid, hard-playing Illini day in and day out.

The Illini are now 8-1 with him in the starting lineup, and it appears Brad Underwood doesn’t have any plans of changing that soon. The Holy Cross transfer finished with 6 rebounds, 4 points, and 2 assists by the end of this one.

Kofi Cockburn: C

Kofi Cockburn was suffocated by the Spartans’ defense. Any time the Illini would get the ball to the big man, three Spartans were right on top of him.

I’d like to see Kofi kick the ball back out more to the perimeter when defenders shift to him. Despite this, he was able to put up 13 points. Going just 3-of-11 from the free throw line is what hurt him the most, and early foul trouble led him to play just 25 minutes.

Adam Miller: C-

Adam Miller is certainly prone to these “empty stat sheet nights”. He played 16 minutes, going 0-of-3 from the field, and his two points came solely from a trip to the free throw line.

The freshman didn’t run into any foul trouble, so maybe the playing time does start to diminish for him down the stretch as we get closer to March. That is something to keep an eye on.

The Bench: C-

The bench provided solid, but not great, play. Andre Curbelo had his best game in a while, putting up 12 points in 19 minutes.

The freshman went 5-of-7 from the field and had 4 rebounds and 2 assists. However, he did have three turnovers. Illinois basketball fans know he is prone to erratic passes at times, so this was no surprise.

Da’Monte Williams had the most playing time off the bench with 22 minutes. He snagged seven rebounds but did not put up a single shot in the game. Meanwhile, Giorgi Bezhanishvili went 0-of-3 from the field and looked a little out of it at times. He picked up two personal fouls and did not seem to have a great feel for the ball in this one.

One player I would be interested in seeing more minutes from is Coleman Hawkins. He plays great defense and gets things going offensively when he needs it. The Illini will look to get back on track on Thursday night against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in their final home game of the season.