After a beatdown loss to Rutgers, Illinois Basketball continued their road trip traveling to East Lansing to take on the No. 19 ranked Michigan State Spartans.
The Illini needed a bounceback win if they wanted to stay in the race for a share of the Big Ten title. After being out-toughed by Rutgers in the previous game, Illinois came out and punched Michigan State in the mouth, leading most of the game and winning 79-74. This win improved the Illini record to 19-7 and 12-4 in the conference.
Here are the grades from the Illinois basketball win vs Michigan State.
Offense: A-
The offense for the Illini was very solid for most of the game. They went on a few stretches with having issues scoring, but it was a solid team effort and the ball was moving.
Man, it was great to see Jacob Grandison break out of his shooting slump against the Spartans. He just went completely bananas from behind the three-point arc hitting six threes on 10 attempts.
Grandison finished with 24 points, five assists, and five rebounds. Over Grandison’s previous four games, he was just 4-of-17 from three-point range. He had really been struggling on both ends of the floor, but not in this one.
The man in the middle also had a solid game as usual. Kofi Cockburn scored 27 points and hit some clutch free throws going 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.
Trent Fraizer hit the biggest shot in the game after struggling from the field in the first 30 minutes of action. He would hit a long three-pointer to push the lead to five points, which pretty much sealed the game. He finished with 12 points.
Defense: B+
The Illinois defense was also very solid against Michigan State, especially in the first half when they held the Spartans to 22 points. They were also held to 9-of-29 (31%) from the field, and Illinois forced them into seven turnovers.
The second half was a different story as Michigan State scored 52 points. A lot of that had to do with Tyson Walker going absolutely crazy. That kid couldn’t miss, scoring 24 of his 26 points off the bench in the second half.
I also can’t forget to mention the absolute monster block Coleman Hawkins had on Malik Hall in the second half. Hawkins made some great plays down the stretch.
Overall Grade: A-
All in all, this was a huge road win for the Illini as they stay tied atop the Big Ten with Purdue. Anytime you can beat a ranked Big Ten team on the road is a big deal.
I was really impressed with the minutes Hawkins gave in this one on both ends of the floor. The play he made off an offensive rebound with a one-handed pass to Trent Fraizer as the clock expired was fantastic. Hawkins may be earning more minutes with the way he has played the last few games.
Illinois returns home for a tough matchup against EJ Liddell and No.18 Ohio State on February 24 at 8:00 p.m. CT.