Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over Michigan State

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Jan 13, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard A.J. Hoggard (11) drives to the basket against Illinois Fighting Illini forward Dain Dainja (42) during the second half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

It wasn’t easy by any means, but the Illinois basketball team came away with a big win over Michigan State on Friday night.

The Illini didn’t look great in the first half. Despite the lackluster first 20 minutes, we were only down by four points going into the halftime locker room. Illinois came out in the second half and dug a nine-point hole quickly. At this point, I wasn’t feeling good about the end result.

Illinois then turned on another gear. We started to run the court well and hit shots. The energy picked up, and Michigan State was not ready for it. A quick 10-0 run by the Illini and just like that, we had the lead. Illinois would lay on the gas pedal and cruise to a 75-66 win over the Spartans.

Here are five observations from the Illinois basketball win over Michigan State.

1. Illinois shut Michigan State down from deep

Coming into the game on Friday night, Illinois had been playing some pretty good defense beyond the three-point arc. We had held the past two opponents to worse than 29% from three-point range.

For the season, Illinois was allowing opponents to shoot 32.4% from the three-point arc, which ranked No. 121 in the nation. A goal I had was to hold Michigan State to 32% or worse from deep. I figured, if we were able to accomplish this goal, Illinois would have a pretty good chance of winning.

Not only did the Illini accomplish this goal, but we went above and beyond and completely shut down the Spartans from three-point range.

On Friday night, Michigan State would go 0-of-7 from three-point land, which is 0.0% for those keeping track at home. The bad three-point shooting spanned across their entire starting five. This result came as a huge surprise, as Michigan State is not a bad three-point shooting team.

The Spartans are actually very efficient from long range. This season, they are hitting their three-point shots at a clip of 37.8%, which ranks No. 33 in the nation.

This was an insane feat for the Orange and Blue. Illinois hasn’t held an opponent to zero three-pointers since 2008. That counter has now reset. The Illini came away with a big win on Friday night, and it had a lot to do with three-point defense.

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