No. 10 Michigan State is facing real adversity for the first time this season. A matchup against the hottest team in the Big Ten only adds to the Spartans’ concerns.
No. 5 Illinois rides a 12-game winning streak into Saturday’s clash versus Michigan State at East Lansing, Mich.
Michigan State (19-4, 9-3 Big Ten) lost last weekend at home to rival Michigan, then hit the road and wound up with a bad loss, falling to Minnesota 76-73 on Wednesday. The Golden Gophers snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Reserve guard Divine Ugochukwu suffered a left foot injury in the first half of that game. He was ruled out for the remainder of the season on Friday.
Star point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. continues to injure his reputation. Wolverines coach Dusty May called out Fears for making dangerous plays in last week’s game, including an apparently intentional effort to trip a Michigan player in the late going.
Fears was assessed a technical foul on Wednesday for making a kicking motion to the groin of Minnesota guard Langston Reynolds after Reynolds fouled him.
Head coach Tom Izzo threatened to pull Fears from the starting lineup on Saturday.
“I did not see what happened on the play,” Izzo said. “I saw him get pushed and I saw his leg come up and I didn’t think he hit anybody, but if he did, then he deserves it, I guess. But if he didn’t, I questioned it. So are they baiting him? Well, of course. And it’s his fault.”
Izzo needs to get his team refocused quickly after its clunker in Minneapolis. The Spartans trailed virtually the entire game. They nearly erased a 16-point deficit in the late going but their woeful start — 21 first-half points — doomed them.
“What a strange game,” Izzo said. “I can’t figure out why we started out so poorly. Disappointed in my upperclassmen, if I was to be honest. And the coach, because the coach has to get a team ready, and playing three games in a row now that we have not been there at the beginning.”
The Illini were dominant throughout their last outing, pounding Northwestern, 84-44, on Wednesday. The Illini (20-3) are 11-1 in Big Ten play for the first time since the 2004-05 squad won its first 15 league games as part of 29 straight victories to open the season.
A change in defensive strategy has helped to fuel the Illini run.
“We’re giving up more (three-pointers) because we’re trying to not give up as many twos and as many layups,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “Those are 100 percent shots. … We’re going to give up some threes, but we’re going to count on not giving up twos and not giving up the 100 percent shots as much.”
The Illini barely gave up anything against the Wildcats, who went 19-for-65 from the field and just 4-for-25 from 3-point range. Northwestern coach Chris Collins heaped praise on the red-hot Illini afterward.
“They have tremendous length, so it’s really hard to score at the basket,” Collins said. “Their two-point defense is terrific. They’re doing such a good job eliminating your easy baskets. We took 25 threes. We needed to make double figures, and we only made four.”
Andrej Stojakovic had a team-high 17 points for Illinois against Northwestern.
