This Illinois basketball team is now starting to stack up quality wins. And with the #11 Michigan State Spartans coming to town on Saturday night, for a nationally televised (on regular, free over-the-air television, not the usual subscription streaming service bs) marquee matchup, an opportunity for a true “signature win” awaits.
Illinois Basketball vs Michigan State Spartans FYIs
Tip: Sat. Feb. 15, 7pm local, Assembly Hall, Champaign, IL
ESPN Matchup Predictor: Illinois basketball 64.1% MSU 35.9%
Where we have Jase Richardson, Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley in our latest NBA Mock Draft
Kasparas Jakucionis piece: go here Will Riley feature: go here Jase Richardson article: go here
Illinois Basketball NCAA Tournament Resume: go here
#11 Michigan State Spartans Preview
While they’ve hit a bit of a tailspin recently, this MSU team has spent most of this season winning games in the typical Tom Izzo fashion- with excellent rebounding and elite defense.
The best way to sum up this team’s brand of basketball is by…actually, hearing a Purdue player talk about his own program. Yes, seriously.
“I think it’s just continuing to play the game of basketball the way that we play it,” Purdue center Caleb Furst said in an exclusive with RG. “Obviously, we don’t play it the same way that a lot of other teams do, when it comes to the amount of sets we run and how detailed not only our offense can be, but also our defensive principles can be, at times.
“Our coaches do a great job of kind of nailing that into our brains and ingraining that thought process. So, it kind of goes back to sticking with the fundamentals, and continuing to trust what got us to this point as a team, and as a program, and continue to do those things.”
Everything about those remarks, the Purdue mantra of “Defense Lives Here,” applies to State this season.
Jaden Akins is this team’s leading scorer, but Jase Richardson, son of MSU legend Jason Richardson, is the top pro prospect. And he thrives in road games. We caught up to him at Northwestern, where he discussed all the fans clad in green at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“It was amazing, it kind of felt like a home game for us,” he said. “When we had our runs, and they started to get loud for us.”
While this team is poor at shooting the three ball, generally, Richardson got it going that Sunday afternoon at NU. It complemented the fadeaway that he’s known for.
“I feel good I feel like tis been falling for us, falling for myself and we’re just getting it going”
Illinois Basketball Michigan State Spartans
Net 12 19
KenPom 15 17
Quad 1 ‘ 7-7 4-4
Quad 2 4-1 4-1
Records 17-8 (9-6) 19-5 (10-3)
Illinois Basketball Preview
The Illini failed against Tennessee (NET 4), Alabama (NET 6) and MSU the first time around when opportunities for ultra-signature wins presented themselves. However, now they have the rematch with the Spartans at home, plus Duke (NET 2) at Madison Square Garden. Plus Purdue (NET 8) comes in on March 7.
They should win at least one of those, maybe 2. And don’t forget the good, solid wins already on their resume: Wisconsin (NET 15), Miz Noz (NET 23), UCLA (Net 25) Ohio State (NET 28) and Oregon (NET 35).
Not to mention the fact that the Nebraska and USC losses really don’t hurt you too badly, as both are bubble teams right now. However, those Rutgers and Northwestern losses really hurt right now.
And if they can just limit how many threes they shoot, they should be fine. Seriously, they need to NOT chuck up 30, 35+ 3pt FGAs per game. Get back to Booty Ball and back that thang up.
Doing so is a winning strategy.
Also, this Illinois basketball team needs to be on their guard against the main MSU storyline here.
Tom Izzo is currently tied with one of the worst human beings in sports history for the Big Ten career wins record. Fitting how it was Indiana that prevented him from breaking it tonight.
Izzo gets another shot here. Also, this is Terrence Shannon Jr. jersey raising night, so that should be a fun aside.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.