Michigan State men’s basketball gets needed upset, defeats Illinois
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Don’t label Michigan State basketball’s NCAA match hopes for lifeless.
And don’t wager in opposition to Tom Izzo when he looks like his workforce is being counted out and regarded underdogs — even when they’re as undersized and undermanned as may very well be.
That’s when issues occur like Tuesday night time’s 81-72 victory over No. 4 Illinois that jumpstarted the Spartans’ pulse firstly of a pivotal stretch of six video games in 13 days to shut the Big Ten common season.
MSU put collectively maybe its most cohesive efficiency of the season and performed with the toughness of a workforce preventing for its postseason life in a yard brawl from days of yore.. Captains Joshua Langford and Aaron Henry lit the hearth, combining for 35 factors and 22 rebounds as eight Spartans scored, eight grabbed at the very least a rebound, and eight handed out at the very least one help.
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Izzo almost ran out of huge males to make use of in opposition to Illini 7-footer Kofi Cockburn when each Julius Marble II and Thomas Kithier fouled out with greater than 7 minutes to play, then freshman Mady Sissoko bought known as for a flagrant-2 foul on Illinois star Ayo Dosunmu and was ejected. That left Izzo with simply Marcus Bingham Jr. amongst his 4 facilities, and he had 4 fouls.
Joey Hauser as an alternative took over for a lot of the last 4:08, and the 6-foot-9 junior drilled a important 3-pointer with 2:55 to play that put MSU again forward by 11. Illinois coach Brad Underwood needed to pull Cockburn to go together with a shooter lineup late to attempt to catch up.
Hauser hit 4 free throws in 1-and-1 conditions within the last 1:36. He and Rocket Watts every scored 13 for MSU, which shot 54.2% total and had 18 assists on 32 baskets.
It doesn’t get any simpler for the Spartans (12-9, 6-9 Big Ten), who host No. 5 Ohio State at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday on ESPN. That is adopted Sunday with a visit to Maryland, a house sport subsequent Tuesday with Indiana, then back-to-back video games with No. 3 Michigan — in Ann Arbor on March 4 and at Breslin to shut the regular-season March 7.
Illinois is No. 4 in NET rating, Thursday’s house opponent Ohio State is No. 7, and U-M is No. 3. Going on the street Sunday to Maryland, which rose to No. 30 on Monday, additionally gives an opportunity at one other Quad 1 win.
Trent Frazier scored 22 factors, Dosunmu had 17 factors and 9 rebounds, and Cockburn scored 13 with simply six rebounds for Illinois (16-6, 12-4), which had received seven in a row.
Best of instances
Considering the offensive and defensive prowess of the Illini, it might have been the Spartans’ greatest begin of the season.
After giving up the primary 5 factors with its “small ball” lineup — Rocket Watts, Langford, Gabe Brown, Aaron Henry and Marble — MSU began to dissect Illinois’ protection.
Watts drove and scored to start out 10-0 run, with he and Langford following with a pair of foul-line jumpers popping out of the primary media timeout. Henry then drove baseline and hit floater, then A.J. Hoggard got here off the bench and sliced into the lane and shoveled to Hauser for a brief jumper.
Meantime, MSU locked up Illinois’ stars. Both of Cockburn’s buckets got here on second-chance dunks, and Henry, Watts and Langford took turns all through the half to carry the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer to seven factors on 2 of 9 capturing. The Illini made simply 7 of 29 pictures within the interval.
And the Spartans used their pace and athletic capability with the smaller group to crash the glass and bought out operating in transition. They had 12 fastbreak factors at halftime and 12 assists on 16 baskets, making 53.3% to take a 36-26 lead on the break.
Joshua Langford’s greatest
This sport clearly meant loads to Langford, the Spartans’ solely senior who’s in his fifth season and third as a captain. He had 11 factors and 13 rebounds at halftime for his second profession double-double.
Langford was in all places and doing every little thing Tuesday, from scoring on lengthy jumpers to attacking the glass like Izzo hoped he would earlier than he had two surgical procedures on his left foot. He even had a hovering blocked shot negated by a foul on the ground.
His first double-double was 18 factors and 10 rebounds in opposition to Florida Gulf Coast on Nov. 11, 2018, shortly earlier than his first of two foot accidents that price him a season and a half.
Langford snagged his sixteenth rebound with a minute to play with MSU up 12 and despatched an outlet go to Watts, who was fouled and made each free throws. Watts assisted to Brown for a thunderous dunk with 31.2 seconds left for the exclamation level.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read extra on the Michigan State Spartans and join our Spartans newsletter.
