Illini drop Spartans, 78-73

MSU loses second straight game

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Champaign, Ill. – The three-game conference lead the Spartans had a week ago seems very far away.

Illinois (16-8, 8-3 Big Ten) defeated MSU, 78-73, Saturday night at Assembly Hall to hand the Spartans (19-5, 9-2) their second straight Big Ten loss.

It was the 11th straight time the game between the two teams was decided by 10 points or less.

“I think we showed a lot of character, my guys,” MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo said after the loss. “The disappointment with the way we guarded in the first half. We just gave them three after three after three. And then some foolish turnovers. I think we had five of them on one stretch.”

Junior guard Kalin Lucas, still nursing a sprained ankle, participated in shoot-around but it was decided he wouldn’t be able to play. Fellow junior guard Chris Allen got the start at point guard instead.

But Allen turned the ball over twice in the first couple minutes and the Illini started hot.

Behind two three-point shots by Demetri McCamey, Illinois jumped out to a 14-4 lead and Assembly Hall was rocking. McCamey had a game-high 22 points and 11 assists.

“He’s twice the player he was when he played at our place,” Izzo said of McCamey. “He’s more under control and a much better passer. He sees the court and still hits big shots.”

MSU weathered the early storm and answered with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 16.

At the 14:45 mark, Izzo put in sophomore guard Korie Lucious at point guard and let Allen work without the ball. It resulted in Allen scoring six straight points for the Spartans.

The game was a fast-paced frenzy early with neither team missing many shots. Each time the Illini would go on a run, the Spartans would answer and keep the game close.

“Every time we took the lead, they just seemed to keep coming back and making plays,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. “We don’t always do smart things, but we didn’t quit.”

After Illinois guard D.J. Richardson missed a free throw with 5.3 seconds remaining in the first half, MSU sophomore forward Draymond Green gathered the rebound, ran the ball up court and dished it to junior guard Austin Thornton, who banked in a jump shot at the buzzer and MSU went into the locker room down 35-34.

Eleven Spartan players saw the court in the first half – with nine of them scoring.

The second half started with a bang for MSU. Sophomore forward Delvon Roe exploded for a slam dunk and added a free-throw to it to put MSU up by two. The teams traded buckets for four minutes, but a pair of McCamey 3-point shots put Illinois ahead by six.

After a tip-in by Green, Allen hit back-to-back 3-point shots to give MSU a 55-53 lead with less than 12 minutes remaining.

Green was Mr. Everything for the Spartans. He had a team-high 17 points and hauled in a game-high 16 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

“I don’t think it’s anything in film watching or anything like that,” Green said of his team’s performance. “We just have to bear down and start checking better.”

After MSU took a 57-55 lead, Illinois went on a nine-to-0 run to jump ahead 64-57 and the crowd at Assembly Hall smelled an upset.

But the Spartans kept clawing back. MSU tied the game at 68 with 1:46 remaining on a pair of free throws by senior forward Raymar Morgan, who finished with eight points.

After an Illini lay-up and a jump-ball that gave possession back to Illinois with just over one minute remaining, McCamey hit a long 3-point shot off of a ball screen to ignite the Illini faithful, who sensed the game was just about over.

But MSU wasn’t done quite yet. Green scored on a tip-in and Illinois made one of two free throws to hold a four-point lead. MSU junior guard Durrell Summers nailed a 3-pointer with 19 seconds remaining to cut the lead to one.

Illinois made two free throws and blocked a final 3-point shot by Summers to seal the game – but not before an exclamatory dunk followed by a mob of Illinois students rushing the floor.

MSU now holds just a one-game lead on several Big Ten teams, and No. 8 Purdue rolls into East Lansing on Tuesday with Lucas still questionable to play.

“Playing without Lucas is no excuse because everybody has to play without somebody, but we just struggled there so early and got down so fast, that was the onslaught I expected,” Izzo said.

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