It’s a top 10 matchup in East Lansing, Michigan on Saturday night, as No. 10 Michigan State (19-4, 9-3) hosts No. 5 Illinois (20-3, 11-1) at the Breslin Center. The Spartans are coming off an upset loss to Minnesota, while the Illini are one of the hottest teams in the country. Despite what has happened recently, both teams are some of the best in the country and are vying for a key Big Ten win that will affect the conference title race.
“Michigan State team is one of the best defensive teams in, not just in the Big 10, but in the country,” said Illinois head coach Brad Underwood.“There’s a lot of veterans there. It’s always challenging playing on the road.”
Another road test
The Illini have been undefeated on the road in Big Ten play this season and are currently riding a 12-game overall win streak that stretches back to late December. Saturday will be their third straight week playing a top 10 game on the road, and it’s something that the Illini are looking forward to.
“Road games are fun to us,” said graduate student forward Ben Humrichous. “Being able to go in, and everybody dislikes you. Trying to shut people up. It’s fun.”
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Last season, Illinois lost at Michigan State by just two points. Although the personnel for Illinois is much different this year, the principles that ground the Illini remain the same this season. Humrichous played a team-high 35 minutes in East Lansing last season, and he’s anticipating another tough battle that hopefully, goes in favor of the Illini this time.
“I’m trying to think about the differences from last year; I think that it’s just going to be another really physical game,” Humrichous said. “Where the game’s on the glass, it’s about rebounding, it’s about maintaining and keeping them out of transition.”
Energy on the glass
Rebounding will be key, as usual, for this Underwood-led team. Saturday is not only a top 10 matchup, but a contest with two top 20 rebounding teams. Illinois is No. 14, and Michigan State is No. 20 in rebounds per game across all Division One programs.
“You go back to the the first year (Spartans head coach Tom Izzo) was a coach, and you’re going to find good rebounding teams, and it’s always been a vital part of Michigan State basketball and their success,” Underwood said. “You become good at what you emphasize, you become good at what you work on. Those are things that they do. They’re the things that we do. And you come to watch an Illinois basketball practice sometime, you’re going to figure out why we’re decent at rebounding because we work on it every day and there’s multiple drills of it.”
Michigan State’s starting front court, 6-foot-11 senior center Carson Cooper and 6-foot-10 senior forward Jaxon Kohler, are averaging 7.2 and 9.1 rebounds, respectively. The experienced big men will pose a challenge for 7-foot-plus junior centers Zvonimir and Tomislav Ivišić, who have been much more active on the glass during this win streak, especially Tomislav.
“I think that’s one of the things that I really liked about (Tomislav) was he chased it,” Underwood said. “He didn’t just get area rebounds. He was he was getting rebounds above the rim. He was going out of his area to get rebounds, and that’s always a positive thing.”
It will take an effort from everyone though, especially when Michigan State has supplementary rebounders like Coen Carr, who is adding 5.3 rebounds per game. Freshman forward David Mirković will be key in supporting the Ivišić’s on the boards, while Humrichous and freshman Keaton Wagler, who have both shown an aptitude for offensive rebounds, will need to be sharp as well.
Who’s in, who’s out
The Spartans will be without sophomore guard Divine Ugochukwu, who was ruled out for the season on Friday with a foot injury. It’s a big blow for a Spartan team that has been dealing with weak guard play all year. Ugochukwu has been the guard that has stepped up to support redshirt sophomore Jeremy Fears Jr. this season, averaging 5.1 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He has made 12 starts and shot 44.2% from three. The loss of Ugochukwu will call for senior guard Trey Fort to see an increased role again after he saw his minutes drop off dramatically since the start of the season.
Fears, a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate, has been under the national microscope as of late due to multiple on-court incidents where he has been seen tripping, kicking and making unnecessary contact with opposing players in a few recent games. Izzo was non-committal about what he would do with Fears, but he mentioned that he was considering not starting his star guard. Whether that happens or not, Underwood is not worried. He’s preparing as usual for Fears, who is averaging 14.7 points and 8.9 assists.
“Jeremy’s having a a phenomenal year in terms of one of the top assist guys in the country,” Underwood said. “He’s getting to the foul line at a very high clip of late. We’re number one in the country in fewest fouls. We’ve got to be on point with that.”
For Illinois, senior guard Kylan Boswell is still out. Boswell, one of the best two-way players in college basketball, would have been key in slowing down Fears. However, that responsibility will now be handed to Wagler and junior wing Andrej Stojaković. Although Boswell is out for this game and still has no timeline for return, he has made positive progress in his recovery from a fractured right hand.
“He’s doing partial practice work,” Underwood said. “He is much more into the conditioning mode. He’s got it bandaged in practice. The stitches are out. I don’t have a time frame, but he is doing partial stuff in practice. No live up and down stuff yet, but participating in some of our half court stuff.”
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