Michigan State Basketball: 5 takeaways from sloppy win over Illinois

Monday night’s win in Champaign was sloppy, to say the least, but Michigan State found a way to hold on and pick up a road victory over Illinois.

What would you say if I told you Michigan State would have 25 turnovers and still win a road Big Ten game by 13 points? What would you also say if I told you the Spartans would shoot 68 percent from the floor and Illinois only shot 42 percent and Michigan State only won by 13? Both seem like ridiculous scenarios, but that’s exactly what happened on Monday.

The Spartans came away with an 87-74 victory over the Fighting Illini in Champaign which improved them to 18-3 overall and 6-2 in Big Ten play. There’s still plenty of room for improvement, though.

What did we learn from the roller-coaster game that was Michigan State vs. Illinois?

5. Turnovers could kill this team in March

From the opening tip, you could tell it was going to be a sloppy game. Illinois was playing aggressive defense and Cassius Winston was getting flustered by Mark Alstork to start and a mixture of other Illinois guards. He was getting pressured up top and that caused some early turnovers from the sophomore point guard.

However, it wasn’t just Winston who was playing sloppily. While he led the Spartans with eight turnovers, Tum Tum Nairn played out of control for a good chunk of the game and had four turnovers, Miles Bridges had three, Matt McQuaid had some lazy entry passes and an offensive foul for three and Josh Langford and Jaren Jackson Jr. each had two.

When this team is playing sloppy basketball, opponents can find ways to win. Illinois isn’t exactly the most talented opponent the Spartans will face all year, but a good team, such as Purdue or Michigan, will expose weaknesses created by turnovers.

Michigan State needs to figure out how to cut those sloppy plays and play a more under control brand of basketball. If the turnovers continue to mount, this team will be in trouble come March.