Michigan State basketball: 3 quick reactions to tough loss at No. 24 Illinois
By Nate Rhoades
Michigan State basketball traveled to Illinois and could not capitalize on a second straight top 25 road win. It battled but came up short.
Michigan State traveled to Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini on Tuesday night. The Spartans started out very slow and did not have an answer for the shooters of Illinois.
Until the second half, that is.
In the first half, Illinois was putting up shots and they just kept falling. The Spartans were playing pretty tight defense but the shots kept falling. That is the complete opposite of what happened on the offensive side of the ball for Michigan State. They shot a dismal 35 percent for the game and could not connect the ball with the bottom of the hoop.
It was overall just not a great game for the Spartans so what did we notice here?
3. Defense doesn’t always win the game
With the Spartans starting slow on the offensive side of the ball, this one was up to the defense. The way the Fighting Illini were shooting, this one was done early. However, in the second half, the defense kept it up and put the Spartans in a position to tie or win the game.
The Spartan defense had a slow start but it had a strong finish. They did not let the Fighting Illini score in the last 5:32 in the game. In that time, the Spartans forced two turnovers and had two blocked shots.
These Spartans have one of the strongest defenses in the nation. However, they have to play this tight style of defense for a full 40 minutes. Many talk about how offense goes on scoring droughts but what they do not talk about is how some defenses cause these scoring droughts. This MSU defense can create scoring droughts for their opponents which can always put the Spartans in position to win.
Even with the defense stepping up in the last five minutes, the Spartans couldn’t overcome the shooting woes they had earlier in the game. The Spartans ended the game on a 7-0 run but that was not good enough to help them win.
The defense can help put the team in great positions but it also has to have help on the other side of the court. A full 40 minutes on both ends of the floor, not just the defense, wins the game.