A game that came down to the wire (like we all expected), ended with a Michigan State basketball win over No. 19 Illinois, 80-78.
The Spartans improved to 16-2 on the season and 7-0 in the Big Ten and sit atop the conference play which is their best start since 2018-19 when they were 18-2 and 9-0 in the Big Ten before losing three straight games. This team feels like it has some things to work on after back-to-back close wins at home, but beating a team like Illinois should make Tom Izzo happy, at least for the time being.
Michigan State made a statement but there's still a lot of work to do.
What did we learn from the Spartans' 2-point win on Sunday?
1. Frankie Fidler may have turned a corner
After beating Penn State earlier in the week behind a heroic effort from Fankie Fidler, Tom Izzo issued a challenge to his senior transfer from Omaha. He said that he was happy with the way Fidler played, but he can't celebrate it too much because he has to piece together multiple games like that in a row.
And he had his second straight solid performance on Sunday afternoon, scoring 11 points.
Not only did Fidler score 11, but he grabbed three rebounds, had three assists, and made his only 3-point try which was big for him as he was shooting just 18 percent from deep on the year. He also made two big technical free throws late in the game and even made a big save on a near-turnover of his, diving on a ball and calling a timeout. Oh yeah, and he made a savvy play that got Kasparas Jakucionis to foul out.
Fidler may have turned a corner -- which would be huge for the Spartans' title hopes.