Just two games remain in Michigan State basketball's regular season and the finale against Michigan next Sunday is guaranteed to be at least for a share of the Big Ten title.
The atmosphere will be electric in East Lansing next weekend, especially since the game might be for the outright title. That is if Michigan State can win on Wednesday at Iowa. We can thank Illinois for that as the Illini dominated the Wolverines in the second half, taking Michigan down 93-73.
It felt weird to root for Illinois after all the trash Illini fans have been talking about Michigan State this season only to get swept in the regular-season series, but that's where we were on Sunday evening.
Fortunately, the Illini came through with a big win and now Michigan will play a really good Maryland team before next Sunday's season finale against the Wolverines. That means if Michigan wants at least a split of the Big Ten title, it needs to beat Maryland and win in East Lansing next weekend.
If Michigan State wins on Wednesday, it guarantees at least a share of the Big Ten title since it does have a one-game cushion.
The best-case scenario for Michigan State is this:
Michigan State beats Iowa
Michigan loses to Maryland
That would mean that the Spartans could celebrate a Big Ten title outright no matter what happens on Sunday. It would obviously be more fun to actually need to beat the Wolverines to win the conference championship, but no one is going to complain if it's clinched before that game even takes place.
Wednesday's game at Iowa just got that much more important for Michigan State.