Michigan State basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. No. 10 Illinois

Michigan State basketball is fresh off a loss to Northwestern and it's headed back to the state of Illinois to take on the No. 10 Illini on Thursday night in what is being considered by some as a "must-win" game.

The Spartans have won five of their past six games and the Northwestern loss was the extreme outlier. They struggled during a 10-minute stretch near the end of the first half where a 22-18 lead turned into a 46-31 deficit. It was an ugly end to the half after a strong start to the game. That was the difference as the Spartans lost by 14.

Now they'll get a chance to upset the No. 10 team in the country and get back on the map. A win over Illinois would go a long way in terms of the NCAA Tournament push.

Let's dive into some bold predictions for the big game.

3. Malik Hall responds in a big way

If there's one thing we know about Malik Hall, it's that he's consistently inconsistent. He's a really good player with a strong skill set, but he can't seem to stay consistent as we saw after two great games and then the Northwestern clunker where he finished with no points, no assists, and no rebounds in the loss.

On Thursday, that inconsistency will strike again as he'll have one of his better games of the year with 15 points and seven rebounds, shooting over 50 percent from the floor and he'll even hit a three.

Hall will bounce back from his poor performance to have a really good game and then I'm sure it'll swing back the other direction by Sunday.