Things aren’t going to get any easier in the post tonight against Illinois, a team that features two-time First-Team All-Big Ten selection Jenna Smith.

“We’re going to have to do a great job,” Merchant said of her team’s post defense. “Jenna is just harder to guard because she is face-up, she can drive it. She could play a three if she had to and that’s a totally different animal.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Breslin Center.

Smith comes into the game averaging 18.2 points (third best in the Big Ten) and a league-leading 10.9 rebounds per game.

“She’s different than Jaeschke, she’s different than (Michigan center) Krista Phillips,” Merchant said. “Jenna is more agile. She’s kind of between (junior forward Kalisha Keane) and (senior center Lauren Aitch), probably. She can score on the block, but she has the ability to knock down threes. She presents a lot of different challenges. She’s not just a back-to-the-basket player. I suspect her to really try to take (senior center Allyssa DeHaan) away from
the rim.”

Last season, in the only meeting between the two teams, Smith scored 19 points but was held to five rebounds in a 63-50 MSU win. She played all 40 minutes.

“She makes her whole team better,” senior forward Aisha Jefferson said.

“A lot of things she does changes some of our defense but we’ve seen her before, we’ve played her and I think we’ve done a pretty good job on her for the most part. But she’s a talented player and we have to make sure we contain her and keep everybody else from going off.”

Jefferson said she thinks MSU’s centers, DeHaan and Aitch, are ready for the challenge Smith will present.

“I feel like we have a pretty good athletic center. For 6-foot-9, she can move pretty well, I have confidence in her,” Jefferson said.

“Lauren, she is going to beat everybody up out there, so I’m not worried about her.”

DeHaan has had great success against Smith in the past. DeHaan has 10 career blocks against Smith, tied for the most she has against any individual player.

In six career games against the Spartans, Smith has averaged 13.6 points and 7.3 rebounds, below her career averages of 16.5 points and 9.1 rebounds.

“She’s one of the best players in the Big Ten,” Keane said. “We just have to slow her down, limit her touches and just force her to make tough shots under duress.”

Smith has been one of the few bright spots for the Fighting Illini in a season full of struggles. Illinois is a league-worst 5-10 in Big Ten play and 13-12 overall. The team has lost 3-of-4, with its lone win an 81-50 romp of Northwestern Feb. 11. The Illini couldn’t follow it up, though, losing 77-67 to Iowa on Sunday, a game in which the team was down by 30 at one point.

“They’re a team that was down big against Iowa and came back,” Merchant said. “They blew Northwestern away their last game. Just blew them out of the water. It wasn’t even a game. They’re a real scary team, just like everybody is.”

Merchant praised the Illini’s athleticism and pointed to guard Lacey Simpson as someone else who could make an impact.

Simpson averages 9.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and just less than four assists per game.

The Spartans have won six of their past seven games. With the Big Ten regular season championship no longer attainable — Ohio State clinched the outright title Sunday — Big Ten Tournament seeding becomes the important issue.

MSU sits a half-game behind Purdue for second place.

“We want to make sure we close out the last part of our regular season on a good note,” Jefferson said. “We’re thinking about our seedings and things like that right now. Every game is a big game for us. We’re excited.”

Tonight also marks the night DeHaan could break the NCAA Division 1 blocks record.

She needs three rejections to break the record of 486 currently held by St. Mary’s junior forward Louella Tomlinson, who does not play again until Saturday.