CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In its only game as an underdog thus far this season, challenging a 15-game home winning streak, No. 4 MSU fell to No. 7 Illinois 77-66 Tuesday night.
The Spartans’ record drops to 18-3 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten while Illinois’ elevates to 18-5, 8-2.
“Illinois fans should be proud because the better team won tonight,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said after the game. “They did a great job defensively, hit some key shots and we were hurt because we made some mental defensive errors.”
Illinois guard Cory Bradford led all scorers with 22 points, shooting 6-of-11 from three-point range.
Bradford said he felt a sense of urgency against the Spartans since it was the only regular season matchup between the Big Ten’s finest squads.
“It felt real good to finally beat them,” he said of MSU. “They have been kicking our butts the past few years and we as a team thought this was our time to take over.”
MSU took an early 7-0 lead - in front of more than 16,000 then-silent Illinois fans donning bright orange shirts - after a layup by senior forward Andre Hutson, who had six points in the opening scoring run.
The Spartans were aggressive on the defensive end early, stopping the Illini - the fifth ranked opponent they’ve faced this season - on their first six possessions while forcing three early turnovers.
Illinois forward Sergio McClain scored on a driving layup four minutes into the game to end the Illini’s lengthy scoring drought.
After cutting the MSU lead to within one three times in the half, Illinois went on a 4-0 scoring run of its own to take a 26-23 lead after a free throw by Illinois center Robert Archibald.
MSU scored six points in the final three and a half minutes to trail 29-34 heading to the lockerroom.
Guards Bradford and Frank Williams led the Illini with six points each at the break.
Sophomore guard Jason Richardson led the Spartans with eight points at the half, finishing with a team-high 19 points.
Leading the conference and nation in rebounding through its first 21 games, MSU had a 17-11 rebounding edge at the half and a 35-29 advantage overall - far from the rebounding mismatch last year when MSU grabbed 25 more boards than Illinois.
The Spartans bolted to a 10-0 scoring run to start the second half after a Richardson layup, to lead 39-34. But soon, six straight points from center Brian Cook gave the Illini a 43-42 advantage.
Freshman guard Marcus Taylor quickly connected on a jump shot to regain the lead.
Junior forward Andre Hutson said the Illini’s deep front line limited the amount of open opportunities for the Spartan offense.
“They did a great job keeping us off the blocks in the paint,” he said. “We just didn’t get that many good looks tonight.”
After five lead changes, the Illini grabbed a 56-53 advantage in the middle of the second half after a driving layup from McClain. Bradford then led an 11-4 run in the next three minutes, after connecting on two straight three-pointers to give the Illini a 67-57 lead with four minutes remaining. They never looked back.
In desperate fashion, the Spartans failed on numerous shot attempts, scoring just nine points in the game’s final four minutes.
Two Williams free throws sealed the win for the Illini, as they took their largest lead of 73-59 with 1:36 remaining. Izzo said there are still more games to play, and added that MSU can’t afford to panic just because of three conference losses.
“My team has a winning mentality and they battled a very tough, well-coached team,” he said.
“We’re going to try to win the next six games. We’ve been in this situation before.”
Eric Lacy can be reached at lacyeric@msu.edu.
