Spartan head coach Tom Izzo could point fingers in a lot of directions following Tuesday’s 63-61 loss to No. 18 Illinois.

Foul trouble, poor execution, inexperience and fatigue all could have been responsible for the Illini’s (18-7 overall, 7-5 Big Ten) triumph over MSU (14-10, 5-6).

But after the loss, Izzo pointed to one specific aspect of the game as the primary suspect.

“I could blame a lot of people - me, them - but the truth of the matter was Illinois wanted the game (more),” Izzo said. “We didn’t deserve to win.

“We just didn’t play with energy. I think you saw tonight the difference between a team that really wanted it and a team that really didn’t want it.”

Sophomore guard Marcus Taylor said the Spartans seemed dead from the start and they discussed fixing it.

“We talked about it as a team in the locker room,” Taylor said. “Everyone was just sitting around with no life in them and blank looks on their faces.”

In a sloppy second half where neither team shot the ball well, energy and intensity became even more crucial, freshman guard Chris Hill said.

“When you can’t hit shots, you have to figure out some way to score some points and win,” Hill said. “You just have to find a way to do it.”

The Spartans hit 7-of-26 in the half, with three of the seven field goals coming in the final 40 seconds. The Illini offense wasn’t much more potent, as they went seven-of-23 in the half.

The teams managed to put points on the board from the foul line, with the Illini going 18-of-22 from the stripe and MSU going 15-of-18 from the line.

Foul trouble disrupted the Spartans’ offensive plans and limited their effectiveness, Hill said.

With Spartan junior forwards Al Anagonye and Adam Ballinger hampered with fouls for much of the second half, the Spartans struggled to score near the basket.

MSU managed just four points in the paint in the final half.

“With our big guys in foul trouble, it was difficult to establish a good post presence,” Hill said. “That made it difficult for us to do what we wanted offensively.”

Also adding to the offensive troubles was an inspired Illini defensive effort, both in the lane and on the perimeter.

Ballinger credited Illinois for some of the Spartans’ offensive woes, but realized the team had chances to capitalize on Illinois’ sluggish offense.

“You have to give credit to Illinois with the shots not going down, but we had some open ones that we missed too,” he said.

“They didn’t shoot the ball particularly well either, but they just kept coming right at us.”

Ballinger was held scoreless in the second half after going for nine points in the first half.

“Nothing was going down,” Ballinger said. “If Marcus, Al and I don’t play very well, we’re not going to look very good.

“It probably shook us when we couldn’t hit our open shots.”

Anagonye finished the game with zero points and one rebound after being saddled with foul problems. Taylor hit twice in his 12 attempts in the second half.

Izzo said with the shots not falling and the Spartans not scoring, his team had to rely on smarts to grind out the win.

“You have to be able to focus on certain things,” Izzo said. “Maybe you don’t make your shots, but we made a lot of mental errors.”

The biggest error being a lack of energy, and the Illini exploited it, Izzo said.

“We just didn’t bring it tonight and that’s how we got beat,” he said.

“I chalk it up to good defense by Illinois, poor execution by Michigan State.”